FSI Announces Full Results of San Diego WaterSavrTM Trial

Victoria, British Columbia (FSCwire) - FLEXIBLE SOLUTIONS INTERNATIONAL, INC. (AMEX: FSI, FRANKFURT: FXT), is the developer and manufacturer of biodegradable polymers for oil extraction, detergent ingredients and water treatment as well as crop nutrient availability chemistry. Flexible Solutions also manufactures biodegradable and environmentally safe water and energy conservation technologies. Today the Company announces the full results of the recent WatersavrTM trial in San Diego, CA

CEO Dan O’Brien states, “The trial was conducted in San Diego with the participation and cooperation of the City of San Diego. We feel very hopeful, that once the City has reached internal consensus on the importance of this trial, it will begin graduated deployment of WatersavrTM onto all City reservoirs.” Mr. O’Brien continues, “The following bullet points illustrate the success of the trial and by how much WatersavrTM can exceed the economic breakeven point when water prices are high. We are pleased to have helped San Diego identify a major economic and environmental benefit.”

• The trial reduced evaporation losses by 46%

• San Diego reservoirs lose 5 feet or more per year through evaporation

• On the City’s 8,000 acres of water surface, $14 million worth of water per year would be saved at the recorded 46%

• If the reduction was only 20%, $6.4 million worth of water would be saved per year. 6000 gallons per minute!

• The breakeven point is 4% savings based on San Diego’s costs for water

• San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board has allowed WatersavrTM         on drinking water, so savings can begin immediately

• The City water department will be able to re-purpose the money saved each year to continuously improve the City water system

Mr. O’Brien concludes, “With the trial results 11.5 times higher than the break-even point, the down side is nearly invisible while the upside is better water service for all San Diego taxpayers. And the icing on the cake is less water wasted.”

Evaporation mitigation trial using WaterSavr™ in collaboration with the City of San Diego

Contribution by:

Rosalva Morales - Associate Engineer-Civil, Water System Operations Division

Michael J. Simpson - Senior Water Operations Supervisor, City of San Diego

Michael Williams - Water Production Superintendent, City of San Diego

Sukhpreet Mann- Junior Engineer, Water System Operations Division

David Verlee – Managing Director,  WaterSavr™ [a division of Flexible Solutions Ltd]

Dan O’Brien – CEO, Flexible Solutions Ltd

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February 2017

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Overview

Annual evaporation losses in the San Diego region will range from 5 feet to 5 ½ feet per year depending on the location of their reservoirs and the annual weather patterns. For the City of San Diego, with over 8000 acres of surface area in reservoirs when they are full, the evaporative losses should be in excess of 40,000 acre feet of water per year (about 35 million gallons water loss every day).

Over the last 50 years, there have been various attempts to reduce this high water loss due to evaporation, but no viable solution has been implemented in the City of San Diego

After consultation with various staff of the City of San Diego, it was agreed that a proper evaporation mitigation solution needs to have the following criteria: 1) safe for both human consumption and the environment 2) cost effective versus other means of saving or augmenting water supplies and 3) proven effectiveness.

Since the safety aspect of WaterSavr™ has been reviewed and accepted by regulatory agencies, the main purpose of this trial was to prove the effectiveness of WaterSavr™ as a monolayer suppressant and review the potential cost effectiveness in today’s market for the City of San Diego vs alternative solutions.

Safety aspect of WaterSavr™

WaterSavr™ has been used safely in 4 continents, including in the USA in California, Texas and Nevada over the last decade. Specifically, in the USA, WaterSavr™ has received the following approvals:

• NSF AINSI 60

• EPA Gold Seal

• TCEQ Approval for Texas

• SNWA and Nevada Fish and Wildlife

• Trial Approval from Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board

• Trial Approval from San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board

What is WaterSavr™?

• Developed and Manufactured by Flexible Solutions under U.S. Pat 6,303,133   (global patents filed).

• The only commercially available method that has been proven safe and economically viable for reducing evaporation on large drinking water reservoirs.

• Formula:

• 10%  Cetyl+Steryl Alcohols (Hexadecanol and Octadecanol ) – Extract of Palm Oil.

• 90 % Calcium Hydroxide (food grade hydrated lime)  

The chemistry of WaterSavr™ is as follow:

Hexadecanol and Octadecanol –CH3(CH2)15(17)OH

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WaterSavr™ is hydrophobic and

will stay on water surface until biodegradation

WaterSavr™ is hydrophobic and naturally spread across the water surface on a reservoir – see example below:

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Spreading WaterSavr™ after 60 seconds

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Spreading WaterSavr™ after 120 seconds

Method of testing

The location of the trial was at the Alvarado Treatment Plant in San Diego – right beside Lake Murray. The entire trial was under strict supervision with a 24 / 7 guard on standby and the whole plant area gated. Strict access was required for the assurance of proper data gathering during the trial.

Testing was done with both an official representative from the City of San Diego and a WaterSavr™ representative at all times.

Two Class A evaporation pans were brought to the site with a special attention that both pans were perfectly levelled and on pallets. Water from the treatment plant was always available to refill the pans when required.

The initial set up of the pans included an evaporation test without WaterSavr™, over a weekend, to make sure that both pans had no leaks and had identical evaporation. The data was confirmed that both pans had no leak and evaporated at the same rate.

Both Class A evaporation pans were painted white. It was agreed that painting the pans in white provided better reflection of the sun, hence lowering the wall temperature and therefore, replicating more closely, the temperature around the various reservoirs in San Diego.

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Two identical Class A Evaporation pan – perfectly levelled.

Instead of a still wells, a straight metal rod was placed across the edges of both pans and a stainless steel screw pointed down. Water level was raised in each pan until the screw created a “dimple” with the water surface. This method allows the screw position to be checked and corrected without touching the water and provides better visual confirmation for the staff monitors when replacing the water lost to evaporation each day.

On a daily basis, when weather permitted (data was not collected on days with rainfall), each pan was refilled until the screw point just dimpled the surface. A graduated cylinder was used and the amount of water added to each pan was recorded by both a WaterSavr™ representative and a City of San Diego staff for quality assurance.

After each large rainfall, both pans were thoroughly cleaned and reset to equal levels. A pre-measured dosage of 120 MG was applied to the WaterSavr™ pan as per agreed protocol.

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Screw touches water surface to create a dimple on water surface

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Pre-measured in Alvarado treatment laboratory, 120 milligrams of WaterSavr™ were provided in small containers for proper dosage

Official results

The trial was officially started on November 16th, 2016 and officially ended Feb 3, 2017. Due to seasonal rainfall and various observed holidays during the trial period, the trial had to a few days when data was not collected

Interestingly, although the evaporation reduction using WaterSavr™ through the trial period was on average 45%, the daily readings would vary from day to day. This daily data variation was expected and is due to the natural degradation of WaterSavr™ through UV.

As per manufacturer’s recommendation, WaterSavr™ is to be reapplied on reservoirs every three days at a rate of 1LB per acre.

It should also be noted that two data set during the trial period were deleted from the overall results. The data collected on January 17, 2017 showed WaterSavr™ saved 100% of the evaporation and this was due to unseasonal cold weather that day. Reversely, on November 23, 2016, a 43% increase in evaporation using WaterSavr™ was also recorded and we suspect a man-made error.

Note: A parallel trial, using the same protocol, was done in Cardiff, California during a portion of the trial. This trial location was about 30 miles away from the Alvarado treatment plant and is located closer to the ocean. The results of this trial were, on average, within 5% variance from the trial done with WaterSavr™ with the City of San Diego.

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Measurements done daily – difference between the two lines is water save

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Daily percentage saving using WaterSavr™

Financial cost effectiveness of WaterSavr™

Based on local data assumptions about the cost of water, regional evaporation rates, cost of labor to spread the product, and  confirmation of the water evaporation prevention data from the trial, the cost of using WaterSavr™ during the high evaporative season will be less $160 per acre foot. See Appendix I for full detailed calculations

Assumptions are as follow:

• Cost of importing water from MWD: $900 per acre foot

• Annual average evaporation rate: 5 feet

• High evaporation season: April through October equals about 70% of annual evaporation

• Cost of local labor to spread WaterSavr™: $40 per hour

• Evaporation saving average: only using 35% saving to stay conservative (although 45% savings was done through the trial)

• Cost of WaterSavr™: $2.75 per LB

Based on current local price of imported water in San Diego, using WaterSavr™ instead of importing more water to replace the evaporative losses avoided by using WaterSavr™, should provide over 600% return on investment. In simple terms, using WaterSavr™ is the same as preventing evaporation losses at $160/acre foot instead of replacing evaporation losses at $900/acre foot.

Assuming that the current reservoirs in San Diego were full, the annual budget for both WaterSavr™ and spreading cost would be $1.7 million over the high evaporation season. However, using these local assumptions, it would provide savings of over $7 million annually to the City of San Diego.

Next steps

A purchase order from the City of San Diego will be placed this Spring 2017 to start spreading WaterSavr™ on Lake Sutherland.

About Flexible Solutions International

Flexible Solutions International, Inc. (www.flexiblesolutions.com), based in Victoria, British Columbia, is an environmental technology company. The Company’s NanoChem Solutions Inc. subsidiary specializes in biodegradable, water-soluble products utilizing thermal polyaspartate (TPA) biopolymers. TPA beta-proteins are manufactured from the common biological amino acid, L-aspartic and have wide usage including scale inhibitors, detergent ingredients, water treatment and crop enhancement. The other divisions manufacture energy and water conservation products for drinking water, agriculture, industrial markets and swimming pools throughout the world. FSI is the developer and manufacturer of WaterSavrTM, the world’s first commercially viable water evaporation retardant.  WaterSavrTM reduces evaporation by up to 30% on reservoirs, lakes, aqueducts, irrigation canals, ponds and slow moving rivers. HeatsavrTM, a “liquid blanket” evaporation retardant for the commercial swimming pool and spa markets, reduces energy costs by 15% to 40% and can result in reduced indoor pool humidity.

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The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a "Safe Harbor" for forward-looking statements.  Certain of the statements contained herein, which are not historical facts, are forward looking statement with respect to events, the occurrence of which involve risks and uncertainties.  These forward-looking statements may be impacted, either positively or negatively, by various factors.  Information concerning potential factors that could affect the company is detailed from time to time in the company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Flexible Solutions International

206 - 920 Hillside Ave, Victoria, BC, V8T 1Z8 CANADA

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