Utilities Are Careful for a Reason. New York Built a Way In.

New York City's Department of Environmental Protection moves 1 billion gallons of drinking water a day to more than 9.6 million people, and about 95 percent of it arrives by gravity from 19 upstate reservoirs. The watersheds are protected well enough that federal rules let most of that water be delivered unfiltered. It is the largest combined municipal water and wastewater utility in the country, and it is aging.A startup does not get to put a sensor on that by cold email. Anushree Sreedhar runs the Environmental Tech Lab at the Partnership for New York City, a structured pilot program built with DEP that gives companies a real way in. In three years the lab has partnered with 24 companies, helped two land commercial procurements, and has about five more underway.What we get into:Why a careful utility is careful for good reasons, and why that is a feature rather than an obstacleThe four stages: challenge discovery, public posting, a two-phase evaluation, then a three-month proof of concept with an optional three-month extensionWho is on the hook when a pilot stalls. The Partnership hosts the check-ins and holds DEP to the timelines; DEP assigns a project manager who sets the goals and KPIsThe three buckets that cover almost every water technology: software, sensors, and energy and resource recoveryThe honest part: a successful pilot is not a purchase order. The companies that convert usually arrive with results and existing customers already behind themApplications for the fourth round are open now and close October 23. The challenges are open to companies anywhere in the world. Apply to the ETL.Anushree Sreedhar is Director of Innovation Programs at the Partnership for New York City, where she runs the Environmental Tech Lab with NYC DEP and the Buildings Tech Lab with NYC DOB. She patented a fire extinguisher redesign at 20 and came to water by way of product design, enterprise software, and vertical farming.Companies mentioned: Gryps, Manhole Metrics, InPipe Energy, Knaq. Anushree is reading Recoding America.Also available on: YouTube and at liquidassets.cc.Liquid Assets is sponsored by HASA. Premium water care since 1964.