Prev Leak

click on Link

TPS offers a smart waste water sensors called "Prev leak" that is installed inside sewer manholes to detect and report sewage blockages as soon as they start to happen.The device has a fitted GSM module to send blockage notifications via sms/email to local plumbers cellphones who then arrive quickly to respond in unblocking sewage before it overflows and pollute poor communities and the environment.

National stats show that Over 55% of our rivers and dams are choked in sewage which impacts on the environment, quality of life, and development potential of poor communities. For example, diarrhoea is the leading killer of South African children under five, and poor sanitation is a major cause of diarrhoea. 

And because of Poor health, many families around these sewer overflowing arears are kept in a cycle of poverty and lost income due to lack of health and clean environment.

One estimate puts the cost at R3.5-billion per year with the problem is rising each year by 24.5%.

Over populated Townships and informal settlements.

Low income residential areas and middle income residential areas.

The purpose of this Prev Leak device is to detect sewage buildup in a manhole using a wired water sensor which will trigger upon waste water detection up to a predefined level, if sewage is detected an email notification and SMS will be sent to the service provider (local plumber).

The system has the capability of being configured via SMS and powered by wired batteries.

In summary the system consists of:

• The sewage unit can be fitted on a sewage manhole wall close to the opening.
• The sewage monitoring sensor does interface with the microcontroller using a RS485 protocol.
• The system is able to detect sewage buildup in a manhole and send notification email and SMS to service provider.
• The email and SMS notification does include saved location (address) of the unit.
• The system can only be powered by wired batteries.
• The system does make use of GSM as communication to send emails and SMSs.
• The system does monitor battery level and send email and SMS notification to service provider for maintenance.

Our model is a community based project where locals are elected and trained in partnership with Johannesburg Water to be local service men/women and are then paid by the communities through a contribution scheme to unblock sewage overflows so as to reduce sewage pollution from contaminating our rivers and dams and prevent raw sewage from overflowing in residential areas which brings serious health risks especially to children under 5

Leak devices are an existing technology now called "sensors" and are formatted to address specific problems in industries. We took an existing technology and applied it to a new approach,redesigning it to be an MPVC enclosed hardware that can withstand adverse corrosive environments with a capability of lasting up to 10 years.This hardware is a working prototype already serving the purpose as a proven approach.

The approach was to innovate around the design to be a first technology to address years of sewage infrastructural problems in South Africa.

Our business model as a community based project,we held community meetings were they elected night patrollers(community crime fighting teams) who where paid through a contribution scheme. We then pitched the solution as an added feature to what the community was doing.We then took the elected people and trained them in partnership with Johannesburg Water to be local service men/women and are then paid by the communities through an existing contribution scheme to unblock sewage overflows detected by our Prev leak.

The end result is to achieve sustainability.

Wireless communication 

A GSM module is connected to the microcontroller to send notification SMSs/email (email and SMS include location) to the service provider(Plumber) upon water detection.

This module is used as a communication protocol between underground waste water blockages and response teams. 

It takes up to 1 hour 40 minutes before a blocked sewer manhole can start to overflow. The device fitted with this GSM module is able to communicate as a blockage starts giving response teams 1 hour 40 minutes to arrive and unblock with the objective of preventing overflows. 

• The sewage unit can be fitted on a sewage manhole wall close to the opening.
• The sewage monitoring sensor does interface with the microcontroller using a RS485 protocol.
• The system is able to detect sewage buildup in a manhole and send notification email and SMS to service provider.
• The email and SMS notification does include saved location (address) of the unit.
• The system can only be powered by wired batteries.
• The system does make use of GSM as communication to send emails and SMSs. The system does monitor battery level and send email and SMS notification to service provider for maintenance.

Link

leaking or flooding can cause completely untreated sewage to pollute residential areas and more so the untreated sewage enters rivers and other water sources, causing them to become polluted.Over 15,000 fish were killed in the last 4 years.Contamination of water sources can cause diseases to spread, such as e-coli, diarrhea and hepatitis A.

The Prev leak Project is currently in its pilot stage and has already generated 3 part time jobs for unemployed locals.These locals are now local environmental hero's who are impacting the environment using our technology. reducing contamination of water source,saving aquatic life and improving the living conditions in their area.

The outcome of the project has seen 5 reported blockages that have been successfully prevented from overflowing in Zola clinic Soweto alone.

This has seen 435 people who visit local clinic everyday positively impacted and 3 street vendors who are selling food on the side of the road benefiting from this solution. Unlike before, they had to relocate from the busy street that provided income for them as a result of being near the clinic's entry point.

Currently we are running a pilot project in 3 venues that were most affected. 435 people visit Zola local clinic per day to access health-care (Soweto). 2680 People visit the Jabulani Hospital per day (Soweto).

Over 1245 primary school kids of Ithahthane primary school have to navigate around open sewer to access education with classrooms filled with flies (Soweto). 

After 6 months we plan to commercialize the solution after we have proven the concept from these 3 venues.

In one year we plan to have reach over 75 000 people in 4 local clinics and 3 more Schools in Emfuleni municipality which has Sebokeng and Vaal as the most affected townships.

In 5 years. We plan to have serve 400 000 people in Gautengs most affected areas to start limiting sewage overflow in all the streams of Gauteng with the plan to bring back aquatic life that existed before the problem started 10 years ago. 

Our goal is to transform the environment and bring life back to our rivers and dams.

We plan to use this solution to attract communities to start being active and care about the environment they live in. See it as an important system that can generate economical and social wealth.

Through engagement with communities,We always encourage them to start clean up campaigns directed to these river streams. These communities have to realize that taking care of your rivers and dams results in economic opportunity through farming and water sports to attract tourism activities.

The goal is to achieve cleaner and healthier streams within our backyard (at source)

Funding

Funding to tune of R200 000.00 to settle the outsanding product development expense. This will allow us to get funding from TIA (Technology Innovation Agency) to further develop our solution by improving the Gsm module to use sigfox low power consumption unit that will extend battery life up to 3 years. (Currently the device is configured to be o sleep mode in saving battery life to up 14 months. TIA has agreed to further fund us for this second stage of development which will take 6 months to get a commercially ready product.

1. Creating a viable distribution channel 

2. Government regulations and laws

3. SABS and Icasa certification

4. For the next five years the challenge is to reach Economies of scale

1. Funding

The current pilot project is meant to generate proof of concept which we aim to use to get buy in from community and municipalities that will purchase more quantities. We will use that to get investment to settle the balance.

2. Creating a viable distribution channel

We will also need investment to purchase our own sales and installation vehicles to distribute.

3.Government regulations and laws

We are incubated by the Innovation which is a state funder of sme's. They are helping us get the necessary permits, licences to operate.

4. SABS and Icasa certifications

TIA and Ygap South Africa have incubated us and have committed to fund us to certify with SABS and Icasa.

Economies of Scale

We will need to acquire large equity/loan investment from IDC (Industrial Development Corporation to set up a self manufacturing plant to maximize on large scale manufacturing.

Ygap South Africa that supports local social entrepreneurs and has been support through grant funding and business support.

3 part time plumbers

2 founding members

1 digital support manager

Thulani Khumalo and Terry Mathebula. Thulani, founder and director, was born and is based in Soweto who after finishing his Matric acquired a marketing Certificate in Marketing through the UBC. Thulani has had vast experience in the plumbing industry where he was contracted technically heading an installation team installing smart meters in Johannesburg. Terry, co-founder and director, was also born and is based in Soweto who acquired a BSc(Hon) Information and Computer Systems and has had vast experience in project management and customer services experience in corporate. Both individuals have been on the entrepreneurial journey for 3 years full time, this after developing and learning while previously committed on other ventures.

To achive the goals mentioned TPS has partnered with Johannesburg Water an (SOE) mandated to provide water and sanitation to gauteng citizens.

Johannesburg Water is supporting us through Training of artisans and is a pilot partner interested in adopting the solution at scale to solve the problem of sewage pollution in South Africa.

1. Mark up pricing is Our model and is used in a community based project where through community meetings we elect and train unemployed locals in partnership with Johannesburg Water to be local service men/women and are then paid by the communities through a contribution scheme that also pays for prev leak devices (units required) to unblock sewage overflows detected by our Prev leak devices installed so as to prevent raw sewage from overflowing in residential areas. We are currently running a pilot project targeting local primary schools, libraries and Clinics that are mostly affected by overflowing sewage. The objective is to prevent raw sewage from overflowing in residential areas so that people can move freely and to prevent health risks as a result of human contact with raw sewage.

2. We offer this solution on a subscription model where it is installed for free and monthly payment covers for the device,installation costs and response team to unblock targeting B2b. 

3.We secure funding through corporate donations made by Businesses and grants.

TPS currently brings in money through non-dilutive grants. We wish to sustain ourselves through grant funding, however we understand the long turnaround times may not be conducive to rapid progress at TPS. Therefore, when we gather more pilot field data with our device, we are also considering seeking angel investment, raising R3.25M in our seed round. We plan, longer term, to start sales of our devices in October 2020. TPS will target its direct sales to Municipalities most affected. We also moving into Insurance market where we will use the Prev leak device to detect geyser leaks to help insurance companies minimize and manage claims risks supported by a predictive cloud solution that will use geyser data collected upon installation to predict future faults based on corrosion,design and environment.

TPS enjoys networking and collaborating with individuals and organizations in the social impact community. Solve would provide the opportunity for mentorship in a unique area that synthesizes social impact with leadership, whether it be from working with the assigned mentors or previous Solve alumni. Solve is incredibly unique as it combines social impact with entrepreneurship in the form of global challenges to provide young leaders with the opportunity to thrive and grow, which is what I have been searching for in my journey within social entrepreneurship.

N/A

N/A

N/A

1.TPS will utilize the healthy Cities Prize to cover operating expenses of our current pilot project in Zola Soweto using 4 units. 

2.Scale Our solution to other most affected communities such as Boipatong in the Vaal area and Diepsloot as a pilot project with these communities using 25 units.

3. Cover the remaining product development balance of R 96 422.10 that will see us obtaining more funding to improve the Prev leak device capabilities.

4. Employ 6 full time locals as our installation team.

5. Manufacture 60 units through TSE (Technology Station in Electronics) for commercialization.

6.Compete building our cloud predictive system and A Plumber App to enter the insurance market as a risk management solution that uses prev leak to detect and report geyser leaks and use of predictive cloud system to predict geyser faults and data collection.Use the App as a tool to submit jobs using pictures of manholes unblocked or geyser systems repaired.

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A