Utilis Founder Receives Water and Wastes Digest's Young Pro Award
Jul 13, 2021
Water and Wastes Digest recently honored Lauren Guy, founder and Chief Technology Officer of Utilis with the 2021 Young Pro Award. Guy built Utilis to change how the world views water as a natural resource.
Guy shared what drives his work in a written interview and by video. “My biggest dream is that water will be considered priceless, as are petroleum products and rare earth metals.” He believes it is important for the world to learn that water is not an infinite, cheap resource. Rather, water is a resource that requires care, thoughtfulness and planning to properly manage for the long term.
After creating the technology, Guy’s job became countering skepticism. He understood that the water utilities are a traditional market, and that industry tends to resist change. Since it was challenging to introduce innovation to a market, Guy started at home. The Utilis team built a new application and found their first leak. “Our first project was with a local utility in Israel that was highly skeptical regarding our technology. On our first day in the field, on the very first location we went to, we found an enormous leak.”
In the five years since, their wins are stacking up. Utilis applied for seven patents and succeeded in making synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) based leak detection a technology accepted in utilities across the globe. Because their wins protect the earth’s water supply, we all benefit. To date, Utilis has located more than 40,000 water leaks.
The Utilis solution, using SAR to find water underground, required thinking differently than the industry had in the past. Guy believes the mindset of people in his generation drove this positive change. They seek out solutions unlike any generation before. Guy said, “This generation is less reliant on hunches, feelings, and biased information, and more guided by actual data to make their decisions. The industry is less focused on one key decision maker at a utility, and now to a more matrixed organization where everyone brings their own unique knowledge. Decisions are made as a team effort, often driven by data.”
While one would expect that Guy works long hours, he also prioritizes family time and service to his community. He is a chess player and volunteers his time teaching chess in his hometown in Beer-Sheva, Israel, where they have more chess grandmasters per capita than any other city in the world. He also spends time playing piano, teaching music, or at the baseball field. From the interviews, we learn that Guy’s resilience and concern for global health may have come from overcoming a brain tumor at age 18 and by observing his mother overcome obstacles to become a public health teacher.
More News and Articles
Jul 24, 2024
News
UK utilities place multiple orders for settlement tank technology
Northumbrian Water, Southern Water, and Dŵr Cymru upgrading wastewater sites
Three UK water utilities have agreed orders for the installation of a total of six conical settlement …
Jul 22, 2024
Article
Reusing wastewater, rethinking water: Maharashtra's roadmap
How Maharashtra turns wastewater into a resource
Water resource management is a critical issue globally, and in India, the state of Maharashtra is pioneering efforts to regulate and …
Jul 19, 2024
News
Kansas City advances fire hydrant leak detection technology
An acoustic fixed-base pipe monitoring technology that uses fire hydrants to host multi-sensor devices, has already found more than 30 leaks for Kansas City Water, says Lou Rossetti …
Jul 17, 2024
News
When two bores right a wrong
The Edge Underground team is adamant: there is always a risk of things going wrong on a trenchless project, even for the most prepared contractor.
Experience and having the right equipment can be the difference between …
Jul 15, 2024
News
Adapting to a region’s growing water and wastewater needs
Gippsland Water has completed two major projects to provide local communities with water security. Trenchless Australasia takes a look at the two projects helping increase water supply …
Jul 12, 2024
News
Connections made in Glastonbury
Difficult ground conditions called for a specialist solution when new PE pipes for potable water services had to be installed underneath two, 10-metre road crossings in the grounds of the UK’s ultimate music festival …
Jul 10, 2024
Article
The Water-Energy Nexus: Interdependence and Challenges
Niclas Andersson, CEO of AirWater2All, explains the connection between water and energy. The importance of this connection and the areas in which it needs to be considered are explained …
Jul 08, 2024
News
Minimising cultural impacts with trenchless technology
Yarra Valley Water is leveraging the benefits of trenchless technology to lessen impacts on the Upper Darebin Creek branch sewer project.
The project consists of building a 2.7km sewer pipe …
Jul 05, 2024
News
SprayWall: Reinforcing Underground Infrastructure with Unmatched Strength
In the trenchless technology industry, finding a rehabilitation solution that offers ease of installation and exceptional structural integrity is paramount.
For three decades, …
Jul 01, 2024
News
“Don’t let stereotypes hold you back”
Trenchless Australasia sat down with Rob Carr project manager Marie Piette to discuss her career and work at the microtunnelling contracting company.
From Norway to Cambodia and now Perth, Western Australia, …
Jun 28, 2024
News
Transforming Wastewater: Towards Climate-Neutral Sewage Treatment
Baden-Württemberg’s Minister President Winfried Kretschmann recently toured the Büsnau Training and Research Sewage Treatment Plant, where a pioneering project led by researchers …
Jun 26, 2024
News
Bothar advances with significant new contracts
Having commenced work on the Fitzroy to Gladstone Pipeline earlier this year, Bothar Boring and Tunnelling has announced the award of further contracts as part of its ongoing collaboration with …
Contact
Utilis Corporate
Amal St. 13, Park Afeq, Building A, 1st floor
4809249 Rosh Ha’ayin
Israel
Phone:
+972 3 5108119
Fax:
+972 9 8866006