Following Florida’s hurricane Ian, the clean-up continues, but some contamination from overflowing wastewater storage and evaporation ponds is likely to lead to toxic soil and freshwater for years to come. Florida and much of the Southeast US have a difficult wastewater problem given a plethora of industries that need to dispose of toxic waste and wastewater (including phosphates and various mining, farming, livestock, paper, concrete, asphalt, metal and many other industries) vs. few safe means for disposal (i.e., few injection wells, and ocean dumping is illegal for most industries). Thus, the state relies on thousands of storage, treatment and evaporation ponds that overflow during torrential rains and with toxins that can be carried by winds for hundreds of miles. EcoVAP’s ability to reduce wastewater volume by >95%, without using practically any energy or land, is ideally suited to be a low-cost, environmentally-friendly means of reducing or eliminating these toxic ponds and lagoons. Despite Florida’s high humidity, EcoVAP has proven its ability to evaporate at >25x the normal rate even during the state’s cooler, humid months.

California is the only US state that still allows untreated oil and gas “produced water” to be dumped into unlined pits. This article details increasing evidence that produced water toxins are showing up in drinking water, including benzene levels that are 45x California’s legal limit. In total, the state produces 3bn barrels of produced water a year, adding to an existing 16 billion barrels of previously disposed water that continues to “percolate" into groundwater. EcoVAP operates a large facility in California, but in the mining sector (see Case Studies), and hopes to similarly dewater >95% of produced water.

Residents of Rome, Georgia are asking courts to halt dumping of upstream carpet dye wastewaters that cannot be treated by most traditional municipal sewage systems. Dalton Georgia produces ~90% of the US’ carpet, which is made out of synthetic fibers that are dyed with many “emerging contaminant” and difficult-to-treat chemicals. This water flows downstream to Rome after being semi-treated by plants that were never designed for these ultra-small contaminants. One such chemical is PFAS, thought to be a carcinogen, and which is very difficult to separate from wastewater due to its small size. Even when separated, this “forever chemical” can only be destroyed via an incinerator at ~1,800F. Some of these carpet companies have already settled with the plaintiffs, agreeing to send their water to a hazardous waste facility (see second article), presumably at much higher cost. EcoVAP’s ability to reduce this wastewater volume by >90% could dramatically reduce this cost.