WaterPuris off to AquaHacking finals: will pitch toilet tech that zaps endocrine disruptors

Tuesday, October 16, 2018

This coming week, the University of Waterloo campus community will be rallying behind our student startup WaterPuris as they head to Toronto on Oct. 25 for the 2018 AquaHacking Challenge: Lake Ontario and Beyond finals.

In June, we watched them wow judges during the semi-finals and leave as a finalist after pitching their WaterPuris technology. Using ozonation, their device removes harmful endocrine disrupters from urine directly in the toilet bowl, before they have a chance to enter our waterways.

On Oct. 25 we will watch again as they compete alongside some of the brightest young innovators from across North America as they vie for the $25,000 grand prize, which includes incubator space, media coverage and more.

waterpuris
From left to right: Rachel Tao, Oliver Witham, Robert Liang and Ivana Zurakowsky.

Each year, the AquaHacking Challenge engages with hackers, engineers and marketers from various universities to create multidisciplinary teams and develop clean-tech engineering, web and mobile solutions to water issues affecting the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Watershed Basin.

The 2018 challenge is the second year of a three-year field partnership between the Water Institute and the de Gaspé Beaubien Foundation, organizer of AquaHacking. During past competitions we watched several other Waterloo student teams pitch, including 2017 winners Jason Deglint, CEO of Blue Lion Labs and Lauren Smith, CEO of PolyGone Technologies Inc. Smith will speak on Oct. 25 and share her experiences as AquaHacking alum.

Watch the competition unfold by following AquaHacking social channels or attending in person. Finals will be held at the Design Exchange in Toronto as part of the World Water-Tech North America Summit and Ontario Water Innovation Week.

Read more about WaterPuris
Waterloo students sink competition at AquaHacking semi-finals by the Water Institute