Tomorrow Water Selected by The Water Council to Demonstrate its Proteus Technology at The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District

Anaheim, CA – October 8, 2021 – Tomorrow Water, an innovative environmental solutions provider with a vision of a “Clean and Beautiful World Beyond Waste,” announced that it has been selected by The Water Council (TWC) to demonstrate its Proteus™ wastewater treatment technology in TWC’s annual Pilot Program.

The Water Council (TWC) is a Milwaukee-based nonprofit organization focused on advancing innovation in the water industry. Each year, their Pilot Program supports the on-site demonstration of a new and innovative water technology in real-world conditions at a participating facility in the Milwaukee area.

After a competitive selection process, Tomorrow Water’s Proteus technology was chosen for TWC’s 2021 Pilot Program because of its potential to benefit the Great Lakes and local wastewater treatment facilities. The Proteus technology will be installed on-site for a demonstration pilot at the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District’s (MMSD) South Shore Water Reclamation Facility.

The Proteus up-flow media filter technology is designed to increase the tolerance of wastewater treatment plants to “peak flow events” caused by rainstorms, safeguarding plant performance in the face of aging sewer systems and erratic weather patterns caused by climate change. For MMSD, whose Jones Island and South Shore facilities treat 150 million gallons of wastewater on a dry day but roughly 630 million gallons during a rainstorm, innovation in wet weather flow management is a long-term priority. The agency is also interested in Proteus more broadly as an advanced primary treatment system which may be able to provide cost-effective retrofit opportunities to improve downstream treatment capacity through carbon redirection and footprint savings.

Proteus, which provides simultaneous removal of suspended solids and digestion of organic contaminants from wastewater without the use of chemicals, handles a far greater range of flow rates compared to clarifiers or settling tanks which traditionally have filled the role of primary treatment. Proteus is also much smaller compared to traditional technologies, offering the potential to shrink the physical footprint of sewage treatment infrastructure. The technology was recently featured by Global Water Intelligence as a “Primary Treatment Pioneer” for its clever use of split-bed aeration and cross-shaped media to improve wastewater treatment plant resilience and flexibility.

The Proteus pilot project at MMSD’s South Shore wastewater treatment plant is expected to operate from October of 2021 until March of 2022 and will be available for touring.

“Supporting the progression and demonstration of new water technologies is one of The Water Council’s main objectives,” said Karen Frost, Vice President of Economic Development and Innovation for The Water Council. “The Pilot Program provides companies like Tomorrow Water with the opportunity to take those innovative solutions and pilot them in Wisconsin.” 

“We are grateful for TWC, MMSD, and their partners and are excited about this great opportunity to demonstrate the Proteus technology in Wisconsin,” said E.F. Dongwoo Kim, CEO of Tomorrow Water. “This demonstration pilot will help showcase the benefits of Proteus to other municipalities in Wisconsin and elsewhere in the United States who can benefit from chemical-free primary wastewater treatment that is highly tolerant of wet weather flows. Proteus has already been adopted in the real world at large scale in Seoul, Korea, in installations that process 66 million gallons per day and 190 million gallons per day. We are excited to introduce this proven technology in the USA.”

This is the second demonstration pilot project for Proteus at a municipal wastewater treatment facility, after an earlier project successfully concluded at the Anthony Ragnone Treatment Plant in Genesee County, Michigan.