Hao Zhang Recognized as 2026 WaterWorld Emerging Leader

Hao Zhang, Founder and Director of Technology at Vancouver-based OneStep Technologies Inc., has been recognized by WaterWorld as a 2026 Emerging Leader in the water industry.

WaterWorld’s Emerging Leaders feature recognizes professionals working across water and wastewater technology, utility operations, infrastructure, and water quality.

OneStep Technologies is developing low-maintenance online free chlorine monitoring technology based on stabilized reagent chemistry and optical measurement. The company’s work is aimed at supporting more reliable continuous water quality data while reducing reagent burden, maintenance requirements, consumables, and maintenance-related downtime.

“Reliable chlorine monitoring is not only about making one accurate measurement. For utilities and distributed water systems, the larger challenge is generating trustworthy data over time with lower maintenance.”— Hao Zhang, Founder & Director of Technology, OneStep Technologies Inc.

Free chlorine monitoring is important for drinking water safety, wastewater reuse, industrial water treatment, emergency response, and distributed water systems. However, online monitoring can be affected by reagent handling, reagent aging, calibration needs, consumables, optical or fluidic fouling, maintenance-related downtime, and operator confidence in long-term data.

OneStep Technologies is focused on practical optical monitoring for free chlorine measurement in treated-water and distributed water applications, with an emphasis on stabilized reagent systems, field usability, and reliable water quality data.