Technology currently used in purification systems for backpackers could be put to use cleaning stormwater contamination in retention ponds or ditches. The “lily pad” could remove chemicals and pathogens from stormwater management facilities before they reach waterways, its developers say. An Oregon startup company called Puralytics will be working with Oregon State University’s Institute for Water and Watersheds to test a product that treats stormwater contaminants via chemical reactions activated by sunlight. See how it works. The university will be working with the company to test the product in the field. Puralytics also received a grant from the nonprofit Oregon Built Environment and Sustainable Technologies Center, or BEST, to make the lily pad a marketable product.

Puralytics was twice a finalist with Imagine H2O, a partner on the Water Environment Federation’s innovation initiative.