Hasta La Ideas

In response to the impending water crisis, design firm Teague set out to help visualize domestic water use in an effort to identify opportunities to use less. Water bills may contain statistics on how much is used, but not where it is being overused. To make this apparent, they designed a meter that is integrated with points of use throughout the home—faucets— that provides this information via WiFi.

In the first trial run, the meter was hooked up the the studio kitchen faucet and usage was monitored from computers at the studio desks, which resulted in very slight improvements. Upon moving the data onto an iPad on display by the sink, however, reductions were extreme— 1.5 gallons were saved in a single task like handwashing.

Visualizing all the water that could be saved spurred Teague to start a campaign to help with water crises thousands of miles away—not by shipping gallons of water, but by sending money, with $20 enugh to provide one person 20 years worth of clean water. Teague is working with the nonprofit Charity: Water on a 3 month campaign to raise $10,000 for clean water projects; they’ll match every dollar donated with a dollar from Teague.

Learn more and donate here.

(more…)