Movie inspires group to create innovative tank

FACEBOOK founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg may have rejected Hollywood’s portrayal of him in The Social Network, but the film inspired a Gauteng teenager and his friends to design a tank to save water.

Matriculant Moses Mhlwana, from Pretoria’s Atteridgeville township, was the toast of international and local dignitaries at the World Water Day Summit and Expo in Durban.

There he won R15 000 for the group’s innovative smart tank in a Hack4Water competition.

Hack4Water is a nationwide campaign seeking innovative technologies and ideas from all sectors of society.

Mhlwana‚ a Grade 12 pupil at Bokgoni Technical Secondary School‚ and three friends created a prototype of a smart water tank that saves water by enabling users to digitally select the amount of water they need. It then releases the exact amount of water required.

The tank can also be used by farmers because it has moisture sensors that detect when the soil is dry.

When it is, the tank automatically releases the required amount of water for irrigation.

The tank consists of a smart touch screen with settings to select how much water is needed and a sensor to detect how much water is left inside.

Mhlwana said that he and a friend were watching The Social Network and became interested in information technology.

“We went for IT lessons. Another friend joined us and told us that he had once visited a village in Mpumalanga where residents had to wait for a truck to deliver water,” he said.

That was when they started thinking about possible solutions.

Mhlwana said although they did not have the actual structure‚ they had created a prototype and presented it to farmers, who were excited about the idea.

“They promised that if we build the actual structure‚ they will buy it‚” he said.