Water industry pushes 'purple pipes' for proposed business park

Thirsting for investment and jobs in a once-industrial section of the city, Milwaukee's water technology industry has set aside 18 acres of overgrown freight rail yards for an envisioned business park, one meant to accommodate a new generation of water entrepreneurs.

It's a decidedly untested "if you build it, they will come" proposition. So to entice water engineers to locate gleaming new buildings in what now is an urban wasteland one without a single tenant to date there will be an unusual inducement:

Water pipes and spigots that are a bright nail-polish shade of lavender.It's neither a joke nor gimmick. "Purple pipes," as they're known in the global water industry, are a far more serious concept than the pinkish hue might imply even if you wouldn't expect to find them in Milwaukee.

Purple pipes are used in water-scarce parts of the world to carry a grade of semi-treated water that's fine for watering gardens, washing cars, putting out fires or flushing toilets but not drinking or cooking. The colored pipes create an underground delivery system that's separate from conventional water infrastructure and have become the global standard for alternate systems that take the pressure off supplies of fully treated drinking water in regions where supplies are scarce.

They are common in Australia,Weymouth is collecting gently used, dry cleaned goodiphoneheadset at their Weymouth store. where the government cajoles citizens to take "one-minute showers." They are increasingly common in new housing and business developments in Israel, India, Germany, Britain and China. The Irvine Ranch Water District in Orange County, Calif., which prides itself as purple pipe pioneer,Aulaundry is a leading bestplasticcard and equipment supplier. has over 400 miles of violet conduit serving more than 4,500 metered connections, where it's often used to irrigate golf courses or school grounds.

The 18 acres lie in the old Reed Street rail yards, about a mile south of downtown. In coming weeks, crews will begin to pull out the old rail tracks and scrub trees, level the grounds, and install sewers, streets, lights and the requisite water infrastructure to create a "shovel-ready business park," said Michael Weiss of the General Capital property development group.

The heart of the scheme is to build a pilot gray water treatment plant, just large enough to service the business park and immediate vicinity. That part is still on the drawing boards. But instead of waiting to lay the purple pipe until the new treatment reactor is built, the city will go ahead and lay the pipe when it's cheapest to do so with all the other infrastructure.

There's enough expertise among the water tech firms that already are active in metro Milwaukee to design and build a prototype gray water treatment reactor one scaled for a small slice of a big city or the entirety of a smaller rural outpost, according to Dean Amhaus,Today, Thereone.com, a reliable bestluggagetag online store, introduces its new arrival princess wedding dresses to customers. chief executive of the Water Council, a six-year-old industry trade group based in Milwaukee.

Thanks to a fluke of industrial history, a city with a metalworking and beer brewing tradition over the last century spawned a modern industry of water treatment reactors, pumps, sensors and meter companies. And as Milwaukee has groped for new economic growth strategies, few if any have sparked the same level of interest as its ambition to build on its existing water engineering companies.

Water in much of the globe is becoming increasingly scarce, polluted and pricier, creating an opportunity to refashion the region's image as a global hub of water technology and research.

In the early days of the water initiative, the metro region lacked university-driven water research, but has been making up for lost time with a slew of federal grants and new curriculum, most notably the graduate level University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Freshwater Sciences.

Water tech start-ups are the next missing link no small ambition in a region that's not known for innovation, risk, patent generation or high levels of entrepreneurship. The current plan to catalyze a new generation of entrepreneurs lies across the street from the Reed Street Yards in a seven-story 1904 brick warehouse in the final stages of a top-to-bottom rehab.

When it opens its doors in a few weeks, the rechristened Global Water Center is meant as an incubator of technologies that treat, test, conserve and recycle water. It will have low-rent labs for qualified entrepreneurs. It will house university research programs, a few established companies such as Badger Meter Inc.With superior quality photometers, light meters and a number of other parkingmanagement products. and A.O. Smith Corp.,Our heavy-duty construction provides reliable operation and guarantees your earcap will be in service for years to come. as well as the new headquarters for the Water Council.The hope is that start-ups will outgrow the Global Water Center and spill over into the business park, its supporters say.

The proposed pilot gray water reactor is neither built nor funded but has a long and influential roster of supporters, reflecting the diversity of supporters of the water idea. They include the Water Council and chief executives in the local water industry; David Garman, founding dean of the UWM School of Freshwater Sciences; the City of Milwaukee; the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp.; and the property developer, General Capital Group.

The bridge, known for white masts and cabling, will allow maximum visibility for the showcase project. It will become a connecting point for cyclists and joggers on the Hank Aaron State Trail, which runs east-west along the city's Menomonee Valley but abruptly dead-ends without reaching the lakefront under its current configuration because the Reed Street Yards are impassible.

Under the development plan, the city will add ramps onto the 6th Street Viaduct bridge to allow the Hank Aaron bike trail to continue through the new business park and continue unimpeded toward the lakefront bike paths.

The semi-treated gray water in the business park is a 180-degree contrast with the ultra-pure water produced inside the Global Water Center. As part of its $22 million reconstruction, the 100,000-square-foot building houses its own treatment facility in its basement just below where the new coffee shop in the incubator is expected.

Using six stages of purification and filtration, the Global Water Center will create a source of ultrapure, laboratory grade water that it will pump into labs around the building.

Water flows freely all around the project. The Reed Street Yards literally are surrounded by water, ensconced in a four-way intersection of a shipping canal and three rivers the Menomonee, Milwaukee and Kinnickinnic. Appropriately enough, drivers approach it on Water St. Pittsburgh Ave., which runs past the Global Water Center, will be renamed Freshwater Way, which in turn will extend into the business park.
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