In spite of its importance, water tech has been neglected in the growth of green technologies like renewable energy, waste management, and energy storage. Several other greentech ventures increased in revenue and interest, gaining the confidence of their early investors. Water tech has not received the same well-deserved attention.

Today, it has been harder to cultivate renewed financial interest in promising watertech company after the hype of 2005 and 2005. However, even in the face of this lack of confidence from investors, the market pull is building for dramatic solutions to water management issues as the importance of water tech is finally acknowledged.

In May of 2011, the Artemis Project co-sponsored the Water Leadership Summit in Toronto, in partnership with the government of Ontario, XPV Capital, and the Cleantech Group in response to this exciting new interest in water tech. Three hundred of the world’s leading water tech investors gathered to meet the 2011 Artemis Top 50 and speak with executives from trail-blazers in the water industry. The conference brought together leaders in the field, encouraged projects and investments, and helped forge promising partnerships. The opportunities fostered and developed at the Artemis Top 50 will make water tech the exciting investment opportunity it deserves to be.

Going forward, the Artemis Project is developing seminars that combine case studies with hands-on discussion. Small groups will work together to devise strategies that take on the challenges of getting to market and driving revenue. Senior executives and water tech investors will have a chance to develop relationships in an intimate, challenging environment.

Participants will have the rare opportunity to step back from day-to-day responsibilities and acquire the knowledge and skills that define today’s most effective executives, such as:
A heightened awareness of the extraordinary financial conditions and external forces shaping the water industry right now
A portfolio of leadership skills and the most effective techniques with which to approach each unique set of opportunities
A process of self-assessment that improves performance as a senior leader
Fresh strategic frameworks and tools to stay ahead of the competition
New levels of confidence that translate into effective decision making throughout an organization
An invaluable network of global peers for exploring challenges and opportunities throughout a career
Watch our website to learn more as we develop our program!

Bringing forth the “gee-whiz” water innovations of today and making them the iPhones of the future has a lot to do with rigorous testing with authoritative frameworks for evaluating new approaches.

The US National Science Foundation has funded a new Engineering Research Center (ERC) focused around water with a ten-year, $40M grant.  It is the first NSF ERC focused around water, and represents a significant amount of the overall federal funding for research in water.  Based on the structure of the ERC program, ReNUWIt might prove pivotal in bringing the innovative solutions to wide scale use.

Historically, the NSF has served a pivotal role in developing the innovations that have defined American life—from the Internet to robotics.  The NSF is charged with supporting “high-risk, high pay-off” ideas, novel collaborations and numerous projects that may seem like science fiction today, but which the public will take for granted tomorrow.

The Engineering Research Centers (ERCs) promote partnerships among researchers in different disciplines and between industry and universities.  Reinventing Urban Water Infrastructure brings together 27 of the leading water engineering services and water equipment companies, including Bechtel Corporation, Carollo Engineers, CH2M Hill, IBM, Kennedy/Jenks Consultants, Malcolm Pirnie and Veolia.

The Artemis Project serves as the Innovation Partner for the project. Bringing forth the “gee-whiz” water innovations of today and making them the iPhones of the future has a lot to do with rigorous testing with authoritative frameworks for evaluating new approaches.

Bringing forth the “gee-whiz” water innovations of today and making them the iPhones of the future has a lot to do with rigorous testing with authoritative frameworks for evaluating new appraoches.

What is holding back the most promising water tech companies?  Validation.  Water needs rigorous, well-charted validation testing in order to get to the wide-scale market faster. While you might be cranky if the firewall software that you put on your computer doesn’t work, you might die if a water management solution doesn’t perform.  Truly innovative solutions require an entirely new framework for evaluating their performance.  This NSF ERC brings together leading industrial corporations, utilities and academics who can propose the frameworks for validation of new water management approaches.

Truly innovative solutions require an entirely new framework for evaluating their performance.  This NSF ERC brings together leading industrial corporations, utilities and academics who can propose the frameworks for validation of new water management approaches.

Here at the Artemis Project, we are tracking almost 1000 venture investment worthy companies that have developed IP-intensive water management solutions.  There is plenty of innovation.

As the Innovation Partner for ReNUWIt, the Artemis Project is responsible for developing the ERC’s strategic plan and research to bring its innovation into the market.  These innovations will provide a public good and will also drive economic development and create jobs.

Artemis is advising on how innovation emerging from the center might best be tested to address the concerns of the leading water managers who will pioneer use of the systems. Artemis provides the connection for the ERC to the venture capital community and to young start-up water tech companies.

Where do you see models for validating water tech?

By YULIYA CHERNOVA

Joe Duty
BY THE TRUCKLOAD With fracking’s growth, tankers unloading wastewater keep a Texas recycling site busy 

The growing volume of dirty water produced in shale-gas drilling has triggered a gold rush among water-treatment companies.

Energy companies increasingly are drilling for natural gas using hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. In this process, water mixed with sand and chemicals is pumped into a well under high pressure; the mixture fractures the rock, allowing the gas to escape. Huge amounts of water are used, and about 10% to 40% of it emerges after a frack job, laced with a variety of contaminants.

Even as the volume of dirty water grows, the traditional methods of disposal are narrowing. Several states are considering or have recently imposed limits on wastewater disposal underground or in streams. Meanwhile, record drought in some drilling areas is making access to fresh water for drilling more difficult, costly and unpopular.

The net result: “For the first time there’s a strong driver for technology” to clean up the wastewater from mines so it can be reused, says Laura Shenkar, founder of the Artemis Project, a water-technology consulting firm. Dozens of water-treatment companies have started up in the past year or so, and many of the more established companies are adapting their techniques for use in the shale-gas industry. How many of those companies the market can support remains to be seen.

Plenty of Options

Companies are using several different approaches to shale-gas wastewater treatment.

Ecosphere Technologies Inc., based in Stuart, Fla., is one of the dominant providers of water treatment for the shale-gas industry, according to Lux Research, a technology research and consulting firm. The company’s technology avoids the use of chemicals typically employed to treat wastewater.

Ecosphere’s process forces dirty water through pipes where ozone breaks down contaminants with the help of sound waves, electrically charged particles and changes in pressure. No waste is created in the process, because while the technology renders contaminants harmless it doesn’t filter anything out.

Another strong competitor for new business, according to Lux analyst Brent Giles, is WaterTectonics Inc., based in Everett, Wash. The company uses a process called electric coagulation, in which an electric charge forces contaminant particles into clumps that can be removed after they either rise to the surface of the water or sink to the bottom. The process avoids the use of chemicals, but it does produce waste that has to be disposed of.

Another company, Altela Inc., based in Albuquerque, N.M., earned a spot on Artemis Project’s 2011 list of the 50 most innovative water-technology companies in the U.S. Its technology mimics rainmaking. Wastewater is heated to the point of evaporation, which produces clean water in the form of vapor, leaving contaminant particles behind. The vapor is then condensed back into liquid form.

The basic process, called thermal distillation, isn’t new, but Altela has found a way to make it more efficient, by capturing the heat generated by condensation and using it for evaporation. Ned Godshall, the company’s chief executive, says Altela’s method uses a third of the energy typically required for conventional thermal distillation.

Do It Yourself

One potential drag on the use of all these technologies: Some drillers have started to simply reuse their wastewater without fully treating it. But it isn’t clear how much of a factor that will be. Many technology companies and some researchers argue that there is a limit to such recycling because it doesn’t clean the water enough for it to be used repeatedly and still be effective. The particles in dirty water can damage equipment and block the release of gas from the shale.

“When I learned in early 2010 that they were going to recycle, I thought they were going to do a real heavy-duty treatment” before reusing the water, says John Veil, who analyzed water treatment for the oil and gas industry for many years at the Argonne National Laboratory, and now does so at his own consulting firm. “They are not. All they are doing is getting out the big sand grains in a [filtering] process as simple as pouring the water through pantyhose.”

Ms. Chernova is a special writer for Dow Jones VentureWire in New York. She can be reached at yuliya.chernova@dowjones.com.

As U.S. shale gas resources and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, have entered the national consciousness, protests from nearby residents, then regulation, have followed. Yet rather than being bad for business, this regulation is actually spurring a new market in water technologies, according to a comprehensive report by the Artemis Project, a specialist consulting practice.

In particular, author Purabi Thakre and editor Laura Shenkar believe the rich Marcellus “play” — the gas industry term for large deposits — and its location under heavily populated New York and Pennsylvania are creating a vast market opportunity. “The Marcellus Effect: Building Momentum for Advanced Water Technology Solutions” says, “Experts estimate that shale gas drilling will grow sevenfold over the next 10 years in the Marcellus Shale…. The resulting market for wastewater disposal and treatment in this region alone will exceed $3 billion per year, according to the banking firm Boennings & Scattergood. In addition, Shenkar expects that water technology innovations created for shale plays will find markets in other industries.

An expert on corporate water strategy and water technologies, Shenkar founded the Artemis Project, a consulting firm that advises corporations on water strategy and supports technological innovation in water management. Each year the Artemis Project sponsors the Top 50 Water Companies Competition to identify emerging technologies and investment opportunities in the water sector. This year, 10 of the 50 companies were innovating new technologies to clean up fracking wastewater.

Fracking has been around for decades, but new technology innovations and a higher price for natural gas have recently made it economic to employ it more widely. But Congress, pushed by Vice President Dick Cheney, exempted gas drilling from EPA Clean Water Act regulations in 2005. So as fracking has ramped up, particularly close to where people live, environmental concerns about water quality have emerged. Perhaps the image that best captures people’s concerns is video footage of a man setting his tap water on fire in the documentary film Gasland.

Since that film debuted last year, a scientific report has linked fracking to methane contamination in nearby aquifers. Pennsylvania officials fined Chesapeake Energy more than $1 million for contaminating the water supply in Bradford County. New York recommended a ban on drilling in the watersheds for New York City and Syracuse. In June Texas became the first state to require disclosure of fracking chemicals, which were previously considered to be intellectual property. Just this month, a federal panel recommended greater disclosure and monitoring of fracking’s environmental effects.

Fracking is a water-intensive process. According to “The Marcellus Effect,” a typical frack well uses about 4 million gallons of fresh water over its lifetime. The fracking process dirties the water both with the proprietary chemicals used and by its exposure to elements deep in the earth that are not found in surface waters. The industry calls its wastewater “produced water.”

According to the report:

“Produced water is often high in naturally occurring total dissolved solids, chloride, sulfate, and metals (such as iron)…. Produced water may also contain naturally occurring radioactive material or petroleum compounds (such as benzene, toluene, and xylene). The produced water might also contain remnants of the fracturing fluids [which contain secret recipes of chemicals]…. An individual well in the Marcellus Shale is estimated to create approximately 15,000 gallons of produced water per year.”

Historically the industry has disposed of produced water by injecting it underground in “disposal wells.” But the Marcellus region’s geology does not permit construction of disposal wells, and its undulating terrain makes it difficult to pipe water long distances. In the Marcellus area, some companies have been recycling wastewater to use again but sell the byproduct, a salty, contaminated sludge, to communities for de-icing roads or suppressing dust. Companies have also paid to haul wastewater to sewage plants, which aren’t designed to adequately treat it. Tainted water is then dumped into rivers, a particularly pernicious problem in Pennsylvania, where the Department of Environmental Protection is beginning to impose more stringent regulations.

All this attention has been uncomfortable for the gas companies, but it is forcing them to deal with their wastewater in a more substantial way. In particular, energy companies are interested in onsite water treatment options.

“We predict that the integrated wastewater appliances that emerge in Marcellus will replace off-site disposal as a predominant practice in shale gas drilling,” says the Artemis report.

Water technology companies smell opportunity, and several big companies that have historically handled wastewater disposal in central treatment locations are working on new strategies. They are naturally well positioned to exploit this opportunity as they have standing relationships with the oil and gas companies. However, emerging companies have a unique opportunity right now, says the report:

“There is an urgent need for a reliable water management solution, which has created a game-changing vacuum…. The unique situation in Marcellus has opened a window of opportunity where technology and innovation trump the positions held by established companies, allowing these emerging companies to gain access to end customers. Until the bigger players that are the gatekeepers “crack the code” and establish strong onsite water treatment solutions for shale gas drilling, promising young technology solutions companies have a chance to commercialize their solutions and attain sustainable profitability by deploying quickly.”

The report also says that several emerging companies have received interest, funding, and support for product testing and validation from gas companies.

Shenkar told me she expects to see turnkey solutions, the equivalent of a PC or other end-user product. “These products offer a company operating in a remote location a portable solution that will give them the ability to precisely execute the several processes required to clean the water and to validate the results by testing it afterward,” she said. “We believe Marcellus will demand that, and technology can do that better than humans.”

In particular, Shenkar believes companies may be motivated by the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002, which set new accountability standards for public companies in the United States.

“Under the act, a CEO could theoretically be thrown in jail for failing to clean up the water to accepted standards,” she said. “The validation component of these turnkey solutions, in particular, is likely to be in demand as industry standards come into focus.”

Companies specializing in the latest filtration technologies are rushing to meet the need. Some firms are already positioned with proven solutions that can handle wastewater from fracking operations. Many others are working feverishly to apply their technologies to cash in on the boom in business. Read the full story.

The Global Water Leadership Summit will convene an invitation-only audience with the world’s leading water innovators, funders, entrepreneurs and researchers to participate in an interactive dialogue on the future of innovation in the water sector.

One of the goals of the Summit is to address the promise of water tech as a new engine for economic growth.

“We are excited to partner on this landmark summit that will bring forth important economic development opportunities as the need for water tech grows,” states The Artemis Project Founder and Principal, Laura Shenkar.

“The purpose of the Artemis Top 50 Awards ceremony is to support the most promising water tech companies as they go to market with their solutions,” continues Laura Shenkar.  “H2Ontario will provide a unique opportunity for each of the Top 50 to introduce themselves to the partners, customers and investors.”

The Artemis Water Tech Top 50 will highlight the most promising water technologies of 2011 and bring those companies’ CEOs from all over the world to Toronto, Canada.

“Having the Artemis 50 companies participate in the Summit is extremely important as they represent the next generation of water innovators,” states David Henderson, honorary chair and managing director of XPV Capital Corporation.

Since 2009, The Artemis Project Top 50 has served as a primary resource for investors, water equipment and chemical companies and prospective customers for the most promising emerging water technology solutions. Eligible companies must have completed product development and have annual revenues of less than $25 million.

Laura Shenkar notes: “Over the past two years, we have developed a review process that gets to the essence of a company’s value and their potential going forward. With our analysis we are able to predict what water technologies will matter most in the next few years.”

The competition brings together leading experts in the water industry to evaluate the water technology solutions, its value in application, and the companies’ core team.  The judges for 2011 include: Paul Gagliardo, American Water; Rengarajan Ramesh, Angstroms; Andrew Salveson, Carollo Engineers; Steven Kloos, GE Water & Process Technologies; John Simpson, General Services Administration; Peter Williams, IBM Green Innovations; Jean Debroux, Kennedy Jenks; Chris Thompson, Nalco; Paul O’Callaghan, O2 Environmental; Peleg Chevion, Syngenta; Finn Nielsen and Bill Wescott, Veolia. U.S. EPA scientists and engineers will participate in judging companies.*

About The Artemis Project

The Artemis Project™ is a boutique consulting practice dedicated to helping companies thrive in a world of increasing water scarcity. We operate at the intersection of corporate strategy, advanced technology, investment and policy. We work with global corporations to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage through operational excellence in water management and assist advanced water technology companies in maximizing the value they bring to their customers.  For more information visit: www.theartemisproject.com.

About H2Ontario Global Water Leadership Summit

The Summit is an exclusive event for world-leading water innovators, funders, thinkers, catalysts, entrepreneurs and researchers focused on generating an interactive dialogue on the future of innovation in the water sector.  The Summit is being hosted by the Ontario Government in partnership with XPV Capital Corporation, Cleantech Group, Ontario Centre of Excellence and The Artemis Project.   You can find more information at www.ontario.ca/watersummit.

* The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency does not endorse THE ARTEMIS PROJECT NOR ANY OF THE APPLICANTS OR CONTEST WINNERS. EPA DOES NOT ENDORSE the purchase OR USE of technology or other commercial products from contest winners.

View this release on PRWeb

But the big surprises that we have been expecting—burst water mains that close huge areas of metropolitan offices, water rationing as a result of depleted reservoirs – have not occurred as we might have expected.  The average age of pipes in the US is over 80 years (for equipment with a 50-year life span) and the EPA has identified a $335 Billion gap in our investment in water infrastructure.  Still few symptoms of these crises have been heard above the noise of our daily lives.

Not surprisingly, we haven’t seen the movement that we would have expected from corporations to address the concerns of their biggest investors.  When water is cheap and abundant, why spend precious time and budget to increasingly implement active water management in their operations?

In the Artemis Project’s work with corporations, we are seeing a small elite group of leaders emerge from a variety of industries.  Water management matters today, and now is the time to develop water management best practices before the water crises to come.

The quiet leaders in the blue revolution in business understand that agility to adapt to thirstier times in the future will be a competitive advantage.

The most promising water tech companies are making themselves part of this quiet “blue business revolution.”   While innovative water tech products often must first prove themselves in pilot projects at utilities, the speed with which they build their presence in business operations determines how well they realize their potential.

Business has served as the gateway to the full-scale market for any new wave of technology.  When business adopts a technology as standard in its operations—from the personal computer to the cell phone, it creates the scale of orders that drive down price per unit and force tech companies to compete to perfect a rugged, user-friendly device.

The Artemis Project believes water technology has the potential to gain the scale that cellular phones or personal computers have reached today.

Water industry leaders, investors and customers are looking for promising technologies.
The Artemis Project Top 50 provides a rigorous, independent mechanism for identifying the leading 50 water tech ventures.

The competition includes:

• An outreach to water managers, investors and academics worldwide to gather the largest pool of qualified companies
• A judging panel composed of the industry’s most respected leaders and consultants
• An evaluation process that addresses the value of each technology, the application of the technology in a product in the field and the potential for the company’s team to realize the wide-market potential for that technology.

The Artemis Project Top 50 water technology listing provides a central resource for water users, water investors and water corporations seeking partnerships.

Each winning company in the Top 50 listing joins a league of elites.  Some of these companies have strong partnerships and venture capital funding and some come from leading academic institutions.

Companies that appear among the Artemis Project Top 50 gain remarkability as leaders in a burgeoning industry. Events such as closing major company contracts, receiving investment funding or forming major partnerships gain additional attention and credibility.  Top 50 honors augments companies’ already impressive “résumés”: each year, one of the Top 50 have won the World Economic Forum Technology Innovation Pioneers prize.

The Top 50 listing is announced during the first week of May each year.

During May, the Artemis Project hosts a gala event to announce and honor the Top 50.  Last year, the award ceremony took place at the BlueTech Innovation Forum on June 8 in San Francisco.

Learn more about and enter the Artemis Top 50 competition.

Innovations like the telephone, fax and personal computer provide tremendous direct benefits. When they were adopted, they redefined the cost structure of business and changed the nature of many industries.  Armies of secretaries typed dictation in the 1950s, but today most executives type their own correspondence, primarily via email.  They hold staff meetings by cell phone with teams around the world.

The world’s leading corporations will need similar “high tech” innovation to address the water resource challenges they will face over the next few years.

We need to redesign how we manage water resources to address the water scarcity, environmental decay and infrastructural breakdown that we are encountering worldwide.

The purpose of the Artemis Top 50 is to identify the technologies that can provide a magnitude of savings by managing water resources.  For example:

• Through onsite water reclaim, a shopping center can save 80-90% of its drinking water and 85% of the energy used to treat and bring that water to its site.
• Or, microbial fuel cells can produce electricity from sewage and power a sewage treatment plan.

The Artemis Project’s experience with water companies world-wide shows us that the innovation necessary to solve major water challenges is already available today.  The challenge is getting those products to market.

The Artemis Project Top 50 competition selects companies that have both the most promising technology and the most promising teams capable of bringing their products to market.  We also consider the urgency of the market demand for each company’s specific solution.

Each of the 50 companies on the Top 50 illustrate another aspect of the potential role of innovative technology in water management, and the wave of business opportunity that will follow.

Learn more about the Artemis Top 50 competition.

Water is one of the most promising investment themes of the next decade, yet water technology is only seeing the beginning of venture capital investment. In 2010, water tech. accounted for only two percent of the $5.7 billion invested in the 590 deals made in green technologies.

Since 2009, The Artemis Project Top 50 has served as a primary resource for investors, water equipment and chemical companies and prospective customers for the most promising emerging water technology solutions. Eligible companies must have completed product development and have annual revenues of less than $25 million.

The competition brings together leading experts in the water industry to evaluate the water technology solutions, its value in application, and the companies’ core team. The judges for 2011 include: Bill Wescott, Veolia; Steven Kloos, GE Water & Process Technologies; Peter Williams, IBM Green Innovations; Chris Thompson, Nalco; Peleg Chevion, Syngenta; Paul Gagliardo, American Water; Andrew Salveson, Carollo Engineers; Jean Debroux, Kennedy Jenks; Paul O’Callaghan, O2 Environmental; and Rengarajan Ramesh, Angstroms. U.S. EPA scientists and engineers will participate in judging companies and have been involved in developing environmental, sustainability and quality assurance/quality control application questions for this year’s contest.*

Laura Shenkar, founder and principal of The Artemis Project, notes: “Over the past two years, we have developed a review process that gets to the essence of a company’s value and their potential going forward. With our analysis we are able to predict what water technologies will matter most in the next few years.”

There is no cost to participate in the competition. The deadline for applications is January 15, 2011. For more information about the Top 50, visit The Artemis Project or emailinfo@theartemisproject.com.

* The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency does not endorse THE ARTEMIS PROJECT NOR ANY OF THE APPLICANTS OR CONTEST WINNERS. EPA DOES NOT ENDORSE the purchase OR USE of technology or other commercial products from contest winners.

Read the press release.