Ten years ago, three engineers decided to create a different kind of water management company. As Hydroflux, the result of that decision, marks its first decade, Kim Berry speaks to the founders and CEO Julia Seddon.
With nearly 100 years of experience in water engineering between them, Hydroflux founders Andrew Miley, Adrian Minshull, and John Koumoukelis came together over a mutual goal to create a water management company that also had sustainability and climate risk management embedded in its practice. Its mission: “Protect our most valuable resources”.
Hydroflux CEO Julia Seddon says, “Their thinking was very much about approaching water treatment differently and in a better way. It was moving from being a water engineering business to a sustainability business. That is still rare.”
Today, Hydroflux is Australia’s largest water technology, treatment solutions and sustainability services company.
With 100 employees, the company has offices in Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji, across four business units:
1. Hydroflux Industrial manages water and wastewater for food, beverage, and other manufacturing industries.
2. Hydroflux Epco works with the municipal sector on potable water and sewage treatment systems.
3. Hydroflux Utilities focuses on aftermarket customer services, providing long-term support where necessary.
4. Cress Consulting offers sustainability consulting and advisory services such as ESG, carbon accounting, climate risk assessments, decarbonisation and water stewardship programs.
Hydroflux team’s extensive industry experience, original approach to the market, and proprietary technology pushes the company forward.
The founders continue to pursue opportunities in design and construction of bioenergy plants, water reuse, process water, sludge drying, nutrient removal, and removing emerging pollutants, with sustainability embedded at its core.
“Embedded in the company’s culture is a drive to develop robust sustainable solutions, to serve their clients’ businesses long into the future,” Seddon says.
Director and co-founder Andrew Miley is passionate about customers understanding the true cost of water. He says while the price of water might be cheap, the bigger picture of costs associated with the processes of heating and cooling, treating, and pumping water around the factory, are not.
He says, “Water is currently so undervalued. Our approach is, we could give you a standard treatment system, or we could look at how you are using your resources and how you could reduce your costs and your impact on the environment.”
The company is also committed to following its own principles; Hydroflux was the first company in the water sector to achieve carbon neutral certification for its products, and design and support services. Each part of the business and every stage of the product lifecycle has been assessed including a review of carbon emissions and identifying carbon reduction opportunities. (See Food & Drink Business, September 2022 edition, for the full story.)
Looking ahead
Director and co-founder John Koumoukelis says the business is seeing companies, in private and public sectors, embrace resiliency as part of their business planning.
“It’s great to be part of that conversation and it is leading to expanded capabilities in terms of bioenergy, renewable energy, water reuse, and protecting natural waterways,” he says.
Miley says, “Creating energy from waste is a no-brainer. We are at the forefront of converting biowaste into a valuable product.”
The company has seen a shift to “more of a pull than a push” in larger companies when it comes to water management solutions, but Miley says more needs to be done to encourage SMEs to invest in sustainable solutions rather than what’s cheapest.
Seddon adds, “The first step is going through the process, many companies don’t know how much water they are using or where they are using it. Most of the time there are things that can be done that are low costs, and other things that can be wrapped into a bigger capital program.”
Miley says, “We have a stronghold in ANZ and the Pacific. Our focus is expanding into APAC and then the rest of the world. The impact that goes with our growth is what drives us. The bigger we get the more impact we have.”
Hydroflux also works with around 15 partners worldwide including Huber, Organica, Flootech, and CNP. “We can collaborate, providing different expertise to solve problems,” Miley says.
A decade ago, three people shared a vision, to protect our most valuable resources by building a sustainable water engineering firm. Today, Hydroflux is at the forefront of technology, innovation, and sustainability, working throughout Australia and the wider Pacific.
This article first appeared in the June/July 2023 edition of Food & Drink Business magazine.
