H2O Innovation announced Tuesday that it has acquired the WaterHub at Emory University, the Atlanta campus facility that recycles up to 400,000 gallons of wastewater a day for non-potable use. Emory will keep buying reclaimed water from the site under a long-term agreement, even as ownership shifts to the Quebec-based water infrastructure company.
A Decade-Old System Changes Hands
According to H2O Innovation's announcement, the company will operate, maintain and reinvest in the WaterHub as owner, including scaling it up to meet Emory's needs as the campus expands. The same announcement notes that Emory will continue purchasing reclaimed water from the facility under its long-term agreement with the company, though neither the purchase price, the identity of the seller, nor the duration of that agreement was disclosed, as reported by Smart Water Magazine.
The WaterHub has operated since 2015, when Emory describes it as the first system of its kind in the United States, according to the Emory Office of Sustainability Initiatives. It was originally developed by Sustainable Water, per Smart Water Magazine's reporting, and treats campus wastewater using a moving bed biofilm reactor followed by greenhouse hydroponic treatment and outdoor planted beds, with UV treatment and chlorination disinfecting the water before reuse.
Nearly 40% of Campus Water Needs
Since opening, the facility has recycled more than 500 million gallons of water and today meets nearly 40% of Emory's campus water needs, per H2O Innovation's own figures in the GlobeNewswire release. Emory's sustainability office separately says the system reduces the university's draw from Atlanta's municipal supply by up to 146 million gallons annually; Smart Water Magazine reports that it also cuts demand for drinking water sourced from DeKalb County. The reclaimed water also replaces water lost to evaporation at Emory's steam and chiller plants, and a demonstration wetland on campus receives about 2,500 gallons a day, according to the same Emory account. Smart Water Magazine also reports that toilet flushing at Raoul Hall has been identified as a planned future use for the recycled supply.
Financing Through a $200 Million Blue Loan
H2O Innovation says the acquisition and planned upgrades are financed through its $200 million Blue Loan, a platform-level project debt facility the company closed in May 2026. That facility was structured to qualify as a Blue Loan under the International Finance Corporation's Blue Finance Guidelines, which reserve the designation for debt that funds sustainable use and protection of water and ocean resources, per Smart Water Magazine. Scotiabank led the facility, with National Bank of Canada serving as joint lead arranger and Export Development Canada participating in the syndicate, according to the same reporting; the $200 million is intended to fund further acquisitions, new builds and expansions of water reuse and decentralized treatment assets across the country.
H2O Innovation's entry into this space traces back to its October 2024 acquisition of NextEra Distributed Water in a carve-out deal, which the company used to create its Water Infrastructure & Development business line, Smart Water Magazine reports. H2O Innovation had previously delivered and operated WaterHub systems through a commercial partnership with NextEra Distributed Water before folding that work into its own platform.
CEO Points to a Broader Playbook
“This facility was built more than a decade ago, and we now have the team and the capital to acquire it and to do the same for campuses across North America,” said Frédéric Dugré, president and chief executive officer of H2O Innovation, according to Smart Water Magazine. Dugré indicated the company is open to talks with other owners of onsite treatment and reuse plants, the outlet reports.
H2O Innovation is also developing a separate WaterHub project with the University of Texas at Austin, a partnership announced in January 2025. UT News describes that project as a 9,600-square-foot water processing facility expected to be the largest of its kind in the nation once built, with early projections calling for a 40% cut in campus potable water use and up to a 70% reduction in sewer volume. Emory's own sustainability office has noted that other universities, including Duke and Princeton, have considered similar water recycling systems as campuses look for ways to cut municipal water demand.
