Austin Public Service Manager Eric Herman explains how the city of Austin is using R-Water

Austin's Building Services Department is teaming up with R-Water, a local company that produces hypoallergenic all-purpose cleaner. Austin Public Service Manager Eric Herman joins Yahoo Finance’s On The Move to discuss.

Video Transcript

- We have heard stories of hospitals other facilities around the country that had shortages of a lot of different materials for PPP-- PPEd excuse me-- and for cleansing, disinfecting their facilities. Well, there's one company that has come out with a solution to that, even before this pandemic. It's called our R-Water, and it has a system that uses water and machine combined with a smaller amount of disinfectant to do the job.

One of the areas that's using that-- the city of Austin. And we're joined now by the city's public services manager, Eric Herman. Eric, thank you for joining us. So when did you start using this product, and what made you decide to use it?

ERIC HERMAN: Well, thanks for having me. And I've been using it for over a year now. We were the first municipality in the state of Texas to become Green-Seal certified, so that was a big achievement for us, and that just goes towards our sustainability, keeping that said certification.

- What does drink-seal certified mean? And this process-- is it an all-natural process, or does it involve some chemical?

ERIC HERMAN: Well, it's an all-natural process that uses salt, and water, and a softener. You get two products out of it. You get the TK60 on one end for the disinfecting, and you get an FC plus, which is a degreaser and all-purpose cleaner. And GS-42 is just a Green Seal standard for standardized cleaning. We follow [INAUDIBLE] standards, what's our, you know, one to four-- being cleanly, being not cleanly.

- Hey, Eric. It's Joy La Roche. Can you tell us more about how this works? I'm so curious. And it sounds like you have to install a machine. And there's a green component. You're not buying all these bottles. Are you guys saving money because of this, and also helping out the environment?

ERIC HERMAN: That is very true, because I don't have to buy a lot of chemicals anymore, so we're, in turn, keeping the plastics out of the landfills and out of recycle centers. This particular unit they installed-- I have side containers that can make up to 3,000 gallons a day.

- We saw yesterday at the president's press conference the steps, the studies about ultraviolet light, sunlight killing COVID-19. Does your process-- do you know for a fact-- would it kill COVID-19, or does it just die naturally in water?

ERIC HERMAN: One-minute kill time with the TK60-- you just saturate the thing, and you let it go. You can spray your own bathroom and come back and wipe it down, and everything is sanitized-- completely clean.

- Where are you guys using it there in Austin?

ERIC HERMAN: I use it at the City Hall. We use it at the courts. We use it at the municipal building. I use it at the police stations. We use it at Austin Public Health-- also the animal shelter and a lot of our satellite properties.

- And how much have you guys saved by switching over to something like this? We keep hearing about shortages all kind of stuff. I guess this kind of thing is not subject-- can it run out? You still have to get the saline that you're talking about to use it, right?

ERIC HERMAN: Yes. I just keep of bags of salt on hand, and you just have to fill the machine once a week. It's fairly simple, and the employees love it. It's very fast, it's efficient for them, and it's also safe for the environment and safe for them.

- All right, Eric, thank you so much. Eric Herman is the City of Austin public services manager talking to us about R-Water, which is a disinfecting process. Appreciate it, Eric. Take care.

ERIC HERMAN: Thank you.

- Thank you.