Houghton entrepreneur developing water contamination detector through start-up company

HOUGHTON, Mich. (WLUC) – A startup company called FlowShield-Nano is in the early stages of developing a real-time water contamination detection device.

Houghton-based entrepreneur Rehab ‘Ruby’ Alhajjar is heading up the start-up. She has more than 14 years of experience in nanotechnology and microbiology. Alhajjar immigrated from Saudi Arabia and earned her PhD at Michigan Tech University.

“I talked to many people, and I realized that the problem… with their water is they don’t know what is in their water,” Alhajjar said. “Not how to treat the water, because we know we have bacteria, we have heavy metal maybe, but you’re not sure what is in your water.”

The device will detect heavy metals and bacteria, allowing you to check it yourself and ensure safer water. The goal would be to make the device easy to install and test your water without sending it to a lab.

“It’s similar to a filter, but it’s not a filter,” Alhajjar said. “And connecting to your pipes…you would just put it there, and it will test your water regularly, and send you alarms if there’s something bad in your water.”

Alhajjar also notes that a device like this is especially important to the U.P and Great Lakes, and the reason why she came to the area. She was able to do this through Michigan Global Talent’s Global Entrepreneur-in-Residence program. It allows immigrant entrepreneurs to launch and grow their startups in the U.S.

“For Michigan to be a competitive economy, to create jobs for all of us, we need to have a strong start-up ecosystem,” Global Detroit Executive Director Steve Tobocman said.

Global Detroit and the Michigan Global Talent Initiative honored Alhajjar with an ‘Emerging Talent’ award last month for her achievements through the program. According to a press release, FlowShield-Nano is planning to focus on developing and marketing next year and is aiming to begin selling the device within the next two to three years.