Zenon Environmental Inc. said today it has received a purchase order for its ZeeWeed membrane filtration technology, which will form the core of a 20-million gallon per day drinking water filtration plant in New York State. It will be the largest membrane-based drinking water filtration system in the state, and Zenon hopes the plant, scheduled to be complete by the end of 2007, will eventually convince New York City to buy in.

While not the largest drinking water plant in North America for Zenon, the New York State project does fall into the Top 10 — the largest is a 96-million gallon per day facility under construction in Mississauga, Ontario. What this latest deal does show is that Zenon continues to build momentum in the market, something that has been reflected in the company’s stock price over the past few months. Shares have soared nearly 35 per cent since late March, cracking past $27 at yesterday’s close on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Among recent announcements, the company has been selected to treat water in China’s Olympic Village in time for the Beijing games in 2008.

It might be difficult for cities such as Toronto to retrofit their systems with membrane technology, but for any city or town building a new facility using this technology is increasingly becoming a no-brainer. “The membrane market has grown so much now that any municipality looking to build a new plant is automatically looking at membranes,” Nazeli Clausen, an investor relations official with Zenon, told me today. “We’ve been able to bring the price down so it’s comparable to, if not cheaper than, non-membrane systems.”

Put another way, the only thing standing in the way of Zenon’s growth is competition in the membrane-technology space or from other water filtration technologies. Market demand appears to have no way to go but up.

My Clean Break column in today’s Toronto Star takes a look at how clean technologies are poised to transform the shipping industry and others that rely on water transport. Whether it’s new ways of getting rid of on-board waste and bilge water, or the use of the sun, wind and waves to power vessels, it appears that change may be on the horizon as stricter environmental regulations and higher oil prices become the new new. One example of a futuritist “clean” ship is the Orcelle, a concept vessel designed by Stockholm-based ocean shipping giant Wallenius Wilhelmsen. The Orcelle, nearly twice the length of a Preussen clipper ship, would have three massive sails made of composite materials that would also double as solar panels for capturing rays from the sun. Wave-energy systems, appearing as 12 “fins” under the boat, would harness energy from the ocean. These renewable energy sources would go directly into powering the vessel or would be converted into hydrogen and used in fuel cells later. The company believes such as design is possible by 2025.

Another example is the Sydney Solar Sailor, made by the Australian company of the same name. This harbour ferry has been in operation for five years, using wind power and solar panels (a similar design envisioned in the Orcelle) as part of a hybrid-electric design that quietly and cleanly moves the boat at 8 knots. Great for tourist spots where the preference is for low noise, no pollution. Other jurisdictions — Beijing and San Francisco, to name two — are interested in buying Solar Sailors for their own harbours, and the company is currently trying to scale up the idea to larger cargo vessels.

In fact, Solar Sailor has been short-listed for a project that would involve transporting billions of litres of water each year from one area of Australia to another in tankers equiped with solar/wind “wings.” I’ve attached a PowerPoint presentation of that proposal here. Robert Hawke, the former prime minister of Australia, is chairman of the company so it does have industry credibility. It will be interesting to see how, over the years, these cleantech approaches begin to transform the ocean shipping and tourism industries.