HaloSource taps developing world's growing need for clean water

Over a billion people lack access to sanitary water, and the number rises daily. In countries such as China and India, the market for purifying water at home is growing more than 30 percent a year.

HaloSource of Bothell hopes to be the Intel of this $16 billion market, providing cheap yet powerful purifying technology to run filters or dispensers sold by other companies.

Those include familiar Western brands such as Brita and Pür, as well as developing-world partners like direct-sales giant Eureka Forbes in India, WAL in South America and the Middle East, Chanitex in China and Everest in Brazil.

In the HaloPure system, contaminated water is purified by passing through a cartridge filled with small, bromine-infused beads. Its simplicity and modest cost allow HaloSource's partners to make purification products affordable to more low- and middle-income customers in the developing world.

Since Eureka Forbes paired with HaloSource in 2006, the Indian partner's reach has expanded fourfold to a potential market of 320 million people, said HaloSource Chief Financial Officer James Thompson.

"That's the size of the United States," he said.

In China, HaloPure is going through a safety-certification process with the Ministry of Health. The company believes it'll be eight to 10 months before it's approved to start selling out of its Shanghai facility.

But the 15,000-square-foot manufacturing facility is already humming, shipping HaloPure to operations in India and Brazil.

About 40 percent of HaloSource's revenue comes from international business. The lion's share still comes from the U.S., where the company sells pool and spa-cleaning products, said Andrew Clews, vice president of marketing. He expects that to shift in the coming years.

A new $5 HaloPure-powered filter is about to hit India's shelves, Clews said. Other HaloPure disinfection systems cost between $60 and $100. The cheap filter is expected to reach India's vast low-income population.

And the Chinese market HaloSource expects to enter soon is estimated at $4 billion, according to market-research firm Frost & Sullivan.

"We keep adding [potential customer] groups of hundreds of thousands a month," Thompson said. "So we're making progress."

Long life span

One HaloSource cartridge has a life span of about 1,500 liters, or roughly a six-month water supply for a family of five, and is capable of killing up to 99.9999 percent of bacteria and 99.99 percent of viruses.

Even at 99.9 percent, said Clews, "You're dealing with all major quality issues."

Water simply drips through and is disinfected — no electricity needed.

The bromine used in the cartridge belongs to the same group of elements as iodine and chlorine, which are also used to purify water.

But the brominated bead technology differs from most iodine or chlorine treatments because it kills bacteria and viruses on contact, rather than requiring the chemical to be dumped in the water.

About 200 million of India's poor filter the worst debris from their water using a system of two steel buckets, one set on top of the other, with a ceramic "candle" or cylinder connecting the two. The candle catches dirt and debris as water trickles into the bottom bucket.

The pending "Under the Candle" HaloPure cartridge is designed to fit into this system and to kill viruses and bacteria the ceramic filter doesn't catch.

HaloSource is not joining with its existing Indian partner Eureka Forbes on that product, and it won't disclose yet who will sell the device.

110 employees

HaloSource grew 40 percent last year. It's a private company and doesn't disclose financial data, but CFO Thompson said the 110-employee company will reach profitability soon.

It has attracted money from investors with connections in emerging markets, such as the Masdar Clean Tech Fund, established with financial backing from Abu Dhabi and Credit Suisse.

While a $5 tabletop purifier does help individual households, it doesn't attack the bigger water problems in the developing world, said Marla Nilson-Smith, executive director of Seattle-based Water 1st International, a nonprofit that builds community water and sanitation projects. Nilson-Smith has traveled to India 12 times over the last five years as Water 1st built 31 water systems throughout India's poorest regions.

Clean water is also needed for bathing, hand washing and cleaning food if residents are to avoid waterborne diseases.

"[For] a billion people who don't have access to clean water, this isn't the solution for them," she said.

Still, it's clear HaloSource executives such as Eric Robinson, who oversees global operations, have a sense of stewardship as they work on their piece of the answer.

Although his job takes him to the fringes of Mumbai's slums and to winter meetings in unheated offices in China, said Robinson, "It's pretty easy to get up in the morning and go to work."

Jason Bacaj: 206-464-3320 or jbacaj@seattletimes.com