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Companies team up to create nutrient management platform for wastewater facilities

A collaboration of companies, an investment and consulting firm are working together to tackle the nutrient contamination of water.

XPV Water Partners and KKR, an investment firm, announced the formation of a wastewater treatment platform to provide nutrient management solutions for municipal and industrial wastewater treatment facilities.

What could this mean for drainage contractors? Investment into nutrient management solutions in wastewater shows a focus on limiting the impact of water pollution, of which contractors play an important role. The collaboration is tackling water in facilities, but this could lead to solutions being targeted at the source of the runoff too.

XPV Water Partners essentially works as a consulting company helping water companies grow by investing, advising and connecting smaller water companies with growth opportunities such as partnerships or funding.

XPV Water Partners and KKR have acquired two companies, Environmental Operating Solutions, Inc. (EOSi) and Nexom, Inc., that provide nutrient management technologies. The announced partnership will allow everyone involved to “scale solutions to water pollution.”

EOSi, based in Bourne, MA, provides glycerin-based chemicals and technical services for biological nutrient removal applications in wastewater systems. Nexom, based in Winnipeg, MB, provides biological or filtration technology to help wastewater treatment plants meet their nutrient reduction targets.

The announced platform, which could include a technology and biological solutions from both companies, hopes to address nutrient contamination of water globally.

“The challenges associated with nutrient management are compounding every year. We view the formation of this platform as a game-changing next step in our strategy: to build a global end-to-end supplier of the products and services that municipal and industrial operators need to solve nutrient management challenges,” said David Henderson, partner in XPV Water Partners, in a released statement.

Over the past 50 years, agricultural runoff from fertilizers, stormwater runoff from more development and rainfall, and wastewater sewage from municipal and industrial plants have combined to produce a concentration of nutrients in downstream water bodies. Excess nutrients can cause eutrophication and subsequent toxic algae blooms, resulting in loss of aquatic life, human health concerns and other environmental and economic damage.

The Environmental Protection Agency has named nutrient pollution “one of America’s most widespread, costly and challenging environmental problems,” with 53 percent of rivers, 71 percent of lake acres, and 98 percent of great lakes shoreline miles classified as impaired.

The announced wastewater treatment platform and its goal of creating solutions for municipal and industrial wastewater treatment facilities shows a commitment to reducing water pollution.