RALEIGH, NC — (MARKET WIRE) — 03/31/2005 — HydroFlo, Inc. today announced that its portfolio company, Metals & Arsenic Removal Technology, Inc. (MARTI) has received the first order of arsenic removal media (ARTI-64) from Kelly International. The amount shipped to KELLY will provide enough media for use in approximately 5000 or more non-electric foot-powered purification units, which can be used in Kelly’s intended market area, including: India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Indonesia, Thailand, Australia, western Africa and New Zealand.
The KELLY non-electric foot-powered system is a manually operated water treatment “platform” that will provide significant quantities of potable water safe from bacterial and arsenic contamination anywhere — particularly in the hundreds of thousands of villages throughout the world that are without electricity. Providing this system with the ARTI-64; media will make a water purification unit available in all areas of need, even if they do not have access to electric power.
The United Nations (U.N.) cited the vital need for clean water as an international concern that must be addressed immediately (http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade). Kofi Anan, Secretary General of the U.N., in his 2005 World Water Day Address, called the crisis, “…an urgent matter of human development, and human dignity.”
According the Russell Kelly, principal of Kelly, “Our purpose for joining forces with MARTI has been to find a way to accomplish one of the stated purposes of the United Nations. That task is to free people from the daily chore of hauling water, often over great distances. With the ARTI-64; media used in our non-electric powered water treatment unit, we feel that we have made great strides toward helping regions that are in need of clean water.”
A publication by the World Health Organization (WHO), which addresses the arsenic crisis (http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs210/en/), explains, “The most important remedial action is prevention of further exposure by providing safe drinking water…Reliable data on exposure and health effects are rarely available, but it is clear that there are many countries in the world where arsenic in drinking water has been detected at concentrations greater than the Guideline Value, 0.01 mg/L or the prevailing national standard. These include: Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Chile, China, Hungary, India, Mexico, Peru, Thailand and the United States of America. Countries where adverse health effects have been documented include: Bangladesh, China, India (West Bengal) and the United States of America.”
“There is a growing need for water purification being reported by many international agencies. I am thrilled to see our technology put to use in the areas of the world being serviced by KELLY,” stated George Moore, Chief Operations Officer of MARTI. “I look forward to all of our distributors beginning to provide the same distribution methods displayed by KELLY.”
Dennis L. Mast, CEO of HydroFlo, stated, “Our mission has always been to provide clean water to the world. ARTI-64; can remove arsenic and bacterial contaminants from drinking water, making it safer for everyone. The ability to supply this non-electric method of water purification provides quite a sense of accomplishment. We look forward to being able to provide systems all over the globe in any area they are needed.”