With the purchase of approximately 88 percent of Wedeco AG Water Technology, ITT Industries has extended its move toward a leading position in the water treatment business.

With the purchase of approximately 88 percent of Wedeco AG Water Technology, ITT Industries, White Plains, N.Y., has extended its move toward a leading position in the water treatment business. Besides Dusseldorf-based Wedeco, ITT recently acquired Heng Tong Water Treatment Engineering Co. Ltd. of Shanghai, China. These two acquisitions give ITT Fluid Technologies' Sanitaire business unit access to leading-edge technology within the industry, said Tom Pokorsky, Sanitaire's president. Heng Tong's packaging of reverse-osmosis, membrane and other water treatment systems is suited for areas where demand for low-cost water supplies for industrial purposes such as power, pharmaceutical, chemical and manufacturing applications is growing. In China, a number of new government directives calls for increasing wastewater treatment in the next few years. Wedeco's technologies could reduce the need for chlorine-based treatment of wastewater destined for recycling applications. The company manufactures ultraviolet disinfection and ozone oxidation systems, which are alternatives to chlorine treatment.