Sump, tanker and tower water meters with weekly scorecards for older societies
TL;DR Tankscore meters the few pipes that matter in an older apartment society - each source into the sump and each line up to a tower's overhead tank. The committee sees where water goes, checks every tanker load and splits the cost by tower. The society pays a monthly fee from its maintenance fund.
Most Indian households never see a per-litre number. In Gujarat's cities, only four municipal corporations had consumer meters, and those covered only a few connections, while supply ran for about two hours a day[1]. Nobody can tell a leak from heavy use.
Apartment societies make it messier. Water comes in from the municipal line, a borewell and often tankers, sits in a sump and gets pumped to overhead tanks. The bill lands on the society as one sum, and without flat meters it can only be split by flat or by floor area, so a couple pays the same as a family of six.
In Chennai, reservoirs ran dry in June 2019, and a year earlier private tankers were reported to supply 50–60% of the water used in the city and its suburbs[2]. Societies that buy tanker water rarely have a record of how many litres each load delivered.
Tankscore fits ultrasonic meters on each source line into the sump and on the riser feeding each tower's overhead tank, plus a level sensor in each tank. That's a handful of meters per tower, not several in every flat. The dashboard shows daily litres in and out, flags flow at 3 a.m. when nothing should be running, catches tanks that keep filling after they're full and logs each tanker delivery against the litres the sump actually gained.
Every Monday residents get a one-page scorecard with their tower's litres per resident, set against the society average and last month. The committee can then split the water bill by tower rather than equally. Tankscore measures and reports only. It does not supply, sell or treat water.
I reframed the seed, which pitched a points-and-badges app for households. Gamification needs per-home data, and most homes lack a meter[1]. Where per-flat meters exist, the vendors sell billing, not games, and one submetering vendor reports a 35.3% fall in use against customers' pre-metering data[3]. So the real lever is paying for what you use, and Tankscore is the cheaper first step for older buildings, with a hand-off to per-flat metering once the society is ready.
The managing committee or RWA pays from the maintenance fund, or the facility-management firm does in larger complexes. Residents see scorecards but don't pay separately. The price to test is a one-time fitting fee per tower plus a monthly subscription per society. Both are my assumptions, because the leading metering vendors publish no prices and ask for quotes[3][4]. The committee will judge Tankscore against its own tanker and pump electricity bills.
AMRUT 2.0, launched on 1 October 2021 with an outlay of ₹2,99,000 crore, pushes cities toward metered supply, 24x7 water and non-revenue water under 20%[5]. Pey Jal Survekshan now scores 485 cities on metering, flow measurement and how aware residents are of saving water[6]. As cities start metering bulk connections, societies that measure their own use will be able to argue their bills with data.
Nobody publishes a figure for an Indian society water-metering market. The narrowest numbers are vendor scale - one Chennai vendor says it serves 70,000+ homes[4], and a Bengaluru vendor says it has measured about 37.9 billion litres[3]. Both are self-reported. They show that societies pay for water data, but not how many older buildings would pay for a lighter version.
A Chennai-based metering firm sells per-apartment ultrasonic metering with billing and leak alerts for new and existing buildings[4]. A Bengaluru vendor sells smart water meters to developers and RWAs, wired for high-rises and wireless for villas[3]. An industrial metering startup meters factories and campuses and turns readings into a signed monthly water statement[7]. All three meter at the point of use or the plant.
The gap is older societies of 40–150 flats whose committees want answers on sources, tankers and towers before paying to meter every flat.
| Difficulty | Moderate (39/100) |
| Starting capital | ₹45–85 L |
| Time to launch | 5–8 months |
The meters are bought in. The real work is fitting them in cramped pump rooms, keeping them calibrated and building a tanker log that a supplier can't game. Selling is slower than building, because committees change every year or two and approve spending at general body meetings, so expect long cycles and some churn when new office-bearers arrive.
No sector licence to meter a society's water, but the hardware and the billing both raise questions.
Building this outside India? The categories above usually have a local equivalent, so check with your own regulator.
Don't let AI settle billing disputes between residents. Readings can drift and a human should check any number that decides who pays what.
Want to work out the AI layer for Tankscore? Talk to Yash →
Here's what can go south -
I see this as a small, practical business for a founder who has sold to housing societies or run facility management. It's unlikely to become a large platform on its own. It works best as the entry step before per-flat metering or as an add-on for a facility-management firm.
Prove two things first - 10 societies pay for a full year, and at least half change how they share water costs.
Plan for roughly ₹45–85 L, mostly meters, gateways, installation crews and software. Starting with a few societies keeps hardware stock small.
No sector licence. You need WPC self-declaration for wireless meters, company and GST registration, and a check on Legal Metrology if residents are billed on your readings.
Yes, wherever shared buildings split one water bill. Check local radio approval and meter certification rules before you install.
The free Tankscore validation kit has the line-by-line capital breakdown, the effort scoring, the radio and data-protection checklist, a 14-day validation sprint with pass/fail targets, a 90-day launch plan, 10 interview questions for society committees, and 5 assumptions to test. Download the kit →
Thinking about building Tankscore or something close to it? The make-or-break work is getting a society committee to sign and then to actually change how it splits the water bill, and committees move slowly. If you need a hand, you know where to find me. Talk to Yash →
For illustration only. Names are fictional and ideas hypothetical; sourced facts are real but may be out of date. Nothing here is legal, financial or professional advice, and Yash Khatri is not personally liable for any use of it. Read the full disclaimer.