Delta, B.C., Company Named Among Top 10 In $10 Million Water Prize
CHICAGO, Oct. 26, 2017 /CNW/ -- Muddy River Technologies, Inc., based in Delta, British Columbia, headed by Dr. Rob Stephenson, has been named among the top 10 contenders for the George Barley Water Prize, a $10 million worldwide competition to find a solution to the algae crisis. The top 10 emerged from an initial field of 104 competitors from 13 countries.
"These 10 teams represent our best hope to solve the algae crisis that threatens drinking water supplies, kills fish and wildlife and is choking thousands of waterways around the globe," said Eric Eikenberg, CEO of the Everglades Foundation, which is sponsoring the competition.
The Barley Prize is a multi-year, $10 million international incentive award to the team that develops a safe, cost-effective technology to remove phosphorus from water. Phosphorus, contained in urban and agricultural runoff and used widely in chemical fertilizers, is a principal cause of algae.
"Today, it would cost $3 trillion even to reduce the current phosphorus flow by just 10 percent," Eikenberg explained. "Scientists believe there is so much accumulated phosphorus in the system that, even if we could ban its use altogether, it would continue to be a serious pollutant for decades – if not centuries – to come."
The Muddy River Technologies entry, called "MagPi," uses a four-stage electrochemical process to dissolve excess phosphorus and convert it into struvite – a combination of magnesium, natural ammonia and phosphate that can be reused as fertilizer.
Thanks to the cooperation of the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, Eikenberg explained that the 10 top contenders will now test their technologies under cold weather conditions in the Town of Bradford West Gwillimbury, north of Toronto.
The Presenting Sponsor for the Barley Prize is Scott's Miracle-Gro Foundation. Scott's has been an industry leader in addressing nutrient pollution from phosphorus, Eikenberg explained. In 2011, the company became the largest fertilizer manufacturer in the world to remove phosphorus from its fertilizer products.
CONTACT: Rob Stephenson
EMAIL: [email protected]
SOURCE George Barley Water Prize
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