Aqua Research Founder Rodney Herrington on Destroying Waterborne Diseases

We make systems that users can use, with common salt as the primary consumable, to produce disinfectant solutions for health care applications — primarily sanitizers for health care facilities, drinking water treatment in developing countries, and biofilm removal in industrial cooling systems to eliminate the threat from Legionella, the leading waterborne pathogen of concern for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

I saw the possibility of making products that use only common salt as a consumable and that would be sustainable for those in low-income settings. This was finally possible with the evolution of low-cost solar panels and rechargeable batteries. After raising five children, it was finally possible to renew my entrepreneurial spirit and take the risk to start seeing my vision come alive.

We have a very dedicated team that began with Lois Warren, our chief operating officer, who joined us a year after formation in 2010. 

Katie Rich is our vice president of marketing, who I have worked with for 25 years on electrolytic technology. 

Gene Rabent is our new CEO, who joined in June 2022 and has an excellent track record with chemistry-based startups and successful mergers and acquisitions experience. 

Chris Dunston is a health professional who spent 25 years in the developing world promoting the value of chlorine in the health sector. He was formerly with the Hilton Foundation, promoting those programs in Africa. 

Two billion people lack access to safe water, and there are more than 400,000 health care facilities in low-income settings that often lack access to sanitizing products. We are working with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to give them access to quality products at an affordable price to address the needs that they are focused on — improving the lives and wellbeing of those in the poorest of poor settings.

Our technology was developed with the early assistance of funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to develop a highly effective form of disinfectants for our military personnel. This technology destroys biofilms in cooling tower systems, the ideal breeding ground for biofilms. Legionella is able to survive in cooling systems only because they have the protection of biofilms. Without biofilms, Legionella cannot survive. New legislation is being implemented countrywide to address the threat from Legionella. We provide the lowest-cost and safest technology to replace the hazardous and expensive biocides used throughout the industry today.

We are currently working with leading NGOs, including PATH, the largest consistently funded NGO by the Gates Foundation. PATH’s mission is to introduce innovative solutions to health care problems in developing countries. After it evaluates a technology and demonstrates that it works, it works with ministers of health in developing countries to get the technology introduced into the national supply chains of those countries. With other leading NGOs such as Catholic Relief Services and World Vision, we work to apply the technology to more than 100 countries worldwide.

In the cooling tower market, we work with local cooling service companies who have relationships with the operators of 2 million cooling towers nationwide. Our model is to sell to business-to-business companies to either purchase or lease the equipment, depending on the financial needs of the customer. 

Our first priority is to hire a sales staff to accelerate our sales activity and to build the infrastructure to support sales. Our product line is well developed and field proven. It is just a matter of increasing our sales effort.