Microvi and Sunny Slope Water Company Unveil World's Most Advanced Nitrate Removal Technology
Denitrovi™ to Provide Hundreds of Millions of Gallons of Safe Drinking Water Annually to Californians
PASADENA, Calif. and HAYWARD, Calif., Jan. 25, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Global greentech pioneer Microvi and Sunny Slope Water Company (Sunny Slope) today announced the launch of the world's most advanced nitrate removal technology, named DenitroviTM, to provide more than 200 million gallons of potable water annually for Sunny Slope's 30,000 households. Dentrovi is a natural nitrate-removal process with no negative impact on the environment. Moreover, the system brings significant benefits to Sunny Slope, including:
- Up to 50 percent cost savings over every available option for nitrate removal;
- Virtually eliminating the secondary waste stream typical of conventional technologies;
- Proven long-term performance and easy operation.
Microvi and Sunny Slope have partnered to bring this elegant and proven solution, first implemented for remote communities in Western Australia, to help address the water crisis in Southern California.
"The Denitrovi technology is uniquely positioned to bring real solutions to the water industry," said Dr. Fatemeh Shirazi, CEO and CTO of Microvi. "With a small footprint, virtually no waste stream and extreme energy efficiency, Denitrovi offers significant cost and operational advantages over any existing technology for nitrate removal."
As water agencies and customers across the state know all too well, California – and Southern California in particular – must find new ways to source the water it needs. Groundwater supplies is one of those sources, but requires rigorous treatment to meet the state's standards. Sunny Slope, like many water providers in the Los Angeles Basin, needed to find a way to treat the high levels of nitrate in its groundwater sources. In California, the United States Environmental Protection Agency has estimated that around 10 percent, or nearly 3,000 groundwater wells, are contaminated with nitrate.
The California Division of Drinking Water has issued a conditional acceptance of the Denitrovi technology for Sunny Slope, which has also received the NSF/ANSI 61 consumer safety certification.
The Denitrovi technology converts nitrate in water into nitrogen gas through a proprietary natural process that results in no byproducts or sludge production – only the safe release of nitrogen gas into the atmosphere. The technology is one of Microvi's biomimetic water technologies, where the most effective processes of nature are used to provide significant advantages over energy intense, waste-generating and costly conventional technologies.
"Microvi's nature-based approach to water purification is revolutionary," said Ken Tcheng, General Manager of Sunny Slope Water Company. "We found that Microvi's Denitrovi technology not only provided the water-quality regulators demand and our customers expect, but also solves costly waste-disposal problem of a conventional system."
"We are proud to partner with Microvi. Our customers deserve the safest and best solutions, and we are happy to be the first to bring this innovative water technology to Southern California," said Tcheng.
Microvi's technology can be adapted to eliminate almost any groundwater pollutant – including such contaminants as perchlorate, Chromium-6 and uranium. In fact, Microvi has a suite of over two dozen technologies that are almost universal in their applications for public water agencies, water companies and others with water treatment needs.
Microvi's inherently clean technology also equates to direct cleanup savings such as negating the need for concentrate pipelines and fewer disposal-vehicle movements, as well as non-financial benefits such as lower vehicle emission rates and less impact on landfills and the environment.
"It's amazing to see a biological treatment system that doesn't produce secondary waste," said Shane Chapman, General Manager of the Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District (Upper District). "Waste streams have always been a huge environmental and cost issue in water treatment—this is a long-overdue course correction for the industry. I have no doubt Microvi is showing us the future not only of nitrate removal, but the treatment of many pollutants in groundwater supplies around the country."
About Microvi
Microvi is a leading green technology company based in the San Francisco Bay Area that develops next-generation bioconversion technologies in the water, wastewater and bio-based chemical industries. Microvi's approach has been demonstrated in a wide range of applications, including at large scale, to enable smaller footprints, increased productivity and disruptive economics compared to current methods. Microvi has formed partnerships around the world with public and private firms, academic institutions and municipal agencies. For more information, please visit www.microvi.com.
About Sunny Slope Water Company
Sunny Slope Water Company is a private Mutual Water Company incorporated in 1895. The company is located in an unincorporated area of Los Angeles County in the eastern portion of Pasadena, Ca. Sunny Slope provides safe drinking water to its shareholders at cost. It relies on 100% groundwater which is pumped from the Raymond Basin and the Main San Gabriel Basin. For more information please visit www.sunnyslopewatercompany.com.
Kevin Kidder – Microvi
(614) 353-8098
[email protected]
Ken Tcheng – Sunny Slope Water Company
(626) 287-5238
[email protected]
SOURCE Microvi Biotech
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