Calgary-based Ionic Solutions piloting community water softening in District of Taylor B.C. — technology could transform the region’s notoriously hard water.

Ionic Solutions, which owns and manufactures the greenest, most sustainable, water desalination technology in the world, is undertaking a three-month pilot project to prove the viability and benefits of municipal water softening for hard water communities across Canada.

Based on the banks of the Peace River in Taylor, British Columbia, the project is processing 45 gallons per minute of drinking water using Ionic’s state-of-the-art Capacitive Electrodialysis Reversal (C-EDR) technology. C-EDR is a patented system which selectively removes hard water minerals, such as calcium and magnesium, at the touch of a button.

Company co-founder and president Barry Johnson, who was born and raised in Taylor, believes hard water could someday be a thing of the past for the region.

“Ionic Solutions’ technology solves a variety of problems relating to water. One of those problems is the mineral content of hard water, which is found all over Canada and the world,” explains the entrepreneur.

“Hard water problems were always a part of our family life here in Taylor and it’s something my elderly mother, and local family continues to deal with. Kettles always needed to be replaced, appliances break before they should, dishes and glassware are cloudy,” he continues. “Our technology removes the minerals that cause those issues, making the water less problematic and also more palatable.”

Ionic Solutions water innovation works by creating an electric field which mobilizes and captures positive and negatively charged mineral ions from a flow of water, through a specially developed membrane.

Using the data collected from Taylor, Ionic Solutions plan to roll out the municipal water softening application of their technology by the end of 2024.

Kevin Slough, Ionic’s Vice President of Projects, says softening water at a municipal level ensures water equality for residents.

“Point of use water softeners are expensive to buy and run. Certain technologies are also very wasteful, some pouring as many as four gallons of water down the drain for every gallon of softened water that comes through the faucet.” says Slough.

“Our technology is easy to implement at a municipal level, is economical and it doesn’t waste resources. Most importantly, it ensures that access to high quality drinking water that doesn’t damage your appliances, is equitable,” he continues. “We believe that’s something that all hard water communities should be considering and prioritizing for their residents.”

ENDS

For media enquiries, please contact Sharon Crowther on 403-863-6414

Notes to editors:

Ionic Solutions was co-founded in 2009 in Calgary, Canada by Azar Yazdanbod and Barry Johnson. Their patented system revolutionizes the desalination industry by reducing energy consumption, increasing freshwater recovery, and enabling controlled mineral content of treated waters.

Azar’s passion for water was ignited while growing up in an arid region of northern Iran, where water scarcity poses a constant challenge to each new generation of farmers, threatening affordable, local food production. Observing the human impact of climate change and the water crisis firsthand, Azar began researching solutions to water scarcity. In his career as a geotechnical engineer, he developed a concept for capacitive dewatering of clays, using an electric field. This led to the idea for capacitive removal of salt ions in water, or, as we call it, better desalination.

In 2007 Azar emigrated to Canada with his family. In 2009, he met Barry, an engineer and entrepreneur with more than 30 years of experience in the energy sector, who shared Azar’s desire to bring much-needed innovation to the water technology sector. More than a decade on, Azar and Barry continue to build together in the lab (though it looks quite different now) refining solutions for our industry partners while leading the Ionic Solutions team.

Through science, engineering, and experience, they are striving to solve the world’s water crisis and ensure water security for generations to come.