Eliminate Forever Chemicals and Microplastics — PFAS and microplastics are some of the most toxic contaminants in our water. Using technologies such as the Farady Reactor, we can rid the world of these pollutants cleanly, efficiently, and without toxic wastes.
As we face an unprecedented environmental crisis, the need for sustainable solutions has never been more urgent. This series seeks to spotlight the innovative minds and passionate advocates who are leading the charge in environmental conservation and sustainable practices. We aim to explore the most effective strategies, breakthrough technologies, and transformative policies that are shaping a more sustainable future for our planet. As a part of this series, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Kevin Gast, Co-Founder, CEO, and Chairman of Vvater.
Kevin Gast is the Co-Founder, CEO, and Chairman of VVater, a pioneering next-generation water treatment company dedicated to leveraging advanced technologies to address critical global water challenges. With over 20 years of executive leadership experience spanning more than 30 countries, Gast has brought transformative solutions to industries including real estate, utilities, wastewater, oil and gas, food and beverage, defense, and beyond. His visionary leadership and commitment to innovation have positioned VVater at the forefront of sustainable water management, delivering groundbreaking technologies that redefine how communities and industries access and treat water.
Thank you so much for joining us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’?
Growing up in Pretoria, South Africa, my childhood was steeped in the world of civil engineering, waterproofing, paint manufacturing, and general engineering, thanks to our family business. I spent my days on these sites, learning and watching how projects came to life from ideas. I learned the value of hard work and never giving up, and there is also a quicker, faster, and more efficient solution to any problem, even though you might not have the right tools on hand.
At home, my curiosity knew no bounds. I wasn’t just taking apart VCRs, transistors, and TVs; I was exploring the insides of all sorts of gadgets and machinery, from old radios to mechanical toys, trying to understand their workings and often putting them back together in new ways. This wasn’t a school project but a home-grown passion, filling my spare time with disassembly and reassembly. I was also a kid fascinated with stars, the universe, and why everything is put together the way it is. I spent countless days and nights with my grandfather, either looking through his telescope and learning about the cosmos or speaking to people in different countries with his two-way radio system and the massive antenna he built on his roof.
In school, I was known for my unique hairstyle (spiked hair) and sometimes my oddball interests, often making me the target of good-natured teasing. Having completed my schooling in South Africa, I continued to work in the family businesses for over 20 years in various roles and on thousands of different projects worldwide, seeing firsthand the challenges faced by many nations and their people between contamination, draught, and hormone disruption to malnutrition. These experiences fueled my drive to innovate, look at problems from angles others might not see, and push boundaries to what is possible.
Can you share with us the most interesting story from your career? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘takeaways’ you learned from that?
I was working on a project in Windhoek, Namibia, as the project engineer and installing a geosynthetic lining system, which is 7ft wide x 100ft black rolls of 80mil thick high-density polyethylene rolls that are used to prevent contamination of liquids or materials into the soils of the earth. These lining systems can span vast areas, sometimes creating a mirror or ocean-like effect. As you can imagine, they love the wind, and like a magic carpet ride, you can travel to the promised land quickly with the right gust of wind.
Well, on this project, the city is not called “Wind” or “Corner” (Hoek) for nothing, and we had high winds. On this particular day, we had severe wind gusts, so we decided to drive a 120,000 lbs Front-End Loader onto the lining system that had already been installed to ensure the wind did not damage more material, which seems to be a sound plan. However, as I was standing on the (HDPE) black lining system, we had a massive wind gust, which lifted almost the entire installation in the air, creating a massive wave of black material. Not only was I having the magic carpet ride of my life, but so was the large Front-End Loader, especially as it was getting closer. Fortunately, I survived, as did the Front-End Loader; I probably can’t say the same for my underwear.
The experience gave me my №1 axiom: Simplicity = Perfection. The fundamental simplest way of doing something is, 90% of the time, the only way to do it right. Oh, and don’t misjudge the strength of the wind!
You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
Curiosity has been my driving force. It led me from dismantling gadgets at home to innovating in engineering to water treatment. I always ask, Why must it be this way? Why does it always have to be done this way? The ability to look at something from an angle that isn’t conventional, the removal of the rules to figure out fundamentally why. Instead of just solving the problem, I learned that curiosity can lead to innovations that change how we approach global challenges.
Persistence is another trait this machine, this game, this planet, and this universe do not have an answer for. Eventually, you will succeed, but you have to eat glass first. When we discussed designing and building our ALPHA unit, a complete mobile water treatment system that takes 100,000 gallons of discharge water to potable drinking water per day, our engineering team felt it could not be done in such a small footprint. It took hours, days, and weeks of some serious engineering, computations, and rethinking of the entire method to eventually conceptualize, design, construct, and commission the first ALPHA unit in under 6 months. This had not been done before, was a major feat, and persistence made it possible.
Vision, I believe, is another trait that requires the ability to live at 50,000 ft and 5 years ahead so that you can imagine what’s possible. When I first shared the concept of VVater, some people compared it to Tesla’s early days — bold, ambitious, and disruptive but would be exceptionally hard. That comparison inspired me, as I not only hail from the same city as Elon Musk in South Africa, but our first investor was also one of Elon’s first investors in SpaceX, Tesla, namely Tim Draper, and funny enough we use electricity to purify water. Like Tesla with cars, VVater is changing how the world thinks about water. That dream underlies everything we do, from creating cutting-edge technology to creating a team with the same vision for sustainability.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that might help people?
We’re developing a residential water treatment system called Shield that I believe will change how households manage their water. Most people don’t realize how much water is wasted or how much contamination exists in everyday systems. Traditional water filters can be inefficient, and reverse osmosis — while popular — wastes more water than it purifies.
The Shield machine is designed to not only treat your municipal water that is full of hormone disruptors, NSAID, antibiotics, and various other contaminants but also give you the ability to see in real-time what is going to enter your house, what the Shield system cleaned and gives you the ability from an app on your phone to increase your water pressure, so you can always shower without water fluctuation.
We also have a bottled water project underway. Through our Farady Reactors, which use electricity to clean the water, we can now infuse the water with hydrogen, ions, and other very health-beneficial components to create a new glass, Super-Bottled Water. People need to realize that they have some challenges on their hands; if you drink tap water, you are exposing yourself to some interesting elements. But if you drink bottled water, you expose yourself to microplastics, so what do you do?
You either need a water purification system in your house or buy treated bottled water in a glass bottle. Through VVater, we are working with everyone from municipalities, industries, cities, manufacturers, and homeowners. So many companies and people are switching over to the electrical water treatment process vs. conventional, traditional, old chemical-based, or filter-based water. It’s cheaper, safer, and much, much higher-quality water.
Ok, thank you for all that. Now let’s shift to the main focus of our interview. What pivotal moment led you to dedicate your career to sustainability, and how has that shaped your approach to environmental challenges?
When it dawned on me just how intrinsically interwoven water is with everything: human health, financial security, and the preservation of the planet. I once read that only 1% of the world’s water is available to humans, and we poison it daily with chemicals and contaminants. It’s like we’re fighting ourselves.
As I probed more, I realized most water treatments weren’t addressing the root cause but just stalling it. That shifted my perspective. I knew we had to turn to regeneration: clean, recycle, and store water without producing further waste. From that day forward, I made it my mission to design things that might bring equilibrium back into the equation, as resilient as they are creative.
Desalination is expensive on a small to medium scale, and I differ quite a bit from Elon here. Recycling our existing fresh water is much more efficient, effective, and robust than always going to desalination. The most considerable cost of any water treatment or purification system is not always the system itself; it is the energy required to treat and transport that liquid. I plan to change that; our Farady Reactor barely uses any electricity, we can treat on-site, on location, and have almost no consumables or maintenance; as such, it is 60% on average cheaper than anything on the market.
Could you describe a groundbreaking project or initiative you’ve been involved in that significantly contributed to sustainability?
As mentioned earlier, creating our Farady Reactors, ALPHA Units, The Shield, and other products like Cube has been immensely groundbreaking and has already assisted so many people! The Farady Reactor was named CES 2025 Best of Innovation Award winner for its ability to transform how humans interact and treat water on a planetary scale. The scale, brevity, and what the invention means is that for the first time in human history, we can take highly contaminated water (black water) and treat that to a potable drinking water standard without affecting our health, breaking the bank, or affecting future generations. The things we eat and drink make us healthy or sick, and unfortunately, the big industry secret is that most of the “clean” water you drink, whether bottled or tap, is highly contaminated! Utilizing old technologies like chemicals, membranes, filters, or biological treatment is challenging. Take, for instance, the famous reverse osmosis. Most people have them in their homes.
Once you kill everything in the water, including the minerals you need, after it has been treated by RO, are you really still drinking water?
As a father of three daughters, I’m highly motivated to leave a healthier and cleaner planet for future generations. As our Farady Reactors find their way into municipal networks, food and beverage plants, and even disaster zones, and through the support of so many communities, investors, people, and organizations, we can see the real-time transformation happening that reinforces my view that technology can be a source of hope. This project isn’t just solving problems; it’s redefining what’s possible for the future of water.
How do you navigate the balance between economic growth and environmental preservation in your sustainability strategies?
I don’t think that sustainability and growth are polar opposites; they are compatible if we do it the right way. At VVater, we’ve designed our solutions to provide both. For instance, the Farady Reactor doesn’t just remove toxic contaminants; it also cuts costs by 60% over conventional water treatment.
By balancing environmental and economic benefits, we support companies, cities, and communities in making better, more sustainable decisions. When sustainability becomes the most economically feasible avenue, it ceases to be a problem and becomes an opportunity. That’s how we’ll make a difference for good.
What emerging technologies or innovations do you believe hold the most promise for advancing sustainability and why?
Sustainability is on the cusp of decentralization and electrification. We’ve used centralized, costly, inefficient, failing systems for decades. VVater advocates modular, decentralized technologies that allow us to produce and reuse clean water wherever needed.
The Farady Reactor, an advanced electrohydro purification technology, is a perfect example. It’s small, expandable, and powered by low energy. Eliminating chemicals, filters, and membranes means a solution suitable for municipal, industrial, and even private use.
Disaster relief is another area I am very optimistic about. In a changing climate environment that’s becoming more frequent and extreme, we need fast-response technologies to deliver clean water to communities. Our ALPHA Units are reusable and portable cleansing systems that can be deployed within hours to save lives after a hurricane, flood, or earthquake. We are also actively working on our next-gen advanced artificial intelligence project, “REDSTAR,” because I have loved the red planet Mars since my early childhood with my grandfather. REDSTAR aims to become a “Full Self-Driving” AI for water treatment. In most instances today, it’s all manual or digitally controlled by a human. Ideally, we plan to have REDSTAR handle vast tasks at magnitudes greater than a human can.
Technology gives us the means, but we have to use it to regenerate and protect the planet we inhabit.
Based on your research or experience, can you please share your “5 Top Strategies for a Cleaner Planet”?
1 . Eliminate Forever Chemicals and Microplastics — PFAS and microplastics are some of the most toxic contaminants in our water. Using technologies such as the Farady Reactor, we can rid the world of these pollutants cleanly, efficiently, and without toxic wastes.
2 . Turn Water Reuse Into the Law — We must recycle and reuse water instead of treating it as waste. Reusing water can save resources and reduce waste, from big companies down to private residences.
3 . Upgrade Infrastructure Through Decentralized Systems — Almost all water infrastructure is outdated and inefficient. Decentralized technology lets us produce and filter water close to home, reducing energy, transport, infrastructure costs, and water consumption.
4 . Affordable and Scalable Technology First — Sustainability must be affordable and scalable. By developing cost-effective solutions, we can make it affordable for businesses, municipalities, and communities to become cleaner.
5 . Embrace Change — I believe if governments, politicians, cities, municipalities, entrepreneurs, and influencers realize that to make their communities and nations healthier and stronger, they need to look at what is being consumed. We can solve the ever-growing water shortage indefinitely with big strokes.
In your view, what are the key steps individuals, communities, and governments need to take to achieve a more sustainable future?
Sustainability calls for engagement on every level. For consumers, it starts with a sense of the importance of water conservation in the home, using less, and learning the consequences of pollutants such as PFAS and microplastics.
Communities can update their infrastructure with decentralized, clean water systems that facilitate reuse and minimize environmental impact. By embracing new technologies, societies can ensure safe water for future generations.
Governments are key in providing infrastructure funds, replacing outdated laws, and promoting disruptive technologies. The EPA’s recent regulation of forever chemicals is a good start, but we need more policies that value clean water and sustainability. We should keep our politicians’ feet to the fire, as we, the people, have the power to instill change; we just need the will to do so.
If each collective contributes to this, it will be tenfold. Clean water isn’t a luxury. It’s a human right. Making it available means we need to collaborate. The key word is “Clean Water”.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I would start a movement called Sustainable Hydration & Infrastructure for Tomorrow, or S.H.I.T. for short. Its global initiative would safeguard clean water sources and establish resilient water infrastructures for current and future generations. One of its first objectives would be to:
1. Remove all microplastics — Possibly force everyone back to glass bottles, like it was in the 50s before we switched to plastics in the 70s.
2. Remove “Forever Chemicals” — PFAS is a major problem. These forever chemicals are found pretty much everywhere, from mascara to our non-stick Teflon pans. It’s horrible stuff that we need to tackle quickly.
3. Decentralized Water Treatment — The cost of getting water from a large municipality or city includes the piping, maintenance, and capital requirements. The future of recycled water is decentralized, and it is the only way to achieve a more sustainable future. I predict decentralized water treatment using electrical-based treatment systems will be the norm in the next 15 years.
What is the best way for our readers to continue to follow your work online?
You can follow our progress and learn more about our mission at www.vvater.com. You can also find me on LinkedIn and X where I post news about our innovations, partnerships, and thought leadership around water treatment.
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent on this. We wish you only continued success.
The Future Is Green: Kevin Gast Of VVater On Their Top Strategies for a Cleaner Planet was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.