Mobile Water Treatment Unit for Project HOPE in Haiti

H2O Innovation (Canada) and 3M Purification (USA) have teamed up to provide a mobile water treatment unit to Project HOPE to support its humanitarian assistance and health care programs in Haiti. H2O Innovation has designed, built and will deliver a trailer-based mobile water treatment system that will enable Project HOPE to produce drinking water from either surface, underground or brackish water sources. 3M Purification has provided funding for the purchase of raw material and equipment needed to build the unit, while H2O Innovation will donate the training required for the operation of the unit by Project HOPE’s local staff. H2O Innovation’s mobile water treatment unit is scheduled to arrive in Haiti in Spring 2011. The Company also provides an update on the first year of its sales representation agreement with 3M Purification and 3M Canada during which it has recorded the first orders for water treatment systems and membrane specialty chemicals.

"Just over one year after the terrible earthquake that devastated Haiti, humanitarian and reconstruction efforts are far from being completed. In this context, H2O Innovation is proud to team up with our sales representative 3M Purification to contribute in a sustainable way to Project HOPE’s long-term health care development initiatives in Haiti. The rugged yet simple-to-operate mobile water treatment system provided by H2O Innovation and 3M Purification will help support Project HOPE’s invaluable work in Haiti, where access to both health care and clean drinking water are far from universal", said Frederic Dugre, President and CEO of H2O Innovation.

Assembled and manufactured by H2O Innovation in its plant located in Ham-Nord, Quebec, the mobile water treatment unit is capable of producing enough potable water to ensure the daily operations of a field hospital, or to deliver a volume of drinking water equivalent to 35,000 bottles (500ml), every day.

Equipped with 3M Purification filters and cartridges, joining high performance with ease of replacement, the mobile unit is designed to be operated in the roughest conditions. Hitched to a pick-up truck or other vehicle, it can be moved around Haiti as needed. Equipped with a gasoline-powered generator, it can produce high quality drinking water in remote areas where electrical power supply is unavailable. H2O Innovation’s mobile emergency relief water treatment unit can be built and ready to ship in only two weeks and, once deployed on location, can produce potable water in minutes.

The mobile water treatment unit is designed to be operated by Project HOPE’s local staff, requiring only basic knowledge of water treatment science. H2O Innovation will donate operating training to Project HOPE’s local team, covering both operating and maintenance of the unit.

Founded in 1958, Project HOPE (Health Opportunities for People Everywhere) is dedicated to providing lasting solutions to health problems with the mission of helping people to help themselves. Identifiable to many by the SS HOPE, the world’s first peacetime hospital ship, Project HOPE now provides medical training and health education, as well as conducts humanitarian assistance programs in more than 35 countries. Over the past five decades, Project HOPE has demonstrated its ability to develop and permanently institute long-term solutions to pressing health problems, the true essence of helping people help themselves.