Earth911 Podcast: Nudge Systems' Pleco Water Use Tracker Plugs Your Wasteful Habits

How can we track our water usage to recognize how to save water? Earth911's Mitch Ratcliffe talks with Nelson Pedreiro of Nudge Systems, which makes the Pleco, a smart device that attaches to your water meter to track water usage by category, from toilet flushes and showers to washing the clothes and watering the lawn. It can also identify leaks long before the are visible to the eye. One tech magazine called it a “Fitbit for your water meter.” Nelson explains how to install and connect Pleco to an in-home display or smartphone app that reports your water use in detail. The American West faces an historic drought this summer and water conversation is more important than ever for 57 million Americans in the regions, many of whom may have taken water for granted until now. The good news is that there are immediate savings readily available to everyone because the average family wastes about 180 gallons of water a week, equal to about 10 five-minute showers. Nelson shares how Pleco's creators wanted to reduce their water footprint and are now using machine learning to identify different types of water usage more accurately. The $249 Pleco device straps onto a water meter and uses a magnetic monitor to track usage, sending the data to the home using a wireless network. Unlike most other water monitoring options, it does not need to be added into the home's plumbing.