The 3rd annual contest invited small and medium- sized businesses throughout Canada to present their biggest challenge for the opportunity to win the $100,000 grant. After initial entry submission, four finalists were chosen from over a thousand entries. As a finalist LWR was required to present in front of the judging panel in Toronto. The initial entry, presentation, and online voting contributed to LWR's award of the $100,000.

"We are honoured to be chosen from a very competitive group of finalists. We are looking forward to increasing our capacity to be able to work with farms from all over the world - after all farmers are the original environmentalists," says Ross Thurston, President of LWR.

LWR's patented technology recycles clean water and concentrates valuable fertilizer nutrients from livestock manure. The system can be installed at hog, dairy, and anaerobic digester operations. System implementation can reduce overall manure volume by 85%, thus reducing production costs and improving the balance sheet at operations. Currently the company has its manure treatment systems installed at operations in Canada and the US.

The new lab equipment will enable LWR to treat and test multiple samples in house. "It will reduce costs, increase revenue, and help us innovate," says Thurston. With a commercial grade lab LWR will have access to international manure samples allowing LWR to meet global demand. This means that LWR will be able to do a better job of cleaning the world's water.