Young software engineers who had been given 48 hours created the "Waze of Water App" which monitors pipe leaks.
The development came on the second day of the Fourth Water Research Commission being held at the Sandton Convention Centre, where exhibitors, stakeholders and innovators were sharing ideas on sustainable water use on Thursday.
One of the stalls in the exhibition area was the "Hackathon", which commenced on Wednesday where young developers were given less than 48 hours to create the App.
Accepting the challenge, they came up with the “Waze for Water” App that will allow the Water Research Commission to monitor pipe leaks, dam levels, rainfall and drought conditions.
"If there's water leaking, our device will be able to sense it. It will be placed near pipes and the flow will be sensed and alert us through the App," said Joel Tiego, a software engineer of Expotech Industries.
"In South Africa, 37% of the country's water gets wasted through leakages and bridging so this is why the project is important to us."
The winner of Hackathon will be announced Friday at the closing ceremony.
- African News Agency (ANA)
