UV Pure CEO Editorial Featured In 2013 Canadian Cleantech Report

The 2013 Canadian Clean Technology Industry Report, features the editorial (below) on global markets contributed by Rick VanSant, President & CEO of UV Pure Technologies Inc.

The report, released in late October by Analytica Advisors, examines jobs in the clean technology industry, exports, innovation and competitive performance, and discusses why the industry is both Canada's first new industry in the 21st century and a foundational base for growth in other industries.

"Solving the next generation of water challenges"

The global market for water treatment technologies is growing and becoming increasingly important as the quality and quantity of freshwater is stressed, and as the link between fresh water sources and wastewater quality becomes more obvious.

Estimates for the global water treatment market (infrastructure, O&M, and technology) are $800B today, forecasting $1.4T by 2020, or CAGR of about eight percent. We estimate the technology segment at ten percent of the overall market ($80B) growing at 12 percent CAGR, and as high as 15 percent for a leading technology like UV.

Market growth and product segment shifts are driven by various factors:

• Treatment needs expand at 2.4 times population growth
• Urbanization increases demand and pollution
• Desertification reduces per capita access to fresh water
• Economic development and industrialization require more treated water and more wastewater treatment than agrarian societies
• A shift from chemical to non-chemical water treatment
• Change to distributed, decentralized treatment that costs less, is more energy efficient and less capital-intensive and infrastructure dependent
• Technology enabling remote monitoring and operation
• Increasing awareness and regulation of treatment standards

UV Pure Technologies' advanced UV purification systems are targeted at these global market shifts - where the growth is. We see CAGR for the wastewater treatment systems segment, particularly smaller (under 1 MGD or 3800 m3/day) distributed applications, as dramatically ahead of the potable UV technology segment, and treatment technology in general.

Driving this segment growth is a realization that treatment of wastewater, before it's returned to the environment, not only addresses pre-treatment contamination and its effect on consumers (marine life, flora, fauna and us) but also that, strategically, the better condition treated wastewater is in before returning it to the water table, the easier it will be to treat when reused as fresh water.

Notably, rainwater treatment is UV Pure's fastest growing segment. As water sources are increasingly stressed, and urbanization is concentrated in low-rainfall geography, capture and treatment of rainwater becomes a necessity. Traditionally rainwater has been treated for grey water use or irrigation; UV Pure has over 1,000 applications like that in Australia. Now, rainwater is treated for potable use too. UV Pure's UV systems are integrated into McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, where a clean roof membrane collects rainwater that is treated to potable standards for the coffee shops and fountains in that building. Our smart technology provides the Regulator with daily system metrics online.

This 'mini-case' neatly exemplifies shifts in product segments representing opportunity for innovative Canadian technology. For the complete rainwater case history, visit here. For more info on the 2013 Canadian Clean Technology Industry Report, click here.