{"id":4127,"date":"2015-12-24T12:41:52","date_gmt":"2015-12-24T17:41:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/?p=4127"},"modified":"2017-11-19T20:50:02","modified_gmt":"2017-11-20T01:50:02","slug":"clearford-hopes-for-a-noteworthy-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/?p=4127","title":{"rendered":"Clearford hopes for a noteworthy 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

After rebranding its proprietary product, Ottawa-based water management and sanitation system company Clearford Water Systems Inc. is on track to significant market growth in 2016.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Clearford\u2019s revenue increased steadily in its last quarter, which ended on Sept. 30, to $766,938, compared to just $32,469 the same time a year ago, and despite reporting a net loss of $1.8 million in its latest quarter, president and CEO Kevin Loiselle says he is \u201cextremely optimistic about the future of the company\u201d.<\/p>\n

Last year, the company revamped its main product into a more complete end-to-end sanitation system, branding it Clearford One and packaging it into three trademarked components: ClearConvey, ClearRecover and ClearDigest.<\/p>\n

Clearford One removes solids at the source before releasing sewage discharge through a network of small bore sewer pipes that carry the liquids to a facility for final treatment. It then recovers the clean water, which is used for non-ingestion services like toilet water.<\/p>\n

The price advantage<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Loiselle says the competitive advantage of Clearford One compared to traditional sewage systems is its price. \u201cOur system is about 40 per cent cheaper to build and up to 50 per cent cheaper to operate,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Clearford also recently established a new financing option with Swiss investors in Ontario called Pay-for-Performance, which allows municipalities to establish sewage collection and treatment infrastructure without incurring capital costs, or construction and operating risks. Instead, they pay a fixed monthly service fee.<\/p>\n

\u201cIntroducing our Pay-for-Performance model is a remarkable way of addressing what has been a very serious problem in Ontario and that is how to finance these very expensive systems. The answer from Clearford is, we\u2019ve got a system that doesn\u2019t cost as much and we\u2019ve got a way for you to fund it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The Pay-for-Performance model is currently only available in Ontario, but Loiselle says, with the proper financing partners, Clearford hopes to launch the model abroad in the coming year.<\/p>\n

Ontario has been a key market for Clearford since it initially took on a commissioned provincial government project in 1989 to find cost-effective sanitation solutions when facing geotechnical constraints in the town of Field, Ont.<\/p>\n

Originally called Innovative Water and Sewage Systems Inc., it created a sanitation system for the town based on a reduced pipe size.<\/p>\n

In 1999, Clearford began its first full-scale commercial operation in Wardsville, Ont. and now has six installed sites in Ontario and two in South America.<\/p>\n

Growth through acquisition<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

In November 2014, the company also acquired for $2.6 million, 90.7 per cent of UV Pure Technologies Inc., a water purification system that uses ultraviolet light to purify water.<\/p>\n

Product sales from UV Pure continue to generate considerable revenue for Clearford as a corporate subsidiary. UV Pure generated $695,980 in sales in Clearford\u2019s last quarter.<\/p>\n

Currently, Clearford is scheduled to complete construction of its first repackaged Clearford One model at Fetherston Mobile Home Park in Kemptville, Ont. by the end of 2015.<\/p>\n

The company has also shifted marketing energy to India and is currently constructing a site in the village of Jambudiyapura. Loiselle says he expects this project to unlock a series of opportunities in India because Clearford will be able to showcase a fully operational reference site.<\/p>\n

Khurram Malik, co-head of research at Jacob Securities Inc. in Toronto who specializes in water technology, says Clearford should continue its pursuit of global markets where there is a greater global need for innovative sanitation solutions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe real upside is outside of Canada and North America because that\u2019s where most of the money is being spent in terms of large infrastructure dollars to build new cities, new towns and to support an emerging middle class that wasn\u2019t a middle class a generation ago,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Loiselle says Clearford\u2019s product is easier to install and its pipe network design allows it to be installed in difficult locations. That is particularly beneficial in countries that are retrofitting systems for the first time.<\/p>\n

Replacing aging systems<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

This is different in North America where it\u2019s competing with traditional systems. Loiselle says there is a need to replace aging systems but it\u2019s difficult to convince municipalities to move away from the traditional systems they use.<\/p>\n

Accordingly, Clearford is more focused on targeting smaller pockets in need of more cost-effective servicing in place of current centralized systems.<\/p>\n

Loiselle says Clearford One is a far more economical way of servicing small communities than traditional systems that put in giant sewers and try to stretch them out as far as possible.<\/p>\n

Banu Ormeci, Carleton University engineering professor and Canada\u2019s Research Chair in Wastewater and Public Health Engineering, agrees with Clearford\u2019s strategy. \u201cEach treatment process or treatment plant is different,\u201d she says. \u201cWe need to change how we look at the problem and design case-specific solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Loiselle says with a newly packaged system, better approach to educating potential clients and new reference sites, Clearford is now better positioned to meet the demands and challenges of the current market both at home and abroad.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are feeling pretty good with how we are positioning the company,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After rebranding its proprietary product, Ottawa-based water management and sanitation system company Clearford Water Systems Inc. is on track to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":115,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[333,1],"tags":[382,327,381,341,384,383],"class_list":["post-4127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-corporate-profiles-2015","category-news","tag-clearwater-water-systems","tag-kevin-loiselle","tag-michael-hanifi","tag-ottawa-insight","tag-small-bore","tag-water-treatment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/115"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4127"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4127\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4554,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4127\/revisions\/4554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}