Natural wastewater purification prevents water shortages

Water scarcity is one of mankind’s greatest future challenges. With an increasing global population, water scarcity is not only propelling large scale migration and poses a threat to stability and peace in many parts of the world, but it also constitutes a barrier to individuals that want to build a better life for themselves and their families.

In other parts of the world, like in most parts of Europe, water supply as such is still ample but due to mismanagement, we are creating large scale damages to our total water resource. The situation for the Baltic Sea is a well-known example, but it is not the only one.

In Sweden alone, authorities estimate there are some 350,000 sewage systems that are not up to standard. There are other estimates suggesting the corresponding figure for Europe being in the 25,000,000 range. EU constitutes less then 10% of the global population. With an increasing political pressure both from the EU and local governments, as well as a growing awareness among the general public of the devastating consequences of lacking or inferior wastewater treatment, there is little doubt that we are in a market niche that can be expected to grow exponentially in the future.

When addressing this market need, several approaches can be chosen. At Alnarp Cleanwater Technology we have opted to turn to nature’s own ways of resolving needs that are fundamentally natural needs. The ACT Natural™ System is largely based upon the processes that everyone can watch in nature in the form of brooks and streams. The difference being that whilst a brook or a stream may be several kilometres long, we have implemented a similar process in a system having a foot-print of just a few m². This implementation is protected by a suite of PCT applications.

For us at Alnarp Cleanwater Technology, it is essential to look for ways that are cost effective and ecologically compatible. In this way our solutions will not only be functionally stable and result in low running costs, but will also add to biodiversity. Expensive chemical additives should be avoided, if natural plants can do the job. It must be better to create a process that will degrade the sludge instead of first accumulating it and then having to remove it. Thanks to our (optional) add-on solution for extended phosphorus reduction, we enable an effective recycling of the crucial phosphorus to the farming industry (phosphorus is scarce resource). Altogether a recycling potential very close to 100%!. In short, we think it is essential to ACT Natural!

Yngve Svensson CEO