WaterSurplus Brings ImpactRO Technology To The Municipal Market

WaterSurplus, a leader in sustainable water treatment, is extending its powerful ImpactRO technology into the municipal water sector with a new system commissioned for the City of Prescott, Wisconsin.

Importantly, this project is among the first to use reverse osmosis in a municipal water treatment system in Wisconsin.

Prescott, a community of about 4,730 near the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area, sought a reliable solution for PFAS, nitrate, and hardness challenges in its drinking water. To address these water quality challenges, the city, working with its consulting engineer, CBS^² (CBS Squared, Inc.), selected WaterSurplus to install a 580 GPM ImpactRO system to help the municipality efficiently address contaminants such as PFAS and nitrates while improving overall water quality.

ImpactRO is the industry’s only steady‑state high‑recovery RO technology, delivering consistently high‑quality permeate without the performance drift, membrane fouling, or maintenance issues common in dynamic high‑recovery designs.

“WaterSurplus delivers high‑performance RO systems that recover up to 90% of the water in this particular application with far lower operating costs and a much simpler ownership experience than previously possible. This makes RO economically feasible for many municipalities for the first time. That’s important, because RO is often one of the most effective ways to help municipalities address challenging contaminants such as PFAS, along with the emerging water quality issues communities will face in the future,” said Jim Groose, Senior Vice President of Municipal Water Treatment at WaterSurplus.

In addition to achieving up to 90% recovery, this system also reduces membrane fouling and system downtime by up to 75%, and can double membrane life. Its performance benefits come from several innovations:

• NanoStack coated membranes – extraordinarily resistant to scaling and fouling and featuring an NSF/ANSI/CAN 61-certified hydrophilic coating helping extend membrane life, cleanability, and permeate quality.
• Feed-Forward Design – balances flux more evenly across all RO stages, reducing first-stage fouling and third-stage scaling to support higher recovery and electrical efficiency.
• Micro-disruptions – intermittent bursts of water that clean membranes without interrupting operations, reducing fouling and helping minimize offline cleaning.
• Intermittent Variable Recovery – allows easy adjustment of recovery to maintain optimal levels based on the changing conditions of feed water, maximizing system performance over time and reducing the risk of major fouling events.
• NanoScope direct membrane monitor – provides advanced performance tracking at previously imperceptible levels and uses predictive analytics to predict, prevent, or reverse fouling events.

Beyond reducing PFAS and nitrates, the Prescott system will eliminate the need for softening salt, as ImpactRO effectively removes calcium and magnesium. Iron and manganese will be removed upstream of the RO using WaterSurplus’s integrated, pre-engineered WaterPlus media filtration system and OxiPlus75 media, improving RO efficiency and helping reduce maintenance costs. The overall treatment approach also includes management of PFAS in the RO concentrate stream.

“Historically, most municipalities couldn’t justify using RO because traditional systems wasted 20-30% of the water they treated, and the newer high‑recovery designs required a lot of energy and were difficult to operate,” Groose added. “With ImpactRO, that equation finally changes.”

About WaterSurplus
WaterSurplus is a leader in sustainable water treatment, delivering high-performance solutions across industries. Since its founding in 1989, the company has led advancements in reverse osmosis systems, fouling-resistant membrane elements, PFAS treatment technologies, and pre-engineered filtration systems featuring proprietary catalytic media. Its team of industry experts is committed to helping customers reach their goals through innovative technologies and responsive support. WaterSurplus also offers an availability advantage through its ready-to-run rental fleet. Based in Loves Park, Illinois, WaterSurplus is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hawkins, Inc., a leading provider of water treatment and specialty ingredients. For more information, visit watersurplus.com.