Dow Contributes To University Of Arizona Advancing Water Treatment R&D

New Water & Energy Sustainable Technology Center focuses on water-energy nexus

Dow Water & Process Solutions, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company, celebrated the opening of The University of Arizona’s Water and Energy Sustainable Technology Center (WEST) on Friday, Nov. 20.

Dow is a founding member and sponsor of the Center, which will focus on bringing together industry, government, and academia to address the nation’s growing water and energy needs through research and technology. The new, state-of-the-art $5.5M facility will help enable researchers, public officials, and industry leaders to work together in developing new technologies and more energy sustainable solutions to address water scarcity.

“We’re thrilled to support a center that shares our commitment to advancing technology and sustainability partnerships to help address the water-energy nexus and bring us closer to a circular economy,” said Tracy Young, water growth technologies R&D director for Dow Water & Process Solutions and WEST industrial advisory board member. “Powerful public-private partnerships like this one are key to advancing and commercializing energy efficient solutions for water treatment.”

Co-located with the Pima County Water Reclamation Facility (Agua Nueva) and adjacent to reclaimed water recharge basins and constructed wetlands, the WEST Center will develop, evaluate, and demonstrate technologies that advance sustainable solutions for water and energy while also facilitating technology transfer between public utilities and the private sector. The center will educate and train technicians, utility personnel and students along with the community in the intricacies of water treatment solutions.

Dow’s involvement with the WEST Center aligns with its 2025 Sustainability Goals to work with industry leaders, non-profit organizations and governments to offer projects that facilitate the world’s transition to a circular economy and greater adoption of sustainable solutions for water re-use.

“Advancing water treatment technology helps enable companies—particularly in the power, food and manufacturing industries—to enhance their operations through increased water and energy efficiency,” said Snehal Desai, global business director, Dow Water & Process Solutions. “Public-private partnerships help inspire water innovation and advance the nexus to combat the current water, food and energy shortages while also creating a step-change for the future.”

For more information, visit http://west.arizona.edu/ and http://www.dow.com/sustainability/goals.

Photo order, left to right:
Ian Pepper, PhD
University of Arizona
Professor, Environmental Microbiology (SWES);
Director, UA National Science Foundation Water and Environmental Technology Center (WET);
Co-Director, Water and Energy Sustainable Technology Center (WEST)

Shane A. Snyder, PhD
University of Arizona
Professor - Chemical and Environmental Engineering
Co-Director – Water & Energy Sustainable Technology Center
Co-Editor in Chief – Chemosphere

Tracy Young
Growth Technologies R&D Director, Dow Water & Process Solutions
WEST industrial advisory board member

Jeff Prevatt, PhD
Pima County Regional Wastewater Reclamation
Regulatory Affairs and Technical Services Manager

About Dow Water & Process Solutions
The global leader in sustainable separation and purification technology, Dow Water & Process Solutions is making real progress in the world. We’re helping to make water safer and more accessible, food taste better, pharmaceuticals more effective and industries more efficient and spearheading the development of sustainable technologies that integrate water and energy requirements. Dow Water & Process Solutions offers a broad portfolio of ion exchange resins, reverse osmosis membranes, ultrafiltration membranes, particle filters and electrodeionization products, with strong positions in a number of major application areas, including industrial and municipal water, industrial processes, pharmaceuticals, power, oil and gas, residential water and waste and water reuse. For more information, visit www.dowwaterandprocess.com.

About Dow
Dow combines the power of science and technology to passionately innovate what is essential to human progress. The Company is driving innovations that extract value from the intersection of chemical, physical and biological sciences to help address many of the world's most challenging problems such as the need for clean water, clean energy generation and conservation, and increasing agricultural productivity. Dow's integrated, market-driven, industry-leading portfolio of specialty chemical, advanced materials, agrosciences and plastics businesses delivers a broad range of technology-based products and solutions to customers in approximately 180 countries and in high-growth sectors such as packaging, electronics, water, coatings and agriculture. In 2014, Dow had annual sales of more than $58B and employed approximately 53,000 people worldwide. The Company's more than 6,000 products are manufactured at 201 sites in 35 countries across the globe. References to "Dow" or the "Company" mean The Dow Chemical Company and its consolidated subsidiaries unless otherwise expressly noted. For more information, visit www.dow.com.