Small Business Finds Big Home in St. Michael

 It was about 10 months ago when St. Michael’s Economic Development Authority heard the city’s industrial area off of 43rd Street and Larabee Avenue was going to get another shot in the arm.

In July 2010, U.S. Water announced it would open a new, national headquarters in St. Michael, located in the former Plymouth Plumbing building at 12270 43rd Street.

“Their loss was really our gain,” said LaMar Barnes, vice president of operations at the business. “We’ve been able to make some modifications and make this a really nice home for us.”

U.S. Water grew by leaps and bounds through the early part of the 2000s, thanks to the evolution of biofuels. The water systems created by U.S. Water engineers were perfect for the large plants, which use water to compliment the mash created by the processed corn, which eventually creates the fuel alternative ethanol.

“We’ve been able to equip about 80 percent of the ethanol plants in the United States,” said Kent Herbst, a Monticello area native and a marketing head at the company. “Obviously, that market has slowed recently, but we’re trying to find new ways to diversify, and coming up with some pretty good ideas.”

Established in 1996, US Water now has about 65 employees in St. Michael, and 150 nationwide (it has offices in the Northwestern United States, and sales staff have field offices all over the country). Top executive Al Bly left Nalco, the nation’s largest water supply systems company, to form U.S. Water.

So what do they do?

Recently, U.S. Water installed a reverse osmosis system at a manufacturing plant in nearby Glencoe.

“Think of the system under your sink,” Herbst said. “That handles about one-tenth to one-quarter a gallon per minute. This system handles about 3,000 gallons a minute,” he said.

And, as manufacturing plants are urged to go greener, U.S. Water is thinking environmentally, too. Instead of water systems that grab water from an aquifer or body of water, new systems are going to re-use the water it starts with. In essence, new systems will recycle water, using filtration systems to remove an debris or mineral deposits.

Case in point – U.S. Water helped develop the first-ever “zero discharge” plant in Madera, Cal.

“So, how’s it going in St. Michael?” asked Chuck Van Heel of the EDA.

The facility, Herbst and Barnes said, couldn’t have worked out better. The new office is isolated, but part of the community. There is green all around. Delivery drivers have easy access to Interstate 94 via the Highway 241 expansion.

The only complaint?

“Well, I’m still commuting from Chicago,” said Barnes. “So more hotel and dining options would be good.”

Barnes said U.S. Water is planning to grow from a company that raked in $60 million in revenue last year to one that can produce $200 to $300 million in the near future. The added revenue would come as the company expands into the chemical treatment market, as U.S. Water is one of the only companies of its size to combine chemical treatment (anti-corrosion, anti-bacterial and anti-deposit chemicals for water systems), large equipment and services out of one location.

“We definitely plan to grow,” Barnes said. “First, in the field. But eventually, here in St. Michael. We already have plans for our property.”