Profile on Local Phoenix Business

WCP Online recently profiled Water Treatment Technologies (WTT), a Phoenix-based residential and commercial water treatment company that's been serving the area since 1992. The business was founded by Robin and Andi Pettyjohn as a Kinetico dealership and has grown steadily over three decades through acquisitions and expanded offerings. Paul Kaplan joined as a service technician in 1998 (a friend of the founders' daughter whose only hiring requirement was cutting his hair) and has worked his way up to co-owner alongside his wife Kerri.

The Kaplans became minority partners in 2023 and are on track to take full ownership by June 2026. With six employees total, WTT covers whole-house filtration, arsenic removal for well water, point-of-use coolers, drinking fountain service, and salt delivery across the Phoenix metro. The company is the preferred regional warranty service provider for several large drinking water companies, and their technicians are regularly requested by name; a sign of the kind of customer trust that takes years to build.

Kel Tren WaterCare published a guide on the difference between short-chain and long-chain compounds, a distinction that doesn't get much attention. Long-chain PFAS like PFOA and PFOS have been studied more extensively, tend to accumulate in the body for longer periods, and are generally easier to remove through traditional filtration methods like granular activated carbon. Short-chain PFAS were introduced as replacements when manufacturers began phasing out long-chain compounds, but they come with their own challenges. They're more mobile in water, spread more easily through groundwater, and are harder to capture during filtration. GAC, which handles long-chain PFAS reasonably well, often struggles with short-chain compounds. The guide recommends RO as the most comprehensive solution for both types, with ion exchange as a strong option specifically for short-chain PFAS.

WCP Online's industry profile series this month features Justin Mest, a product applications specialist at A. O. Smith who majored in fine art and agricultural science before finding his way into water treatment. The path wasn't entirely surprising given that his father is Richard Mest, Strategic Affairs Officer at the WQA, and Justin spent summers in middle and high school working in a water analysis lab. He even describes assembling water test kits as a regular family activity on weekends. On a formative early career experience, Mest recalls a trouble call that took six hours when it should have taken thirty minutes, entirely because he didn't have the right testing equipment or a firm enough grasp of the underlying chemistry. On the best professional advice he's received, also from his father: "Pay attention to the potential harm we might do when we treat water. If we don't have a firm grasp on the potential harm, then we could hurt people, and we have a responsibility to make sure that we don't."

Water Filter Guru followed up their iSpring RCC7 review, where they flagged arsenic leaching and recommended the APEC as an alternative, with a full test of the APEC ROES-PH75. The verdict: it earns that recommendation. The system scored 8.87 overall (the highest of any conventional tank-based RO system they've tested) and delivered strong contaminant reduction across the board. All five contaminants detected above health guideline levels in the feed water were completely eliminated, with 100% removal of molybdenum, selenium, sulfate, and vanadium. The remineralization stage raised pH to 8.7 without introducing any unexpected contaminants. At $0.10-$0.21 per gallon ongoing, it's also one of the more affordable systems tested. The weak spots are consistent with the category: a lower real-world flow rate, a poor efficiency ratio, and installation took 90 minutes with a multi-hour flushing process.