Dialpad Employee’s Passion for Water Conservation Results in Design and Widespread Implementation of Rainwater Harvesting System

Ganesh Shanbhag developed a simple and easy-to-install collection system to reduce water costs and consumption in Bengaluru by leveraging rainwater

An employee of Dialpad Inc., the industry leader in AI-powered communication and collaboration, is playing a key role in water conservation efforts in Bengaluru, India. Ganesh Shanbhag, Senior Software Engineer at Dialpad, is passionate about water conservation and is taking tangible steps towards improving access to clean, potable water in Bengaluru. Shanbhag is the founding member of the I Live Simply movement chapter in Bengaluru and Core Executive Member of World of Water Action Forum where he advocates for climate change issues, specifically water conservation efforts in the region.

“We are very proud to see Ganesh channel his passion and skills in a way that solves a rising problem here in the Bengaluru community”

“We are very proud to see Ganesh channel his passion and skills in a way that solves a rising problem here in the Bengaluru community,” said Amit Kaul, Vice President of Engineering and India Country Manager, Dialpad. “Ganesh is living the Dialpad value, ‘Do the right thing’ and is an example to us all of what can be accomplished with some enthusiasm and effort.”

The sole mission of WoW is to save 1,000 crore (10 billion) liters of freshwater in Bengaluru each calendar year through sewage treatment, aerator usage, smart metering of water and rainwater harvesting (RWH). Working with his apartment building management, and fellow tenants, Shanbhag converted much of the building’s roof into a collection system for RWH. Shanbhag’s RWH system reduced the building’s freshwater demand by 20,000 liters per day. The system’s success gained local media attention and generated citywide demand for the installation of similar systems. To date, Shanbhag has designed and overseen the implementation of more than 150 systems throughout Bengaluru, saving an estimated 3 million liters of water.

“I do not charge any kind of fee for this work, only the costs to purchase raw materials,” said Shanbhag. “For me this is a hobby, a labor of love, and I hope to work with more apartment buildings who want to reduce their water costs and consumption.”

Dialpad is committed to developing hybrid work solutions through product innovations, relying heavily on the research and development in India. Dialpad India is comprised of more than 80 employees throughout India working remotely and in its Bengaluru office. Dialpad also encourages its employees to be a positive force in their communities. The company was one of the first to join the TechforBlackFounders initiative when it launched in the summer of 2020 and the company was selected by the National Juneteenth Observance Foundation to support its mission to make Juneteenth a nationally recognized holiday.

Dialpad plans to continue its India software engineering team investment with up to 50 new hires over the next 12 months. Dialpad is leading the hybrid work model through cloud communications by example with more than 900 employees spread across 11 offices and fully-remote teams easily collaborating on its own truly unified communications as a service (TruCaaS) platform.