H2O Innovation Awarded CAN$7.8 Million in Contracts for Industrial Water Treatment Systems in Northern Africa, Russia and North America

QUEBEC CITY, QUEBEC--(Marketwire - March 24, 2011) - H₂O Innovation Inc. ("H₂O Innovation" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:HEO)(ALTERNEXT:MNEMO:ALHEO) announces today that it has been awarded new contracts totaling $7.8 million. These contracts will see H₂O Innovation provide custom-built water treatment systems and equipment to power generation and industrial end-users in Northern Africa, Russia, and North America. Approximately half of the total value of the contracts announced today relates to a contract awarded to H₂O Innovation by a world-leading engineering procurement construction firm headquartered in Canada; this contract covers the supply of desalination and demineralization systems to be installed at a power generation plant currently under construction in a Northern African country. These new contracts bring H₂O Innovation's sales backlog to $20.7 million as of March 24, 2011. The Company's sales backlog is comprised entirely of systems and equipment sales and does not include sales of services and consumable products, nor does it include the sales backlog of the Company's Indian joint venture H₂O Innovation India.

"These contracts reaffirm the strong revival that the industrial market for water treatment systems is experiencing. This represents the highest level of new bookings we have recorded in a quarter in two years and brings our sales backlog to its highest since the first quarter of fiscal 2010, 15 months ago. The market for industrial water treatment systems continues to boom with opportunities, in both North America and abroad. Without ever reducing the importance of the North American municipal market, our sales teams have maintained their focus on the energy, power generation and oil & gas markets over the last year and a half – a trend which is producing solid, lasting, commercial results", stated Frédéric Dugré, President and CEO of H₂O Innovation.

As part of the contracts announced today, H₂O Innovation will design, fabricate, and deliver water desalination and demineralization systems that will produce high purity water for a gas-powered combined cycle thermal power generation plant currently under construction in a Northern African country. H₂O Innovation has been selected for this project by one of the world's leading engineering procurement construction firm responsible for the design and construction of the power plant.

"The significant contract we have secured from one of Canada's most renowned engineering procurement construction firm will become a flagship international project for our company in a region – Northern Africa – where H₂O Innovation counts on several industrial and institutional project references. Our engineering teams are already actively engaged planning the project's design and manufacturing and we intend to build on our success to continue developing our international activities", concluded Frédéric Dugré.

As part of another contract, the Company will design, build, and deliver a multi-skid two-pass reverse osmosis system to an independent oil and gas production company for installation on a production site located in California. The system will produce high quality industrial process water for the production of steam used in the oil extraction process. A third contract will see H₂O Innovation design, build and supply two reverse osmosis produced water treatment systems to a Canadian company active in the modernization of petrochemical plants in Russia.

H₂O Innovation will also build and supply smaller water treatment systems and equipment to U.S. energy companies, to a Canadian industrial client active in the aerospace industry and to a luxury wilderness resort located in Canada's British Columbia province, for which the Company will deliver a Bio-Wheel wastewater treatment system.

All of the projects announced today will be manufactured in the Company's two North American plants, in Ham-Nord, Quebec and Minneapolis, Minnesota; some will also benefit from H₂O Innovation's procurement and assembly platform in India, H₂O Innovation India. 

Prospective disclosures

Certain statements set forth in this press release regarding the operations and the activities of H₂O Innovation as well as other communications by the Company to the public that describe more generally management objectives, projections, estimates, expectations or forecasts may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of securities legislation. Forward-looking statements concern analysis and other information based on forecast future results and the estimate of amounts that cannot yet be yet determined. Forward-looking statements include the use of the words "expect", "believe", "estimate" and other similar terms as well as those usually used in the future and the conditional, notably regarding certain assumptions as to the success of a venture. Those forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties which may result in actual and future results of the Company to be materially different than those indicated. Information about the risk factors to which the Company is exposed is provided in the Annual Information Form dated September 21, 2010 available on SEDAR (www.sedar.com). Unless required to do so pursuant to applicable securities legislation, H₂O Innovation assumes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements contained in this press release or in other communications as a result of new information, future events and other changes.

About H₂O Innovation 

Building on 10 years of experience, H₂O Innovation designs, manufactures, and integrates state-of-the-art custom-built water treatment systems for the production of drinking water, the reclamation of water, the treatment of wastewater and industrial process water in the municipal, commercial, industrial, oil & gas, mining, and energy markets. Additionally, the Company offers complete operating and maintenance solutions for membrane filtration and reverse osmosis systems. H₂O Innovation has approximately 100 employees and eight offices including three manufacturing plants in Canada and the United States and is a founding partner of H₂O Innovation India, a joint venture based in Mumbai, India. Shares of H₂O Innovation are listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (HEO) as well as on the NYSE Euronext Alternext Exchange (MNEMO:ALHEO). For more, visit www.h2oinnovation.com.