It’s not the Wild West anymore; it’s the Arid West, as in the well’s getting low and what’s left in it is pure poison. Basin Water, Inc. (Nasdaq: BWTR) is out to fix all that, stripping toxins from groundwater and making drinking water safe. Cleaning up the Old West was never like this.

Basin Water and its many competitors have the law on their side. The Environmental Protection Agency and state authorities have established maximum contaminant levels, or MCLs, to meet safety standards. Responsible drinking doesn’t include arsenic, nitrate and perchlorate, found more and more in underground aquifers as the U.S. population and industries grow.

Basin, though, has a treatment others don’t: an ion-exchange technology that cleanly and cost-effectively reduces groundwater contaminant levels. The company sells its system to water suppliers that include utilities, cities, municipalities, special districts, real estate developers and others. Customers include American Water, Aqua America, Inc. (NYSE: WTR), California Water Service Group and American States Water Co. (NYSE: AWR).

Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.-based Basin wants to expand nationally—contaminated groundwater is most everywhere—but its key target is the southwestern United States, which Basin calls the Arid West. It’s the region with the highest population growth and a chronic water shortage. The population of California and Arizona grew by about 5.6 million between 1990 and 2000, and is expected to increase by another 12 million in the next 20 years, the company says in its annual report.

The Arid West gets most of its drinking water from surface and groundwater, but surface water has little room for expansion, due to expense of procurement; it often must travel miles before reaching markets. Desalination carries a lot of energy costs, and other factors also make it unattractive, according to Basin. Instead, groundwater serves as the primary drinking water source for more than half of the United States. It is dependable for water providers, and cleaning it up is a market area of big growth.

But don’t drink the groundwater before it’s been treated. It’s got arsenic, nitrate and perchlorate—toxins, certainly, but to Basin a chance to outduel opponents with its leading ion-exchange technology. Other methods include coagulation microfiltration, media absorption, reverse osmosis and electrodialysis reversal. But many of these are costly or waste-producing, and they are generally designed for large industrial installations rather than wellhead treatment.

For access to the full article, you must be a registered member - it's FREE.