Make Water Work Podcast: WEFTEC, Innovation, & Imagine H2O

Episode 53: WEFTEC, Innovation, & Imagine H2O

Meet the 2026 Imagine H2O accelerator cohort, live from the WEFTEC innovation hub in New Orleans.At WEFTEC, thousands of exhibitors compete for attention, but the Innovation Hub is where you see what small teams can do with a good idea and the right support. In this episode, Isaac Pellerin walks the floor with the Imagine H2O portfolio companies and asks each founder how they got into water, what they’re building, and what the accelerator has meant for them.

In this episode:

• Noah McCall of Imagine H2O on the accelerator, the Asia program, and the pilot fund
• Molendotech with Bactiquick: a handheld test that detects bacterial contamination in about 15 minutes instead of 1 to 2 days
• FloNergia: using air instead of mechanical parts to move and aerate water, with 600 units deployed in aquaculture
• AquaPoro: pulling water directly from the air with a molecular sponge
• Biota: a $10, 15-minute rapid PFAS test
• Active Membranes: electrically conductive RO membranes that fight fouling and scaling and cut desalination costs by up to 50%
• AlgaFilm Technologies: algae-based nutrient removal for smaller wastewater systems
• Brightwater Tools: freeze concentration for high-strength liquid waste streams
• AxNano: on-site capture and destruction of PFAS and other hard-to-treat contaminants
• Earth Focus (Imagine H2O Asia cohort): EcoVapor, a cooling tower retrofit that recovers 30 to 45% of evaporative loss
• Delta Bravo AI: PermitPro and Aquaspec, AI tools for environmental permitting and water utility operations

Why this matters: Selling anything new in water comes down to moving at the speed of trust. Imagine H2O selects a small cohort from hundreds of applicants, then surrounds them with the mentors, connections, and customers to close that trust gap faster.