Innovating Water Treatment for a Sustainable Future

An Interview with John Barelli, Founder of WaterSurplus

By Caryn Smith, Chief Content Officer, IFN

The sustainability story of WaterSurplus began before it became a trending topic. The concept of recycling and redeploying idle water treatment assets has been the core business model of the Illinois-based company since 1999. CEO John Barelli saw an opportunity to deploy recycled surplus water and wastewater treatment systems to the farthest corners of the globe to address water filtration demands and solve emergency, short- or long-term filtration challenges. Today, the vast majority of the company’s business involves new and rental equipment, but WaterSurplus still maintains the largest marketplace of surplus and used water treatment equipment, membranes, and resin.

The company’s case studies illustrate its ability to not only respond to customers’ operational needs but also deploy equipment to address emergency situations such as the following natural disasters.

In the summer of 2024, the firm responded quickly to a natural disaster in Louisiana. Lower than normal water volumes flowing down the Mississippi River led to a saltwater surge moving north from the Gulf of Mexico. This so-called salt wedge put at risk many water treatment systems that were designed to draw in and treat fresh surface water from the lower Mississippi River. In coordination with the Army Corps of Engineers and other organizations, WaterSurplus deployed and held in reserve enough state-of-the-art reverse osmosis (RO) filtration systems to produce