Starting later this month Nexus eWater, Inc. will be launching their long-awaited production model of their NEXtreater, a greywater treatment system originally developed in Australia by Australian National University graduates and Nexus eWater co-founders Tom Wood (CEO) and Andrew Hermann (CFO).
Greywater, which is the water from your showers, sinks, and laundry, makes up roughly 2 out of every 3 gallons of all your indoor water.
The NEXtreater takes this water and, without using any chemicals, filters and de-soaps it so that it can be reused for spray irrigation and even as a supply for the home’s toilet flushing.
Initial installations of the NEXtreater will be in the California market, which recognises an international greywater treatment standard called NSF/ANSI 350.
In addition to being in the California State Plumbing Code, this standard is also recognised in the International Residential Code, International Plumbing Code, Uniform Plumbing Code, and International Green Construction Code.
The NEXtreater was the first product to meet this standard for grey water and remains one of few products available on the market.
“The California market is one that makes sense for us due to the home prices, the population density, and of course the building codes,” Mr. Wood said.
New homes, he noted, average half a million U.S. dollars and with a growing population of nearly 40 million people new homes are always being built.
To his point, Census data shows California builders and developers are building an average of 80,000 new homes a year – and that falls well short of demand.
Mr. Wood and Mr. Hermann have led the design and development of both the NEXtreater and the NEXheater, the latter being a new type of water heater that uses the embedded energy (heat) in grey water to generate the heat used for water heating.
The NEXheater is expected to be available sometime in 2018.
“The remarkable thing about the NEXheater system is that it is compatible with the underground infrastructure of our water treatment system,” Mr Wood said.
“So, the homeowners buying our water recycling system can in the future upgrade to a very efficient and unique way of water heating.”
MSRP for the water treatment system is $11,995 and includes a 2-year servicing and warranty package.
In a retrofit scenario, it can be installed for as low as $4,495, if the home’s pipes are easily accessible. Accessible pipes aren’t always the case, especially in the southern part of the state where homes are mostly built on a slab, but older homes and homes located near water or in the northern areas of the state are often good candidates, Mr. Wood said.
“We mostly target builders and developers as that is obviously the most cost-efficient, but retrofitting can certainly be an option especially if a homeowner is already committed to a home renovation project.”
“There are also statewide financing programs available to California homeowners wishing to perform water improvement and efficiency projects, so there’s that option, too.”
In addition to being cheaper to install, builders and developers also receive discounts based on volume, so most developments can get the total costs down to less than $10,000 per home, he said.
Mr. Wood holds a Masters in Systems Engineering from ANU while Mr. Hermann holds both a Bachelor of Engineering and a Bachelor of Commerce from ANU.
The Nexus eWater headquarters is located in San Diego, California.
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