Fast Growth for Water Treatment Technologies due to World-wide
Water Shortage
Fast Growth for Water Treatment Technologies due to World-wide
Water Shortage
Clorox, Hendrx, ITT, and Siemens Identify Opportunities in Point
of Use Systems and Waste Water Treatment
Fei Wang, www.Water-Stocks.com January 2006 Water is a booming
business. According to an English publication Global Water
Intelligence, worldwide annual industry revenues are estimated
at $420 billion, with the United States accounting for around
$100 billion. This number is expected to grow as water becomes
scarcer and markets begin to mature. Two of the fastest growing
segments are: point of use/point of entry (POU/POE) systems and
waste water treatment. How do companies involved in this arena
see their future? In addition, over the past several years, the
industry has undergone considerable consolidation and
acquisition, a trend that is believed to continue. How will this
impact the development of the water market?
Water Shortage Of a population of roughly 6.1 billion, more than
1 billion lack access to potable water. This situation is
expected to get much worse in the future. Countries and firms
are actively looking for alternative solutions to address this
problem. Point of use/point of entry systems and waste water
recycling are two of the most popular solutions.
Point of Use/ Point of Entry Systems:
Figure 1: Quoted from www.epa.gov/ord Both POU and POE devices
purify water coming from the distribution system to a home or
facility. POU purifies water to a desired level at the tap to
which it is connected, while POE is one single device which
purifies all the water coming into the building.
As water prices increase, people start to pay more attention to
the quality of the water they are getting. Therefore, with more
publicity and awareness on the issue, POU/POE, which is said to
be a cheaper way to insure the quality of water than other
alternatives (e.g. bottled water), starts to attract more and
more attention from both industrial and residential users.
Hendrx Corp (OTCBB: HDRX), a manufacturer of water purification
technology, is addressing the water quality issue by providing
highly purified drinking water for both residential and
industrial markets. Hendrx CEO Robert De Costa said, "We at
Hendrx believe strongly that POU systems will gain in
significance providing pure drinking water for the future. The
water / sewage infrastructure worldwide is in need of massive
repair and there simply is not enough money to properly fix
these systems. In the United States alone we're talking about
hundreds of Billions of dollars and this estimate goes up
dramatically every year. We're also learning that currently used
water treatment methods like chlorination may not be as safe as
we once thought. Any time you introduce an additive or cleanser
to the water we drink, there's the possibility of short term and
long term complications. Today's consumer is becoming
increasingly health conscious and they know that proper
hydration is a major factor in maintaining a health life style.
For all of these reasons we think that micro-water systems, POU
systems will play an ever increasing roll in the supply of
personal drinking water.
Hendrx is in a unique position since we are the leading
manufacturer of Atmospheric Water Generators (AWGs). These
devices collect pure water from the naturally occurring moisture
in the atmosphere. Once you get an AWG, the only thing you need
is the proper temperature, humidity and power to run the
machine. Although atmospheric water devices will not work
everywhere, we're very positive about the future of AWGs in many
regions of the globe."
Brita water filtration system is a POU product as well.
According to the Clorox Company (NYSE: CLX), Brita