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More than 2 million Americans do not have access to drinking water, according to a study by the US Water Alliance group.

To help fill this lack of water, an international company, Botanical water technologies, plans to expand its presence in the United States, the Houston area being a strategic area to deploy the implementation of patented water filtration technology. Additionally, the group is launching a blockchain-enabled trading platform with Fujitsu to help support the business.

“Water is limited,” says James Rees, impact manager at BWT. “Due to global growth and climatic conditions, we will have between 20 and 30% less water available to us by 2025. Communities face problems with water infrastructure. Some communities have no water. This is where BWT plans to step in to help.

BWT’s 7-year-tested technology, created in Australia, works by extracting water from fruit and vegetable processing. The units collect water that condenses from agriculture, such as tomato or sugar cane processing, and create a clean, potable water outlet.

The blockchain-enabled platform allows a water processor to switch to BWT’s water exchange and acquire water that is harvested now and for future seasons.

“If you’re a beverage company or an environmental impact organization, you’ll be able to go online and actually see what water is available in each region,” he says. “We have a way to effectively match all of that.”

BWT is in the process of raising $15 million in capital and is targeting strategic US investors with the intention of completing the cap lifting by the end of the year. The company has also identified more than 10,000 locations worldwide that could be operated with this technology which equates to three trillion liters of new sustainable water available, Rees says.

BWT plans to make this water available for three different uses: as an alternative for a large beverage company to source water, to replenish water basins that have been depleted, and to supply communities that lack access to the water.

“In Houston, you have a number of green tech incubators starting up here,” says Rees. “A lot of traditional oil, gas and energy companies are thinking about sustainability, and they have people on the ground as well. So whether it’s programmers, business people, sustainability people… it’s a great collective of people in Houston and Texas that are focused on green tech. Texas, and in particular Houston, is actually quite progressive when it comes to sustainability.

Looking to the future, Rees explained that water scarcity will only become a bigger problem for communities due to global population growth, climate change, industrial and real estate expansion and the way whose water we use and treat.

BWT plans to implement its expansion in the United States starting with areas in California and moving into Texas over the next two years.

“In Texas, we would like to identify fruit and vegetable concentrators in our water-scarce regions that are producing and have the capacity to use our technology,” he says. “Also, there’s a lot of talent being drawn to Houston that was traditionally medical tech, but now we’re seeing climate tech. We are happy to be here and to develop a headquarters here to help grow our business in the United States.

James Rees is the Houston-based Director of Impact at BWT. Photo via LinkedIn