Hach Company's Homeland Security Technologies business unit has signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the U.S. Army to complete testing of its new real-time water security detection and response technology.
Under terms of this unique three-party agreement, the U.S. Army's Edgewood Chemical Biological Center, and the Corps of Engineer's Construction Engineering Research Laboratory and Hach will work to conduct live agent testing on the company's new technology designed to detect terrorist attacks on drinking water distribution systems. Testing was scheduled to be completed by the end of December 2004.
"This is the final stage of verifying that we have the world's first working, reliable real-time detection technology -- capable of both detecting for adverse attacks and managing drinking water quality," said Dr. Jeff Throckmorton, president of Hach Homeland Security Technology. "We're proud to be the first to make this substantial development investment which has produced this homeland security solution."
Under terms of the agreement, Hach is paying for the testing at the Edgewood Chemical and Biological Center (ECBC) to evaluate its new detection/response system against live threat agents. The testing is taking place at Aberdeen Proving Ground, one of the few sites in the country where such testing with real chemical and biological agents can legally take place. This testing is conducted in secure laboratories under strict environmental and safety procedures. The Army and Hach will be constructing their own real-time drinking water test loop.
In addition, the Corps of Engineers is conducting parallel studies with Hach that will help the Corps understand critical fate and transport chemical dynamics. The information that the Corps and Hach will produce will help the Corps create and characterize new chemical conditions central to monitoring and predicting the impacts of terrorist attacks on drinking water distribution systems.
