Water-Saving Think Tank

A trio of matric learners has created a high-tech system to curb water wastage – much-needed for SA’s water woes. 

- Nadim Nyker

IT WAS his big moment. He’d been flown to Durban and there, waiting to shake his hand, were President Jacob Zuma and Nomvula Mokonyane, minister of water and sanitation. They were eager to meet Moses Mhlwana, who at just 18 years old had helped come up with a genius invention that might help put an end to South Africa’s water woes.

But the feeling of excitement wasn’t mutual. Moses – who, along with two friends, had just come first out of 500 entries in the youth division of the Hack4Water contest – felt distinctly lukewarm about meeting the politicians.

“I wasn’t really excited because they aren’t the kind of people I want to meet,” the teen says bluntly. “I want to meet people like [Facebook co­founder] Mark Zuckerberg and [Microsoft co­founder] Bill Gates, and then I’ll be excited.”

The Facebook trailblazer has had a pivotal influence on Moses’ life. When he saw the movie The Social Network, about how Zuckerberg came to develop Facebook, it changed everything.

“I saw what lies behind everything I see; the websites – there are codes behind it. That’s when I became interested in coding,” he says. Moses’ decision to learn coding led to him teaming up with two other young go­getters, Njabulo Sibiya (17) and Ndumiso Cossa (19), to develop a clever innovation that puts a stop to water wastage.

It’s called the Smart Tank and consists of a water tank and a touchpad. People can use it to input how much water they need and then the tank measures it out exactly. With dams running dry in many parts of SA you can understand why their innovation is being met with so much fanfare.