The Probst Group

AT A GLANCE THE PROBST GROUP WHAT: A wastewater engineering and food and beverage consulting firm WHERE: Brookfield, WI WEBSITE: www.probstgroup.com I n the U.S. marketplace, wastewater treatment technology has experienced slow and incremental advancement, hampered by a general resistance to change in the face of more restrictive environmental regulations as well as various funding and infrastructure challenges. But The Probst Group, an industrial wastewater engineering firm based out of Brookfield, WI, is well-poised to transform that paradigm as one of the pacesetters among a new generation of innovators who are reimagining our current means of treating, paying for, and profiting from wastewater. “Wastewater is looked at as this archaic system,” says Garry Gibson, Business Development Manager for the Probst Group. “It’s often the last thing somebody’s thinking of when they’re building or expanding their production facility.” “We’re working with other frontline innovators to explore the implementation of potentially transformative technologies right now,” adds owner, Henry Probst. “We’re experimenting with technologies such as cold plasma for water purification and microbiological fuel cell technology. Advances such as this could alter the face of how we approach wastewater treatment projects, as well as reduce the cost profile for the client.” Industries that use large amounts of water - the food and beverage realm in particular - are increasingly on the lookout for just these sorts of sustainable solutions - ones that can improve filtration efficiencies, reduce maintenance, decrease energy usage, and cut operating costs. “I’m a 3rd generation wastewater engineer,” reveals Probst. “My grandfather traveled the U.S., installing some of the earliest secondary treatment systems related to the Clean Water Act limitations. My father started in the municipal realm but quickly gained an interest in the industrial side. He started his own consulting and design-build firm back in 1988 called Procorp Inc., servicing the food and beverage market space. I joined him in 1991, balancing work and full-time studies in civil and environmental engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. “Together, we developed some of the first Rethinking wastewater