Union Minister of State (Independent Representative) for Science and Technology; Minister of State (Independent Representative) for Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh announced a financial support of Rs. 3.29 crores to M/s Kritsnam Technologies, a Start-up Company, incubated at IIT Kanpur to develop smart water management technologies. He said the technology, initially aimed at commercial users, could be a game-changer in the future in effectively monitoring and controlling groundwater use across the country.
In the presence of Dr. Jitendry Singh MoU was signed between Technology Development Board (TDB) under Ministry of Science and Technology and M/s Kritsnam Technologies Private Limited, Ranchi, Jharkhand for manufacturing and commercialization of Dhaara Smart Flow Meter. The minister was informed that the start-up is developing ‘Dhaara Smart Flowmeter’ – an integrated online monitoring system using dual-beam ultrasonic flowmeters, which is designed to monitor real-time water distribution for applications such as drinking water supply, groundwater. extraction, industrial water use and precision irrigation.
The device collects data through sensors, stores it in the device and transmits it to online cloud servers, and then the data transmitted to the servers is analyzed and displayed on the dashboard. This unique solution is a combination of hardware and software for flow measurement and water management. Dr Jitendra Singh said the Dhaara Smart Flow Meter will greatly benefit Prime Minister Modi’s Atal Bhujal Yojana (Atal Jal), a Rs 6,000 crore central sector scheme for sustainable management of groundwater resources with community participation.
The scheme is being implemented in 80 water scarce areas and 8,565 Gram Panchayats in seven states viz. Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh from 01.04.2020 for a period of five years. He said the Dhaara Smart Flow Meter can also help bulk water consumers budget their water usage and enable them to understand their patterns, inefficiencies and help them develop strong strategies to reduce water wastage.
Dhaara Smart Flow Meter is battery powered and does not require external power and the hardware architecture is based on Internet of Things (IoT) communication circuits which are patented in India. In addition, it meets the standards of ISO and the Central Office for Groundwater. Water consumption data is automatically recorded in an online logbook via telemetry via 4G/2G. With built-in telemetry and battery power, users can easily monitor water usage virtually anywhere (even when the power is off). The product under development initially targets commercial users such as hotels, hospitals, shopping malls, IT parks, schools, colleges and industrial users (food products, bottled drinking water, pharmaceuticals, paper and pulp, etc.).
It may be recalled that the Central Ground Water Authority has issued guidelines requiring every commercial user of ground water to install a smart water meter and pay annual bills. All project proponents/users drawing ground water and seeking/having NOC shall mandatorily install telemetry tamper resistant digital water meters at all ground water abstraction facilities in their premises.
Groundwater levels in various parts of the country are declining due to continuous abstraction due to reasons such as increased demand for fresh water for various purposes, rainfall fluctuations, increase in population, industrialization and urbanization etc. According to assessment of dynamic groundwater Resources (2017) by Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) in collaboration with States/UTs, out of a total of 6,881 assessment units (Block/ Taluks/ Mandals/ watersheds/ Firkas) in the country, 1,186 units in 17 States/ UTs have been categorized as ‘overexploited’ where ‘annual mining of groundwater” is more than “annual recoverable groundwater resource”.
Shri Rajesh Kumar Pathak, Secretary, IP&TAFS, TDB said, “Water is essential for all mankind and groundwater is the dominant source of drinking water, but the rate at which groundwater is being depleted is alarming. The Government of India is taking urgent steps needed to recharge the water table through water harvesting technologies as well as planned and controlled groundwater extraction. “Dhaara Smart Flow Meter” by startup “Kritsnam” would be a great addition to this effort. The smart meter was designed to manage groundwater with real-time processing even without electricity.
