Building Innovation

The average apartment wastes 12% of its water usage with leaks. For most Veritas buildings, this can add up to thousands of dollars and thousands of gallons of water wasted every year in each building.

As a company looking to reduce their waste, especially in drought-ridden California, Veritas teamed up with NOWi to address the issue. This innovative company from Connecticut, founded in 2020, uses technology to detect leaks and monitor water usage at the property level with a simple and cost-effective device. Installed in seconds, NOWi provides real-time and historical data, so Property Managers can track consumption and pinpoint potential leaks that could cost hundreds of dollars if left undetected. While WiFi or Bluetooth technology powers most leak detection solutions, NOWi’s source of connectivity comes from Helium, a blockchain network that provides decentralized wireless connectivity across 163 countries. This allows NOWi to provide data even when WiFi isn’t available.

Veritas Innovations’ partnership with NOWi started in December of 2021 to pilot four of their water monitoring devices on four properties with abnormally high water usage to detect potential leaks and other water-related issues. Starting at $399 per device with an annual $99 monitoring fee, NOWi can be installed at any water meter as easily as strapping a watch on your wrist. To activate the device, remove the lid, pull off the yellow jumper, press the reset button, and put everything back in place. NOWi batteries last up to 5 years and cost a total of $35 to replace, which includes the $5 battery and a $30 labor fee.

Immediately after installing the NOWi sensors, Veritas began receiving reports and data sets via daily email, highlighting any excessive or unusual water usage at the property. Users have access to the water dashboard, where Property Managers can monitor flow rate, gallons used, and water temperature.

Over the initial month of observing NOWi dashboards and collecting reports, a water leak was identified at one of the four properties. Upon further investigation, the team discovered a running toilet was directly tied with the high water usage identified in the NOWi report. The leak – estimated to potentially cost an average of $240 a month – was quickly fixed by the dispatched maintenance technician, and water usage at that property returned to normal levels. The following month, an alert at another property showed a spike in water usage. Just as with the first leak, a maintenance technician found and repaired the cause, bringing usage back inline with historical averages.

NOWi continues testing on various properties chosen based on the number of apartments in the building. Originally NOWi considered their devices most effective on buildings with fewer than 12 units. After working with Veritas on pilots at larger buildings NOWi was able to scale the solution for buildings of any size. The new and improved sensors and algorithms would replace the originals and allow scaling up the deployment of NOWi’s water sensors to a greater range of properties.

The Veritas Innovations team is eager to bring this modern water monitoring and leak detection solution to the infrastructure of century-old Victorian buildings. The NOWi water sensors allow Property Managers to better understand water consumption trends, individually benchmark properties in real-time, and reduce commonly-caused incidences of leaks and water waste. NOWi will help Veritas prevent leaks, save water and help San Francisco in its goal to decrease water usage.

Visit NOWiSensors.com