Water cleaning research heads to the farm 

_{Ngārie Scartozzi at work in her lab on Ara campus}

An entrepreneur based at Ara Institute of Canterbury-Te Pukenga has secured funding to complete a second phase of testing a technology touted to be a game changer for cleaning up rivers and waterways.

Ngārie Scartozzi, founder of eClean Envirotech has spent the past year in the Department of Applied Sciences and Social Practice lab developing her eClean Bioreactor – removing nitrates, heavy metals, E. coli and other contaminants from urban waterway samples.

Her ground-breaking work is backed by Te Ōhaka Centre for Growth and Innovation (a partnership between Ara-Te Pūkenga, the Ministry of Awesome and Christchurch NZ) and HTK group which specialises in working with Māori and indigenous groups to build better futures.

Now she’s taking her refined systems into a rural setting, focusing on the bacteria in farm waterways – a step closer to her dream of having a real impact on water quality in low-flow environments such as drainage channels, streams, and lakes. 

“After a massive year of learning we’re taking the technology to the red-zone,” Scartozzi says. “This is a chance to optimize all we have learned by taking our testing to areas with some of the highest nitrate levels in New Zealand and aiming to show we can reduce levels by up to 85 percent.”

Scartozzi says the site, based in the Ashburton-Hinds area, is dairy farming and cropping intensive.

“The government has given the region until 2035 to reduce nitrate levels by up to 30-percent before facing heavy restrictions on applying fertilizers, so everyone in that area is keen to solve the problem,” she says.

The half-million-dollar research trial made possible through the Ministry for Primary Industry’s Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures Fund, as well as industry funding from Waiora Research Limited is once again drawing on the skills of Ara-Te Pūkenga students and engineering teaching staff.

Dr Grant Bennett, Programme Manager in the Department of Applied Sciences and Social Practice says Scartozzi’s project plays to Ara-Te Pūkenga’s strengths.

“We can put lots of experts together quickly around a project. They all have an industry focus because we all work so closely with industry from an educational point of view - but it’s also a way of being research active while working alongside people in the business space,” Bennett says.

Scartozzi says the value of such expertise at her fingertips is hard to measure.

“When we have technical problems, we can use expertise of supervisors to troubleshoot which costs us little. In the ‘real world’ we’d have to bring in expensive consultants or specialists,” she says.

_{Ngārie Scartozzi observes students William Hamlin (left) and Jack King working in the lab on Ara campus.}

She’s been training new recruits to assist with the laboratory work and says, while it’s economical working with students, they also lift the energy of the project bringing their creativity and innovation.

Diploma of Civil Engineering student Jack King is enjoying the hands-on work.

“This has potential to be a game changer for the industry for dairying and farming but there are civil applications in water treatment too so it’s exciting and refreshing,” King says.

Bachelor of Engineering Technology student William Hamlin, who spent last year on the project, says the practical work makes students attractive to the industry.

“I specialise in water engineering, and this has given me a chance to get some hands-on experience. Everyone in the industry is excited about this kind of work, Hamlin says.

While Scartozzi is underway with phase two of her trial, she’s simultaneously working on patents and commercializing her technology in the hope she will be able to open a sales and marketing pipeline in the next 12 months. Being based at Te Ōhaka helps.

“Ara-Te Pūkenga has certainly helped connect the dots,” Scartozzi says. “I’m in the lab with students and we’re conducting research to help me commercialise the product. But I’m also able to have my finger on the pulse of the business arena and being part of the start-up community is cool as it gives me heaps of connections,” she says.

Ministry of Awesome CEO Marian Johnson said Scartozzi thrived at Te Ōhaka and contributed to its “vibrant culture of founders with big ambitions."

"eClean Envirotech's innovation is going to have an impact that every kiwi will benefit from, and it was exciting to see how the startup evolved whilst in the Founder Catalyst incubator," Johnson said.

Meanwhile, Scartozzi is looking forward to working with stakeholders and having equipment installed in February and March to maximise testing samples in the warmer months.