HASA Inc., a provider of water treatment solutions, is poised to transform the pool industry with its expansion into Texas — which CEO Chris Brink says is just the beginning of its cross-country growth.
This move includes the opening of new plants in Von Ormy, outside of San Antonio, and Rhome, outside of Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, as well as the acquisition of Chem Eleven, in Greenville, Texas, a salt-to-bleach manufacturer. These developments signal significant advancements in production capacity, innovation and sustainability, promising benefits for pool professionals and the broader industry.
Enhancing supply chain efficiency
The acquisition of Chem Eleven marks a pivotal step in HASA’s expansion strategy, giving it the means to produce the raw materials needed to make pool-ready chlorine. In other regions HASA is dependent on those ingredients being delivered from outside companies.
Salt-to-bleach manufacturing uses a chlor-alkali process to produce pure liquid chlorine and pure sodium hydroxide. These are blended with water to make up sodium hypochlorite bleach.
Brink says the money saved with this integration can be redeployed into more chlor-alkali facilities.
“We’re going to continue to figure out how to vertically integrate to salt,” Brink says. “That’s clearly a better and more economical way to do it.”
Strengthening regional presence with new plants
In February, the Von Ormy bottling plant opened and two months later, another in Rhome opened. Before those, the only Texas location was in Bryan, situated between Austin and Houston. (For reference, HASA has four plants in California.)
We’re going to make sure that every pool is safe, clean and clear coast to coast.”
Chris Brink, HASA
These new plants are strategically placed to serve high-demand areas in Texas but also push HASA’s reach into neighboring states. “We’re not bringing the California way to Texas; we’re bringing Texas into our family,” Brink says. “We’re going to make sure that every pool is safe, clean and clear coast to coast.” This expansion ensures HASA can meet the growing needs of pool professionals in these key regions with reliable and high-quality products.
Sustainable practices and circular business model
This also marks an expansion of HASA’s circular business model, focusing on recycling and reducing waste. The company uses a cyclical model with its packaging; it essentially leases the bottle to the customer, and when the product is gone, the pro returns it so HASA can clean, repurpose and refill it. This approach reduces its environmental impact and helps pool professionals shift toward more sustainable practices.
“Our products and practices support pool service companies in becoming more sustainable,” says Angela Tran, HASA’s vice president of strategy. “From recyclable packaging to efficient manufacturing processes, we’re providing the tools and resources needed to promote environmental responsibility within the industry.” This initiative allows pool service companies to differentiate themselves by offering environmentally conscious services, ultimately attracting more environmentally aware customers.
The company also uses a cyclical model for chemistry, says Mark Adams, chief operating officer of HASA, as the material starts as salt and ends up as salt.
“While we break molecules apart and put them together into forms that help purify and bring safe, clean, clear water to the customer, when that process is over, those materials come back together, and they end up as water and salt,” he says. “It’s a specialty chemical story, but it also has a massive impact on human life and well-being.”
HASA built the new bottling locations from scratch, giving them the opportunity to refine their processes and ensure each location’s longevity. The innovations include things like using PVC instead of metal or steel — materials that aren’t very conducive for working with bleach or acid — for conveyors, chains and gears. “Now we can build structures that are appropriate for high-speed packaging that will have low wear, are very chemically resistant and are easier to clean,” Adams says.
Additionally, the plants use an automatic waste neutralization system that pumps wastewater into a tank to be treated and buffered to get back to neutral and go down the drain or back into the process.
“Our sustainable initiatives are keeping millions of gallons of plastic out of the oceans, and our returnable bottles are a testament to our commitment to the environment,” says Laura Evans, HASA’s marketing director. “Those are things that I appreciate [about] being a part of a company culture that puts their money where their mouth is.”
A vision for the future
HASA’s expansion represents a milestone in its mission to become a nationwide leader in the pool and water treatment industry. But it’s not the end. A new plant in Nevada will open in the coming months as well.
“Everything we’ve learned here, plus more, we’re going to put into that project,” Tran says.
“We’re going coast to coast,” Brink adds. “We’re going to go sun to salt. We’re going to continue to drive life cycle.”
