InterviewAg water treatment chems to rise

18 April 2008 17:28  [Source: ICIS news]

By Joseph Chang

NEW YORK (ICIS news)--Use of water treatment chemicals in agricultural applications in drought-stricken areas will increase in the coming years, the president of BWA Water Additives said on Friday.

“In arid areas, there is typically a build-up of salts in the soil where water cannot permeate. This creates difficult farming conditions that can be improved with certain water treatment chemicals,” said Paul Turgeon, president of Manchester, UK and Atlanta, Georgia, US-based BWA Water Additives.

The use of antiscalants, a type of water treatment chemical that disperses salts and minerals, is poised to grow rapidly, Turgeon said.

BWA Water Additives is working with an agricultural products supplier in Australia to take its enhanced polymaleate polymer antiscalant to market in commercial quantities, he said.

“We have been working closely with a strong working partner for three years in Australia perfecting the application, and just in the last six months we have been shipping commercial quantities there,” said Turgeon.

The company is now targeting the use of its product in drought-stricken Spain.

“We see a big opportunity in Spain and other arid regions to help farmers grow crops in these drought conditions,” Turgeon said.

By: Joseph Chang
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