In 2023, waterStrider Treatment opened a pilot facility in on the West Coast of Canada.
The firm, which has developed proprietary technology to clean and treat mine waters, relocated its mining pilot system from Surrey and its oil and gas treatment system from Calgary to its new location in Vancouver, which also houses a system that extracts lithium from brine pools and water treated by waterStrider’s systems.
“Our technologies remove a wide range of contaminants from mine water to protect the environment while saving money for our customers,” cofounder Rob Stephenson stated at the time.
WaterStrider’s cleantech can remove over 99% of toxic metals found in mine water, bringing contaminants down permitted levels.
As of late last year, patent-pending “Amprey” electrochemical technology was found in the startup’s Vancouver facility to reduce dissolved selenium from 116 parts per billion to just 0.42 ppb—below the B.C. Water Quality Guidelines discharge limit of 2.0 ppb as well as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency limits of 1.5 ppb.
“We are thrilled with our breakthrough success to remove selenium to less than 0.5 ppb,” stated chief executive officer Andriyko Herchak in November.
“Selenium is a major and costly problem at many mines,” he said, “and our breakthrough may finally provide a practical solution to mines while delivering considerable cost savings.”
In addition to Amprey, waterStrider also offers products Misty and MikroForme. Misty, for example, captures emissions from diesel or natural gas generators to form carbonic acid to lower the pH of treated water to near-neutral levels without the use of expensive and hazardous chemicals.
The young company has so far helped multiple Canadian mines, including removing 99.9% of zinc and lead from Faro Mine in Yukon and 99.6% of arsenic from Giant Mine in the Northwest Territories.
The B.C.-based cleantech was named for the first time to the Foresight 50, an annual list recognizing Canada’s most investible cleantech ventures since 2021.
“We are thrilled to be selected by Foresight as one of Canada’s top investable Cleantech ventures, and the exposure this brings to our investors and customers,” Herchak said at the time of honour.
The company was named after the fascinating water strider family of insects, also known as pond skaters, water skippers, or even Jesus bugs, given their tendency to “walk on water.”
WaterStrider was founded in 2020.