Our research team regularly tracks key water sector news.  Below is this week’s highlights. Do you think we missed anything? Let us know!

Financings

• VC Investor Nanostart Backs Membrane Instruments. Frankfurt-based Nanostart AG, a venture investor focused on nanotechnology, has invested an undisclosed amount in cleantech startup Membrane Instruments and Technology. Formed in 2009, Singapore-based Membrane Instruments is developing technology for monitoring and controlling water quality in filtration-based water treatment plants. Nanostart now owns 18% of Membrane Instruments.http://www.pehub.com/96137/vc-investor-nanostart-backs-membrane-instruments/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+pehub/news/all+(PEHub+News)

• MIOX Corporation Awarded $497,746 for Phase II Small Business Innovation Research From the National Science Foundation. This funding, obtained by the MIOX science team in collaboration with Professor Shane Snyder at the University of Arizona and Dr. Benjamin Stanford at Hazen and Sawyer, provides a two year extension for a previously awarded NSF SBIR Phase I project investigating the use of aqueous chlorine as part of an Advanced Oxidation Process (AOP). http://www.waterefficiency.net/the-latest/miox-oxidation-nsf.aspx

• T Venture Backs Germany’s Cuculus. Cuculus GmbH, developer of smart metering and home control solutions, announces the completion of a strategic financing round. The funds will be used to gain market share and establish international presence as well as to further product developments. Existing shareholders will now be joined by T Venture, the Venture Capital Company of Deutsche Telecom. In February 2010, Yellow&Blue Clean Energy Investments joined KfW, High-Tech Gruunderfonds, SIEGMUND Beteiligungsgesellschaft and the Company’s management team investing EUR2.6 million.http://www.google.com/reader/view/#search/water/23/user%2F04477816809159639725%2Flabel%2FGeneral%20Cleantech

• $2.8 Billion Investment Program Puts Clean Water on Tap for Millions of Vietnamese Families. The Asian Development Bank’s (ADB’s) Board of Directors has approved a $1 billion financial support facility that will help improve clean water access for three million families in Viet Nam, including half a million poor households who will receive their own piped water connection for the first time. http://www.adb.org/Media/Articles/2011/13480-vietnam-water-projects/

• Marubeni Corporation of Japan has taken a 40% stake in Adelaide-based Osmoflo, Australia’s leading locally owned desalination company. The new investment will help expand Osmoflo’s capability, particularly in the resources, power and municipal sectors, and develop relationships with large construction contractors to facilitate involvement in large-scale desalination projects. http://www.desalination.biz/news/news_story.asp?id=5761&title=Marubeni+takes+40%25+stake+in+Osmoflo

• ADB, Japan Support Water Upgrade in Northern Sri Lanka. A grant of $2 million from the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction, administered by ADB will support a community project to provide safe, reliable water supplies and sanitation to rural communities in Jaffna and Kilinochchi districts. These areas were badly affected by the 30-year civil conflict which ended in 2009. The new initiative will support a larger, ongoing ADB-assisted loans project to restore water supplies and other infrastructure in the north of the country. http://www.adb.org/Media/Articles/2011/13476-sri-lanka-water-projects/

Company Events and Features

• Hydrovolts, Halopure and WaterTectonics See Big Opportunities in Water. Quite a few Seattle-area companies are tackling some ambitious projects that are all about water. I’m talking about clean drinking water, industrial water treatment, and innovative hydropower. Insights on all of that had people taking notes and asking plenty of questions at a cleantech confab Friday. http://www.xconomy.com/seattle/2011/02/22/hydrovolts-halopure-and-watertectonics-see-big-opportunities-in-water/

• Rain Bird’s New ESP-LX Series Controllers Offer Flexible, Modular Irrigation Control. Watering restrictions and tight budgets are making it increasingly necessary for commercial sites to save more time, water and money. As a result, specifiers and contractors are looking for more versatile irrigation control solutions that can answer the needs of their commercial clients. Rain Bird has responded by introducing two new ESP-LX Series Controllers.http://www.waterefficiency.net/the-latest/article-77892.aspx

• Use of New Smart Meter Finds Large Water Leaks on Properties. Glendale Water & Power’s new installation of smart meters has many benefits to customers, one being the identification of water leaks on private property. Recently, two water leaks were quickly discovered — one at a multi-family apartment complex which was losing about 250 gallons of water per hour, and the second one at a commercial property that was losing about 450 gallons per hour. http://www.waterefficiency.net/the-latest/meters-gwp-leaks.aspx

• Real-World Green Strategies from HydroPoint Cut Costs and Return Cash to Our Classrooms. HydroPoint Data Systems, Inc., provider of the WeatherTRAK® Smart Water Management solution, today announced that Mr. Alex Horvath, managing editor of School Construction News magazine, will host a live webinar as part of the ongoing HydroPoint Sustainability 360° Educational Series.http://www.waterefficiency.net/the-latest/hydropoint-sustainability-weathertrak.aspx

• Membranes service, maintenance program launched by Koch. Koch Membrane Systems Inc.is launching the newly redesigned KMS ASSIST® Service and Maintenance Program, featuring Five Star Support. This comprehensive program is designed to help users get long-term performance and efficiency from their membrane systems through regular site visits, plant personnel training, and dedicated support from KMS. http://www.waterworld.com/index/display/article-display.articles.waterworld.drinking-water.treatment.2011.02.Membranes-service-maintenance-program.QP129867.dcmp=rss.page=1.html

• BFGoodrich Tire Plant in Indiana Saves Nearly 10 Million Gallons of Water Annually with GE’s Chemical Technology and Expertise. The BFGoodrich tire manufacturing plant in Woodburn, Ind., has significantly reduced water and chemical usage while simultaneously increasing efficiency with help from GE’s (NYSE: GE) advanced water chemical technology. http://www.waterefficiency.net/the-latest/bfgoodrich-indiana-gallons.aspx

• Managing sanitary sewer flow monitoring data in Gwinnett County. Gwinnett County, part of regional Atlanta, has selected FlowWorks Inc. to manage all sanitary sewer flow and rainfall monitoring data for the Department of Water Resources on annual contract. The selection was made, in part, because of FlowWorks’ proven ability to accept data directly from Teledyne Isco and ADS flow meters. http://www.waterworld.com/index/display/article-display.articles.waterworld.wastewater.collection.2011.02.Managing-sanitary-sewer-flow-data.QP129867.dcmp=rss.page=1.html

Report/Study

• Singapore is Greenest City in Asia, According to New Survey. The Asia Green City Index — conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit and funded by Siemens — evaluated the environmental performance of 22 Asian cities in eight critical categories, including energy and carbon emissions, land use, waste, air quality, government enforcement, and resource management. One innovation cited in Singapore is an initiative to use micro-filtration to treat wastewater for re-use in industry or as drinking water. http://blog.cleantechies.com/2011/02/18/singapore-is-greenest-city-in-asia-according-to-new-survey/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+cleantechies+(CleanTechies+Blog)

• A report from GBI Research highlights improvements in technology that will reduce costs in desalination. New technology in the desalination market will help reduce costs, according to a new report by GBI Research, called Desalination Market to 2020 – Technology Driven Cost Reduction in Membrane Based Processes set to Drive Sustainability Investments into the Market. http://www.filtsep.com/view/16038/improved-technology-will-lower-costs-in-desalination/

Other

• U.S. Water Prize Winners Announced by the Clean Water America Alliance: City of Los Angeles, Milwaukee Water Council, national Great Rivers Resotration & Education Center, new York City Department of Environmental Protection and the Pacific Institute. http://www.waterworld.com/index/display/article-display.articles.waterworld.drinking-water.infrastructure.2011.02.US-Water-Prize-winners-announced.QP129867.dcmp=rss.page=1.html

• Visualizing.org, the global open data visualization platform created by Seed Media Group and GE, opened its World Water Day data visualization challenge today. http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/2011/world/visualizing-org-hosts-urban-water-data-visualization-challenge-in-collaborating-with-circle-of-blue/

• Danger Pent Up Behind Aging Dams. Of the nation’s 85,000 dams, more than 4,400 are considered susceptible to failure, according to the Association of State Dam Safety Officials. But repairing all those dams would cost billions of dollars, and it is far from clear who would provide all the money in a recessionary era. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/science/22dam.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

• Write-Up of the Guardian’s Q&A on water/food/energy nexus looking at how business can address the interlinked and complex issues of water, food and energy. http://www.guardian.co.uk/sustainable-business/q-a-water-nexus-best-bits

• Advanced clean water research and development is to be undertaken under a strategic alliance between PUB, Singapore’s national water agency, and the Government of Ontario, Canada. Under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed on 17 February 2011, Ontario and PUB will collaborate in the areas of clean water technologies and exchange knowledge and expertise that leverage each jurisdiction’s resources. Singapore and Ontario, which is home to companies like Zenon (GE), have a shared goal to become hubs for water technologies that drive innovations through research, testing and application of emerging technologies. http://www.desalination.biz/news/news_story.asp?id=5756&title=Ontario+signs+advanced+water+research+MoU+with+Singapore