The Dow Chemical Co.'s subsidiary, FilmTec Corp., has sold
enough of the Filmtec reverse osmosis membranes in China to
purify more than 50 million gallons of drinking water everyday.
Dow began marketing its membrane technology in China during the
1980s. It was not until the mid-1990s that sales began to take
off. An increasingly prosperous population in China now is able
to afford purified drinking water using reverse osmosis
technology. Shortage of clean water as well as increased incomes
have led to the boom in the potable water business. Successful
economic and industrial development over the past two decades
has resulted in water resource contamination of rivers, lakes
and underground water sources. Unevenly located water resources
make the water issue even more complicated for a growing
economy. Today, 400 of 600 major cities in China face water
shortages. The scarcity, due to contamination and lack of supply
capacity, is leading government officials to make policy changes
in the way the country's water