FLUID: The Smart Water Meter

Have you ever wondered how many gallons of water your household uses? A recent study published that the average American utilizes 80 to 100 gallons of water each day. This is an extremely critical topic given that California is experiencing a record drought. It is our duty to learn different ways on how to mitigate the damage.Two entrepreneurs came up with a smart water meter, FLUID, which reads where, when, and how much water a household consumes on a daily basis. FLUID’s co-founders’ ultimate goal is for consumers to be more aware of their water usage. Since a water bill only demonstrates water usage in units, unless one converts the measurement to gallons, a consumer wouldn’t be able to acknowledge how much water they are consuming on a daily basis.FLUID, which launched this week on Kickstarter, is very easy to install and operate. One has to simply snap the meter onto the home’s principal water pipe and sync the smart meter onto a Wi-Fi connection. To access real-time water usage statistics, the customer has to download the FLUID app which is available to iPhone and Android users. The meter is able to measure consumption through water pulsations that are then converted into electrical signals and later can be read as statistics on the FLUID app.As mentioned above, FLUID is also able to determine where the water usage comes from. Each appliance has a specific water "run rate". The tricky step is to teach the meter how to differentiate each appliance’s water run rate. With the app’s assistance, one can instruct FLUID to listen to a specific appliance’s "run rate" for a typical duration, i.e. a toilet flush or dryer cycle. Once FLUID memorizes the different "run rates", it can distinguish where the water is coming from when several appliances are running at the same time. This technology can also alert a consumer of a possible water leak immediately before the house starts flooding and the bill surpasses the budget.Having readily available statistics of how much water one consumes on a daily basis, especially if you live in California, will compel consumers to be conscious about water conservation. Subsequently, this water conservation will save you money, thus it is a win-win situation for everyone! FLUID is available for $239 on Kickstarter, and once the campaign is over it’ll cost $299 on the FLUID website.This article was written by a Kuhler Tax Credits’ associate. For over 25 years Kuhler has focused on tax credit services and has been recognized as a national tax incentive leader. CPAs and companies trust Kuhler’s experienced team to identify, assess and recover valuable state and federal tax credits, incentives, and deductions. Kuhler’s main services include, Federal and State Research & Development Tax Credits, Section 179D Energy Efficient Federal Tax Deduction, California Sales and Use Tax Exemption.