Tech Challenge Seeks Solutions for Contaminants, Pipe Issues

Milwaukee, WI, Sept. 5, 2023 – The Water Council (TWC) has opened its fall Tech Challenge with topics chosen by industry leaders to help solve challenges in the water sector. This session includes three topics – two dealing with PFAS and one dealing with pressurized pipes – along with a request for information about solutions addressing phosphorous loads.
 
The semi-annual Tech Challenge is open to anyone with a novel solution for the selected topics, including researchers, individuals, entrepreneurs, startups and established companies. This session’s topics, selected by program sponsors A. O. Smith Corporation, Badger Meter and Watts Water Technologies, are:
 

• Destruction and treatment of PFAS in drinking water at facility or point-of-use scale
• PFAS detection in drinking water at facility or point-of-use scale
• Non-destructive structural analysis of pressurized pipes

 
PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a growing concern among water professionals and the public because of their inability to break down over time.
 
Tech Challenge participants compete for a prize of up to $10,000 and, more importantly, the chance to get their innovation in front of leading water technology companies with the potential for further partnership down the road. All finalists present directly to research and development representatives from the sponsor companies.
 
Also this fall, The Water Council is conducting a request for information (RFI) on behalf of member Green Lake Association, a nonprofit safeguarding Big Green Lake, Wisconsin’s deepest natural inland lake. The association seeks effective and proven technologies, materials, systems or engineered solutions for addressing excessive phosphorus and duckweed loading.
 
Tech Challenge applications and responses to the RFI are due Nov. 5. Visit thewatercouncil.com/TechChallenge for more information.
 
“We are excited to address three challenge topics this session, including problems as widespread as PFAS detection and destruction,” said Karen Frost, The Water Council vice president of economic development and innovation. “And we are pleased to support our member seeking to solve the persistent problem of phosphorous overloading. We know many innovators, including some of our members, are working on phosphorous solutions and we look forward to helping Green Lake Association discover them.”
 
About The Water Council
The Water Council (TWC) is a global hub dedicated to solving critical water challenges by driving innovation in freshwater technology and advancing water stewardship. Built on more than a century of innovation, TWC has coalesced one of the most concentrated and mature water technology clusters in the world from its headquarters at the Global Water Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. Recognizing the need for smarter and more sustainable use of water worldwide, TWC also promotes water stewardship as a natural complement to water innovation in the effort to preserve freshwater resources in the Midwest and around the world. Today, The Water Council has established itself as a global leader in the water industry and one of America’s premier economic development clusters as recognized by government agencies, Brookings and the Harvard Business School.