Hamilton Pipeline H2O business program wins national award

Chris Lawson, executive director of the Hamilton Mill, and Antony Seppi, Hamilton Mill operations director stand near the Great Miami River. GREG LYNCH/STAFF

Chris Lawson, executive director of the Hamilton Mill, and Antony Seppi, Hamilton Mill operations director stand near the Great Miami River. GREG LYNCH/STAFF

The Pipeline H2O business incubator program for water technology companies, managed by the city’s Hamilton Mill program, has received an award from the American Society for Public Administration.

Pipeline H2O was launched in September as an effort to leverage the tri-state’s impressive brainpower in the area of various aspects of dealing with water issues.

RELATED: 8 start-up tech firms bring their ideas to Hamilton

Eight water-technology companies are part of the first Pipeline “class” this year, and are working with universities, the Mill, local utilities and others to improve their chances of success, and find mentors and customers for their innovations.

The hope is that Greater Cincinnati can become a “Silicon Valley” of water-related innovation.

Melinda Kruyer, executive director of Confluence, a Greater Cincinnati non-profit organization that brings organizations together to solve water issues, said the award was deserved.

“We’ve been so impressed with the program, and the content, the quality of the program,” Kruyer said. The companies involved in the program “have gotten so much out of this, and it’s been a win all around.”

Several of the companies are local, and some already are producing products.

Hamilton company kWRiver Hydroelectric, for example, already is planning to build a 5 kiloWatt hydroelectric generator on the Great Miami River inside the city’s low-level dam south of downtown.

Another firm, WEL Enterprise, is creating water-recycling systems for micro-breweries, meat-packers, cheese-processors, steel-makers and municipal sewage treatment plants. It is working with Municipal Brew Works in Hamilton to recycle its byproducts.

About the Author