Pump It Up: Smart Water Management for Indian Households

UX Research & IoT System Design for Water Conservation
Master's Thesis Project, University of Washington | 2017
🏆 Best in Show - HCDE Master's Program | $400 Prize

The Problem

India's growing population is straining water resources, leading to civil unrest over distribution. In 2016, Bangalore experienced water riots after Karnataka was ordered to share its depleted supply with Tamil Nadu. Yet households had no visibility into their water consumption or tank levels—relying on manual, labor-intensive monitoring with little insight into usage patterns.

Our Approach

We used human-centered design research to understand residential water management in India:

Research Methods:

• Interviews - Identified stakeholders, key usage scenarios, and what information matters most

• Contextual Inquiry - Observed how users currently manage water pumping and tank monitoring

• Literature Review - Studied residential water usage patterns and existing research

What We Built

A water usage monitoring system that empowers households to make community-aware decisions about their consumption:

Hardware:

• Automated water level monitoring for rooftop tanks

• Smart pump control to eliminate manual operation

• Real-time usage tracking and data collection

Software:

• Web/mobile interface displaying household water consumption

• Week-over-week usage insights

• Community comparison data to encourage conservation

Impact

By giving households visibility into their water usage, our system enabled more efficient, economical, and environmentally-friendly water management—benefiting both individual users and their neighbors in water-scarce regions.

Recognition

Best in Show, UW Master's Program | $400 Award

Team: Paula Chuchro, Jasmine Lawrence, Diane Lee, Setumadhava Kathavate
Program: MS in Human Centered Design & Engineering, University of Washington