The need for change shouldn't come as a surprise. Walkerton residents are still struggling with the long-term health effects of the bacteria-laden tap water that killed seven members of their community and poisoned 2,000 others. Just when Canadians thought that the scare was over, hundreds of residents in North Battleford, Sask. became ill with chryptosporidium, a potentially deadly parasite, that went unnoticed for months in the tap water.

Some forward-thinking entrepreneurs aren't waiting around for governments to slowly work toward concrete solutions. Using everything from icebergs to incubators they're introducing new products into today's marketplace to supply what governments can't seem to guarantee – safe and clean drinking water.

Tapping into a new niche
Take Ravi Kanipayor and Ron Emburgh. After years of working in private labs where water quality is monitored and anaylzed, this Canadian duo realized that there were systematic flaws with the current testing systems. Flaws that they could improve on by developing a product that – if successful – would reengineer the way that water tests are conducted.

"We noticed it could take two to five days before the results of a sample got back to the community," Emburgh explained. "That's ridiculous … we knew we could cut down on the time."

They also knew their product could be designed to cut down on "false negative" lab errors and most importantly, the cost of testing.

With over 400 municipalities in Ontario alone, where water quality tests are often done on a daily basis, and a global market for their product, the business opportunity was clear. Their solution was to bring the lab into the field.

Enter the Aquasure Pro 3000.
After two years of research and development, the team manufactured a portable, lightweight lab-in-a-can, no bigger than a stainless steel thermos. The battery-powered canister pre-screens water samples on-on-the-spot, with results ready in 24 hours.

"The unit is like a mini-lab," Kanipayor said. "The positive or negative result will be the same as the one you get if you took the sample to a lab," he said.

The entrepreneurs also tout the user-friendly aspect of their innovation. "It's easy to use," Emburgh said. "You fill it with the live water sample, put in the reagent and hit the go button and you get results."

Getting results is as simple as checking for a colour change. "If the water turns green at the end of the 24-hour incubation process then there's a good chance that it's a bacteria-laden sample," Kanipayor said.

Most importantly, though, the unit is cost effective for cash-strapped Ontario ministries and municipalities who've felt the impact of multi million-dollar budget cuts since 1995.

The cost to municipalities purchasing the unit is $395, with individual test kits priced under $15 per unit. At this price point, Emburgh said that municipalities can expect to save by a factor of two to three times. Water testing kits will also be made available to rural communities on a retail basis, with the incubator unit supplied free-of-charge to approved testing centres. For the home or cottage owner, this means that testing for E.coli bacteria could become as convenient as renting a video.

Gary Pollack's way of finding his market wasn't quite the same. The entrepreneur says that the inspiration for his Original Iceberg Water came to him, accidentally, as he watched icebergs pass by St. John's harbour in Newfoundland.

"I had been boiling my water for years," he said. "There was too much talk of water pollution and the bottled water business was going right through the roof. I knew if an alternative source was found, it would be attractive. When I saw the berg, I knew that could be it."

It was. Pollack started his business in 1995 by "harvesting" chunks of 12,000 year old icebergs off the northeast coast of Newfoundland. Six years later, he's harvesting and processing as much as 1,000 tonnes of ice water per month (about 1 million litres), has 18 full-time employees. He's planning to open a new plant in the future, which is expected to bottle 1.25 million cases of the icy brew.

Finding the money
Finding financial backing was - and continues to be - a challenge for Emburch and Kanipayor.

"We're funding the project out of our own pockets," Emburgh admitted. "It's still a struggle. Our timing was the pits. We went the venture capital route and it started off well. Then, the stock markets crashed and the company that was funding us went bankrupt," he said.

While the entrepreneurs were unable to secure federal government grants or loans to get them through the first two years, the positive feedback they've recently received from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada should help as they move forward.

In a letter to Emburgh and Kanipayor, an official within the federal ministry, gave the entrepreneurs a resounding confidence boost after a preliminary evaluation of their product.

"Test results indicate that this technology is a simple but effective method for screening water samples for the presence of Total Coliforms and E.Coli bacteria," writes John Lebedin, Manager of the Earth Sciences Unit within the Ministry, in a report to be released next month. Lebedin also writes that the product will make "an excellent tool for encouraging more frequent monitoring of water well supplies."

Ontario is also willing to look at new solutions. Asked if the Ontario Ministry of the Environment would welcome innovations like the Aquasure Pro 3000, John Steele a media relations officer said: "Yes, we welcome innovation in this area, but labs testing for chemical or microbiological contaminants must be accredited and conform to regulations in order to perform drinking water analysis.

		Water facts
		The sale of Canadian water to other countries has doubled since 1996.
		In 1989, 23 million litres of Canadian bottled water were sold to the United States; by 1998, this figure increased to 272 million litres.
		Canadian water bottlers now are the largest suppliers of bottled water to the United States.
		Source: Globe and Mail Survey, 1999

He wouldn't identify his source of seed capital, but said that he private group of investors are firmly backing his business plan. "We had to have a well-written business plan .. we had to have our whole concept defined and definite, then the investors jumped right on it," he said.

Rising to the challenge
Despite the myriad of unexpected setbacks and challenges associated with running their small businesses, both sets of H2O visionaries are - to borrow a phrase from Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman - "making it happen".

For Pollack, who started his business with three employees, a few boats, a trial and error collection system and a lot of patience, the hardest part of his enterprise was developing a method to harvest the ice giants.

"The biggest hurdle was the harvesting of the icebergs," he said. "It had never been done commercially before. We had to do a lot of research and development and we had fishermen try different things until we … cut off large chunks [of ice] from the bottom and water level. Those are the cleanest and purest," he said.

Emburgh and Kanipayor also had their share of difficulties – ranging from the logistics of coordinating with the four companies who assisted in the thermal, mechanical and electrical engineering phase of the product to the challenges of working through their "virtual" Mississauga-based office and communicating via cell phone on a daily basis.

Opportunities beckon from abroad
Persistence is paying off for Pollack, Emburgh and Kanipayor.

Pollack's Original Iceberg Water is currently sold in the U.K., the U.S. and Japan. He's planning to open a new plant in the future which is expected to bottle 1.25 million cases of the icy brew. He's also set up a Web site at www.icebergwater.com, where he is marketing his original iceberg water in cases of 8, 12 or 24 bottles.

Emburgh and Kanipayor said that they've received inquiries from the Philippines, California, and India. Interest has also come from less expected areas, including hotel owners in Cairo and cruiseliner companies, who could benefit from cost-effective methods of screening their water for deadly parasites. In the long run Emburgh expects that the Canadian market to represent only 3-5 per cent of their overall sales.

With over 16 million private well water owners in North America, their global prospects in this area also look promising.

		Water facts
		Between 1972 and 1991 Canadian water consumption almost doubled from 24 million cubic metres per year to 45 million cubic metres per year.
		Canada has the second highest per capita water consumption rate in the world. At more than 350 litres (L) of water per person per day, Canadian consumption compares poorly to the 150 L per day consumed by Europeans. (Federation of Canadian Municipalities Report, 1999)
		Source: www.ec.gc.ca/water/

Further reading
More information about the Aquasure unit and kit can be found at www.aquasuretechnologies.com

More information about Original Iceberg Water can be found at www.icebergwater.com

Visit http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ehp for more complete information about the process and regulations of water quality sampling.