The U.S. EPA
announced in the fall that it will re-evaluate its regulation of the pesticide atrazine after studies linked low exposure to the chemical with reproductive problems.
It was fortunate timing for a pair of recent University of Minnesota graduates, who a few months earlier started developing a filter to remove atrazine from drinking water.
Their company,
NewWater, got another boost last week when it was named a semifinalist in both the Minnesota Cup and Cleantech Open entrepreneur contests.
The technology is based on research by two U of M professors, microbiologist Mike Sadowsky and biochemist Larry Wackett. NewWater co-founders Alex Johansson and Joe Mullenbach met the researchers last spring through an entrepreneurship class at the Carlson School of Management.
Since then, Johansson and Mullenbach have been trying to turn the professors' basic research into a product for municipal water treatment plants to remove more atrazine than is possible with current filters. They're currently developing a prototype and working on a licensing arrangement with the university.
Atrazine is one of the most widely used pesticides on the planet. Current limits on atrazine in drinking water are based on the cancer risk, but
recent studies suggest lower levels of the chemical, levels that are currently allowed in drinking water, may cause birth defects, low birth weights and menstrual problems.
If the EPA lowers the threshold for how much atrazine it allows in drinking water, Mullenbach believes NewWater will have a potential $3 million market for their filter product, which uses bacteria enzymes as the active ingredient instead of carbon.
"We provide a lower-cost solution that is capable of treating to much more stringent drinking water standards," Mullenbach said.
NewWater won a seed grant in January from the Holmes Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Minnesota. It's also applied for federal Small Business Innovation Research grants.
Source: Joe Mullenbach
Writer:
Dan Haugen