There is an unprecedented move world wide to curb rampant water pollution, which
in tandem with high population growth, threatens to bring the lack of clean water to
crisis proportions. Globally, 1.2 billion people are plagued by ill health as a result of
polluted water and poor sanitation. 3 million people of whom 500,000 are Asian
children die from it yearly. In North America, drinking water disasters such as
Milwaukee (1993) and Walkerton (2000) have fuelled demands for better quality
water.
In the August issue of Time Magazine this year, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan
gave notice that "Unless we take swift and decisive action by 2025, two thirds of the
world's population may be living in countries that face serious water shortages"
The World Bank estimates $600 billion is needed to construct and upgrade sanitation, water and wastewater treatment facilities over the next decade to
avert global water deprivation.
In the winter of 1997, Dr. Joe Zhao, a noted pulp and paper research scientist with
the University of British Columbia developed an innovative process technology to
treat municipal and industrial wastewater, which is up to 30% more cost effective
than competitive systems. Dr. Zhao's CleanNet Solutions technology was selected
by the National Research Council of Canada to be showcased at the APEC
Technology Mart held in Shanghai, September 2001.
The CleanNet Solutions technology comprise advanced municipal wastewater
treatment plant processes and scalable onsite/decentralized clean water recovery
systems. CleanNet B series are onsite systems with capacities ranging from 0.5 to
50 tons/hr. and incorporate an acccelerated bioreactor. They cater to multiple home "Cluster systems" the hospitality industry and food/beverage processors with high
organic content process water. CleanNet R series are industrial clean water
recovery processors, designed to treat effluent from pulp and paper mills, textile and
dyeing plants, tanneries, metal finishing and chemical factories etc. Each onsite
system is characterized by smaller footprint, faster treatment and less energy
costs which provide an unassailable competitive edge.
PolyWeb P30 is a proprietary water treatment additive which in solution casts "Micronets" which capture colloidal pollutants at a pace and to an extent hitherto not
possible with polyacrylamides or PAMs, which currently dominate the market for
wastewater treatment additives. P30 is the critical cost driver to all CleanNet
systems and is set to replace polyacrylamides or PAMs in the marketplace. In
comparative testing with top of the line products from two major global producers
undertaken by a well-known independent testing laboratory, it was found that P30,
at a dosage of 1ppm equaled and in some tests bettered the performance of
its competitors at 5ppm. In addition, P30 being non toxic ,can be used to treat
potable water and accelerate microbial treatment of wastewater, to the exclusion of
PAMs.