# SIÉ WAKA · Water

# SIÉ WAKA

**Country:** 🇨🇴 Colombia · BOGOTA
**Category:** Water
**CT Taxonomy:** CT-WW-003 — Watershed Conservation & Hydrological Data
**Impact Areas:** Adaptation, Nature-Based
**Stage:** Public Beta
**Team Size:** 5.0
**Website:** https://siewakaplatform.streamlit.app/
**Funded:** True (29815.0)

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## Elevator Pitch
It is a decentralized, community-driven platform for water quality monitoring combining IoT sensors, open data, and citizen science. We empower communities and governments with real-time, evidence-based data to improve water governance and accountability.

## Climate Problem
Water scarcity and contamination are worsening due to climate change, yet monitoring data in vulnerable communities is scarce, unreliable, and opaque. Without real-time data, communities and governments cannot make informed water management decisions.

## Solution
Sié waka is a hybrid platform combining low-cost IoT sensors, a mobile app, and community protocols. Citizens collect and upload water quality data to a cloud dashboard, enabling real-time alerts, open data access, and accountability with authorities.

## Revenue Model
Revenue streams include: (1) B2G/B2B consulting services (ESR, water governance, monitoring plans); (2) SaaS licensing of AquaCitizen to municipalities and utilities; (3) paid community training programs; (4) data services for research institutions.

## Target Market
Primary: rural and peri-urban communities with limited water monitoring capacity in Latin America (Colombia, Mexico). Secondary: municipal governments, water utilities, NGOs, and research institutions requiring reliable, low-cost water quality data.

## Social Impact
Indigenous Peoples, People Living in Extreme Poverty, Women

## Demand Evidence
Validated through pilots in 4 cities (Bogotá, Cali, Villavicencio, Monterrey), 23 community activities, 250+ people engaged, and 100+ water samples collected. Governments and NGOs have expressed interest in our data. Three organizations have funded us.

## Competitors
Global competitors include mWater and AquaHacking platforms. Locally, IDEAM (Colombia) and CONAGUA (Mexico) collect data but lack community-level reach. Our advantage: decentralized, low-cost, citizen-led model with open data and accountability tools.

## Founder Expertise
Team includes a political scientist (smart cities), environmental engineer (MBA, HSEQ auditor), mechatronics engineer (nuclear applications), PhD environmental engineer (ITESM water researcher), and a biologist/aquaculture master (NGO director).

## External Support
Funded by CIVICHOUSE (2022), Hackcorruption Colombia (2023), and Young Water Solutions (2024). Supported by Lab NL, Neotropical Cuencas, Alkali+SOSAC, TECHO Colombia, and Red Nacional de Jóvenes de Ambiente. Three funding rounds secured to date.

## Team
Juan A. García: Strategy & government relations. Juan F. Pinto: Project manager & environmental engineering. David Gil: Hardware/IoT development. Dra. Thalía Turren: Scientific advisor & water research. Jhonatan Quiñones: Biodiversity & field operations.

## Founder
JUAN FELIPE PINTO CASTELBLANCO