Blue Water Technologies Inc., of Hayden, Idaho, says it hopes to hear within a few months whether the South Korean government has decided to require that sewage-treatment plants in that country implement Blue Water's phosphorus-removal technology.

Last month, the company hosted a contingent of 34 engineers and administrators from South Korea's Ministry of the Environment, which is that country's equivalent of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, says Jennifer Kean, the company's chief financial officer.

"We presented our technology and how it's effective at removing phosphorus," Kean says.

Phosphorus is a nutrient in sewage that can lead to excessive plant growth if too much is discharged into lakes and streams in treated wastewater. When the excess plants die, decaying matter depletes oxygen needed by fish and other aquatic creatures.

Blue Water's technology removes phosphorus from wastewater by filtering it through chemically-coated sand, which absorbs phosphorus. The coating rubs off of the sand as it collects phosphorus, and the sand, clean water, and phosphorus-laden dirty water then are separated by density. The Blue Water system discharges the clean water, retains dirty water for further treatment, and recoats and reuses the sand.

The South Koreans toured Blue Water's headquarters near the Coeur d'Alene Airport as well as the company's research lab at the Hayden Area Regional Sewer Board treatment plant, also located near the airport. The group also visited a phosphorus-removal project that Blue Water installed at the sewage-treatment plant in Plummer, Idaho, about 33 miles south of Coeur d'Alene, under a $400,000 contract.

The delegation's other stops in the U.S. included a visit to the EPA in Washington, D.C., and to a San Francisco maker of phosphorus-removal technology.

The ministry likely will select one technology and mandate its implementation throughout South Korea, Kean says.

A Korean company has licensed Blue Water's technology and will manufacture the phosphorous-removal system there and pay Blue Water royalties for it, if Korea selects the technology, she says.

"We've quoted $4 million on projects there, and that's just getting started," Kean says.

Blue Water has 25 employees and anticipates hiring another six to 10 employees in 2011. The company projects its revenue will increase by 25 percent to about $4 million this year and will increase another 50 percent next year, Kean says.

The seven-year-old company originated as a technology-transfer venture from the University of Idaho, which receives royalties for some phosphorus-removal technologies. Blue Water also has licensed and invented technologies that target other wastewater contaminants, such as nitrates and mercury.