ARTICLE - TECHNOLOGY = CLEAN WATER

CLEAN WATER FLOWS, THANKS TO TECHNOLOGY
(Montreal Gazette) - By Lynn Moore

Conference to hear of disaster relief

The most acute need in natural-disaster zones is usually safe drinking water, says the founder of an acclaimed humanitarian group now active in Japan and Haiti.

Rahul Singh, executive director of GlobalMedic, will be taking that message to an international environmental technology conference and trade show that kicks off Tuesday in Montreal.

"Providing access to clean water is the single most important thing that we can do," said Singh, a native Montrealer whose work with the Toronto-based group he founded put him on Time Magazine's 2010 list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World.

"It doesn't matter how many doctors we bring into a disaster zone, how many millions of tablets we bring in, because every patient we (treat) will continue to be a patient until we provide them with clean water," the paramedic said.

GlobalMedic, which is sending its second team to earthquake-ravished Japan on Wednesday, relies on an array of high-tech products to treat and clean water, Singh said.

But it is also promoting a two-bucket system that incorporates filters and is simple enough for families to use to filter out dangerous pathogens and combat such things as cholera, he said. That system, made in Canada and sold under the brand name Rainfresh, will be deployed in Japan as it had been in Haiti, he said.

Singh is among the experts who will speak about waterrelated issues at Americana 2011, an international environmental technology trade show and conference in Montreal that is expected to draw more than 8,000 participants over three days.

Delegates, speakers and exibitors from about 50 counries are expected at the event that wraps up Thursday and which honours France as a leader in environmental technologies, said Josée Méthot, CEO of RÉSEAU environnment, the industry association that has been organizing the biennial event since 1995.

It is a conference that addresses economic issues as well as industry regulations, government programs and environmental concerns, Méthot said. It has grown from a panamerican venture to a conference "that attracts people from all over the globe."

In Quebec, the environmental technology industry is worth about $3.5 billion and supports 1,600 companies and 35,000 jobs, she said.

Like other governments, Quebec's has earmarked money for an array of green measures. This month, the province kicked in almost $72 million more for its waste management program. That infusion of cash will be added to the existing $650 million in federal, provincial and municipal subsidies for composting and biogas plants.

And when Sustainable Development and Environment Minister Pierre Arcand addresses the conference Tuesday morning, he will no doubt talk about Quebec's $1.5-billion Climate Change Action Plan.

The three-day event covers a lot of ground and corporate interests. Among the topics covered at this year's conference are climate change, carbon markets, waste management, soil remediation, renewable energies and air quality.

There is also a trade show which this year will allow companies, as well as governments and their agencies, to "pitch their products" during short presentations on the tradeshow floor, Méthot said.

Interested parties can visit the industrial trade show if they register and pay $30 for the day.
The International Environmental Technology Trade Show and Conference, Americana 2011, is at the Palais des congrès de Montréal.