Environmental Water Solutions has been awarded a $292,961 federal grant courtesy of the Accelerating Commercialisation fund, the only Western Australia-based company to benefit from the latest round.
Trading under the name Complete Home Filtration, EWS will use the grant to commercialise a per- and poly-fluoroalkyl (PFAS) reducing version of its water contaminant filter.
Though banned from products for years, PFAS chemicals have in the past been released into the air, soil and drinking water, with exposure linked to some cancers in humans.
As of 2018, 90 sites across Australia are being investigated for elevated levels of PFAS chemicals.
Although nobody has yet developed a filter that reduces PFAS chemicals to consumable levels, EWS’s founder and managing director Suzanne Dodds said this round of federal funding would enable the business to build on its research and commercialise a PFAS-reducing water filtration product.
“This is important, not just to us as a business, but also to all homes and families currently dealing with PFAS-impacted water,” she said.
Having lauched in 2014, the Accelerating Commercialisation fund has disbursed 400 grants worth $196 million.
Industry, Science and Technology Minister Karen Andrews said the latest round of funding would boost the national economy and contribute to Australia’s reputation as a global industrial leader.
“Investing in businesses and technology is vital to ensuring Australia builds on its record of 27 years of uninterrupted economic growth,” she said.
“This funding will support these businesses through their product lifecycle, from product trials and development to market testing, with the aim of going global.”
