JOHN SHEGERIAN: Welcome back to Green is Good, and we’re so honored to have with us today Nick Nicholas. He’s the Technical Sales Manager for Genesis Water Technologies. Welcome to Green is Good, Nick Nicholas. NICK NICHOLAS: Thank you, John. Thanks for having me. JOHN SHEGERIAN: We’re excited to have you on, and we want to hear all about Genesis Water Technologies, but before we get into the great story of what you’re doing, let’s get into the great story of Nick Nicholas. How did you even get here? What’s the journey of Nick Nicholas to become a leader in sustainability and water technologies? How did you even get to this position, Nick? NICK NICHOLAS: It was an interesting journey, very humble beginnings. First, I started out actually with a vision of a different field and I was brought into the environmental sector and water in particularly due to the tremendous need, both in the U.S. and around the world, for sustainable water technologies. I started out actually in Genesis Water Technologies as a Sales Associate and just through the journey over the past seven, eight years, I’ve rose up through the ranks to become a Technical Sales Manager for Genesis Water Technologies, which is a leading U.S. manufacturer and also a provider of innovative solutions for water. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Nick, talk a little bit about innovative solutions. What does that mean and how big is this problem of clean water right now? NICK NICHOLAS: Innovative solutions in water in our scope is basically looking at the sustainability of the technologies, so whether it be a reverse-osmosis technology to treat water or whether it be using solar power to power the particular water purification systems, water treatment systems, to using essentially no power in specific situations to purify the water through a unique filtration media, that they were to accomplish great things both in the developed world and in the developing world. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Wow, and I’m on your website right now, Nick, and it’s a wonderful website chock full of information and for our listeners out there who also want to follow along as you talk a little bit about Genesis Water Technologies today, I want them to go the website, www.genesiswatertech.com, lots of great information here. Nick, does your technology include everything? You said it’s from no power to solar power to all these different types of power sources, but what kind of water technology do you do? Do you do reverse osmosis? Do you do desalination and ultrafiltration? What are different types of technologies to treat our water do you focus on there? NICK NICHOLAS: We focus on specifically four areas of purification or treatment. One area is going to be filtration. That is either through a specific filter corkscrew or through filtration systems. The other area that we focus on is the treatment so that would be through disinfection via UV light that certain areas, it’s going to be your reverse osmosis and ultrafiltration on drinking water as well as processed water for industry and the Alias Aria is actually a sustainable wastewater treatment technology that is used to purify greywater and blackwater that is hidden on municipal processes so it’s a fairly comprehensive and unique sweep of technologies that we utilize for different water issues throughout the world. JOHN SHEGERIAN: So, now you’re the Technical Sales Manager. I’m on your website and it’s just so amazing. Is this for my home use or is this for the City of Chicago? Is it B-to-B, B-to-C or is it for all? Are you selling your applications to anyone who needs it, both big and small? How does that work? NICK NICHOLAS: Essentially, how it works is our company is broke out into three different segments. One segment of our business essentially focuses on your commercial and industrial clients so that basically we interface with large project management forms, civil engineers, especially engineers for large commercial and industrial clients working in a team effort and the other segments focuses on the municipal side of things, working with the City of Chicago or different town or villages around the world and the last segment is working on the residential by commercial side and that’s typically with your residential developers, plumbers and local dealers that serve the stock market segments so it’s broken up into three defined segments that target different clients. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Regarding filtration and treatment and purification, we’ve talked a little bit about some of the offerings that you have — reverse osmosis, desalination, ultrafiltration, backwash filter systems. Which process is the most complex to actually implement? NICK NICHOLAS: Essentially, in my opinion, three are challenging, but it’s based on that specific application or issue that the particular client is trying to solve because you have a focus on the different treatment issues and it’s just using that specific technology that’s going to work for that specific issue and that requires careful analysis to determine the appropriate treatment approach and then it’s right off to solving the client’s problems. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Nick, compared to when you started with the company, how big has the company grown in those years, Has it doubled or tripled, four times? Is this a growing or booming segment of the sustainability industry and world? NICK NICHOLAS: Yes, essentially, it is and we’ve seen phenomenal growth since I’ve came on board. We started with one little office in Orlando to grow to have four offices with many different collaboration partners throughout the world. We have an office now in The Philippines. We have an office in Uganda, Africa, and we have different collaboration partners, both engineer procurement firms as well as distribution partner and civil engineers throughout over 30 different countries around the world and continuing to grow so I should say it’s really good to be in this industry and sustainable water is just on that growth trend to continue. JOHN SHEGERIAN: So you’re not only selling systems here in the United States. You’re selling Genesis Water Tech systems around the world. NICK NICHOLAS: That’s right. JOHN SHEGERIAN: For our listeners that just tuned in, we’ve got Nick Nicholas on. He’s the Technical Sales Manager at Genesis Water Technologies. To learn more about their great work, GenesisWaterTech.com. Nick, this is just a goofy question but the ocean seems so big and I’m the furthest thing from a water expert but if desalination has proven to work, why can’t we fix our water problems around the world, including the United States, with just massive desalination plants or is that just too much of a layman’s approach and is that a silly concept by someone who doesn’t understand this whole thing? NICK NICHOLAS: Actually, that’s correct. You know, the trend, especially in coastal areas, is now looking to desalination technology as a means for sustainable water. Due to the scarcity of water now and especially in different regions in the world, there are municipalities and industries looking for the specific solutions and I know for instance, in the U.S., there are a couple of different larger desalination clients in California. There are two actually in Florida, one in the west coast of Florida in Tampa, the other in the east coast of Florida near Port Saint Lucie, so it’s definitely something that the costs have come down to be a very advantageous solution. JOHN SHEGERIAN: So, do you feel that with your technology and Genesis Water Technology’s technology, you’re going to be able to put more desalination plants here in the United States to meet our growing needs and more around the world? NICK NICHOLAS: That’s right, because our technology is unique in that from the pretreatment side, we provide that solution to pretreat that sea water and that then involved advanced filtration media that we utilize as well as filtration caucuses that remove any contaminants before the aural membrane as well as in the membrane technology. We utilize a nanocomposite technology to reduce the consumption of the system as well as to increase the fill rates for a system that does not necessarily have to be that large to produce the same amount of water and in that aspect, it’s very sustainable that you can actually increase your productivity but yet not increase the system size so your cal consumption is not through the roof. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Right, right. Do you have a lot of competition in selling this desalination or are you so unique that really you’re considered the leader in all these water technologies — reverse osmosis, desalination, ultrafiltration, backwash filtration, disinfection? Are you the leading brand, Genesis Water Technologies? What’s the landscape look like, Nick? NICK NICHOLAS: Sure. There are competitors, both large and small. You have GE, which we tend to not be in a league with those big companies because we offer our technologies as a unique niche application so their particular technologies are generic in their feature whereas ours are specific to the specific needs of the particular client so we can both design a system and build a system with our unique sweep of technologies to meet that specific client’s needs instead of just providing a generic off the shelf technology and so those larger companies do. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Hey, we’re down to the last 45 seconds or so now. Any final thoughts on the future of water and all the wonderful technologies you’re offering with regards to meeting our needs of water shortages in the United States and around the world. NICK NICHOLAS: This challenge of sustainable water to for the aural membrane as well as in the membrane technology. We utilize a nanocomposite technology to reduce the level of cal consumption of water are going to continue. The costs of water rates are going to increase. There’s scarcity that’s going to become an issues and essentially, we are moving forward with our sustainable approach to meeting those needs. We look forward to changing that status quo and meeting those needs for clients throughout the world. JOHN SHEGERIAN: Wonderful. For our listeners out there who want to learn more or who want to talk to Nick and maybe get one of these systems to help their city, their state, their municipality, or maybe just their home, it’s GenesisWaterTech.com. Nick Nicholas, you are an innovative sustainability water expert and truly living proof that green is good. NICK NICHOLAS: Thank you very much.