LACI is a non-profit organisation led by the City of Los Angeles and its Department of Water and Power (LADWP) that helps accelerate the commercialisation of clean technologies.
At LACI’s La Kretz Innovation Campus, the water treatment solutions company intends to support the cleantech community by mentoring entrepreneurs in the newly-formed cluster of water technology startups.
“We have built big, all the way to commercial scale, at our mid-city headquarters,” said Riggs Eckelberry, OriginClear CEO. “Now we’ve turned high tech and the more than US$5 million in testing and prototyping equipment at La Kretz is exactly what we need to support our scientific programs, and to export our technology.”
“We are excited that LADWP is funding a major portion of La Kretz, with an R&D lab and demonstration labs. It is the most innovative municipal utility in the nation, making this the most exciting place to be for water in the United States, and perhaps the world,” said Eckelberry.
“As we acquire more fast-growing companies in water services, our new base at La Kretz will be an important resource,” said Bill Charneski, president of the OriginClear Group. “Our subsidiaries will be able to tap resources here far beyond what is available to them locally.”
OriginClear also has an active alliance with California State University at Bakersfield (CSUB), where it is helping to develop methods to safely reuse produced water for irrigation, and also helping oil industry workers train for careers in water reclamation.