Usalco Acquires SENTRY, Bringing Real- Time Biology Visibility to Decision Blue® Platform

Bio-electrode monitoring technology will integrate into Decision Blue to provide continuous treatment intelligence and support wastewater decision-making

BALTIMORE, MD, UNITED STATES, October 1, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Usalco, a leading provider of advanced water treatment chemistries and performance solutions, has acquired SENTRY™ Water Monitoring, a provider of real-time bio-electrode monitoring technology for municipal and industrial wastewater treatment. The acquisition integrates SENTRY's technology, customers, and team into Usalco's Digital Solutions Division and its treatment intelligence platform, Decision Blue^®, expanding the platform's water monitoring, AI process modeling, and real-time treatment analytics capabilities.

With SENTRY, Decision Blue can now see biology in real time

Biology is at the center of wastewater treatment, yet many of the measurements operators rely on to make informed decisions can take hours or days to process. SENTRY's bio-electrode monitoring technology provides a continuous biological signal that translates into water quality parameters — including Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Biodegradable Chemical Oxygen Demand (BCOD), and Volatile Fatty Acids (VFA) — while detecting changes in microbial activity as they occur.

By integrating SENTRY's technology into Decision Blue, operators gain the ability to take a proactive approach to treatment decisions rather than reacting to stale measurement results. Earlier visibility can mean identifying an unexpected organic load, toxic event, or biological imbalance in minutes, not days — supporting more effective wastewater treatment, stronger regulatory compliance, and better protection of public health and local waterways. SENTRY's technology also integrates with SCADA and other plant systems, allowing the biological signal to complement existing measurement systems within Decision Blue.

"Bio-electrode monitoring is incredibly valuable to an operator's workflow," said Megan Glover, Chief Digital Officer at Usalco. "When we combine that real-time biological signal with chemistry data, machine learning, and AI, Decision Blue can help operators understand not only what is happening in their treatment process, but what to do about it. This is exactly the kind of capability we set out to build when we established the Digital Solutions Division — technology that gives operators clearer answers, faster, and helps protect the communities and waterways they serve."

The integration will be led by Decision Blue's product and engineering team under Chris Miller, VP of Digital Innovation, who has overseen the platform's build-out since its earliest days as Fontus Blue, which Miller founded.

SENTRY's team joins Decision Blue

A driver behind this acquisition is SENTRY's commitment to data reliability — trustworthy data is critical to advancing AI integrations in wastewater monitoring and recommendation technology, and this acquisition represents an additional investment by Usalco in accurate, reliable data to power AI systems.

SENTRY founder Patrick Kiely and members of the SENTRY team will join Decision Blue as part of the transaction, bringing SENTRY's sensing expertise and installed customer base together with Decision Blue's growing capabilities across software, data, AI, treatment modeling, and digital services.

"We are deeply impressed by Usalco's vision and ambition, and we're proud to join them," said Patrick Kiely, who will join Usalco as VP of Technology and Strategic Growth. "SENTRY was built on the commitment to provide reliable, robust wastewater monitoring. By combining our monitoring technology with Usalco's operational and chemical expertise, we can turn real-time data into practical solutions that deliver value to operators quickly. This technology gives operators a signal that tells them when biological conditions are changing long before a traditional measurement can — and joining Decision Blue means we can take that signal much further."

The SENTRY acquisition is the latest step in Decision Blue's continued expansion, and reflects Usalco's investment in connecting chemistry, data, and operator expertise into a single decision-making system — one built to deliver cleaner water and stronger public health outcomes for the communities Usalco serves.

"Usalco is committed to unlocking innovation for our industry," said Ken Gayer, CEO of Usalco. "Our investment in Decision Blue, and in the people building it — Megan, Chris, Patrick, and their teams — reflects our belief that the future of water treatment depends on real people working with chemistry and technology hand in hand. This acquisition brings critical hardware and biological data into our platform, and it brings talented people who share our commitment to helping operators do their jobs with more confidence."

For more information about Decision Blue's capabilities, visit Decision Blue at https://www.usalco.com/technology/decision-blue.

About Usalco
Water powers life. Usalco helps customers deliver cleaner water, smarter systems, and more sustainable outcomes. Equipped with the best in water treatment solutions and innovations, Usalco goes farther and works harder to empower others, because when everything depends on water, you can depend on Usalco. Headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, Usalco operates nationwide manufacturing and logistics facilities with industry-leading technical resources, serving the clean-water needs of over 130 million U.S. residents and businesses.

About Decision Blue^®
Decision Blue^® is a treatment intelligence platform built around the decisions water operators make every day. By bringing together treatment data, operational context, predictive insights, and treatment expertise, Decision Blue delivers intelligence and outcomes that help operators understand changing conditions, evaluate treatment options, and make more confident, better- informed decisions. Decision Blue capabilities span software, AI, connected sensing, compliance, digital services, and treatment models across municipal and industrial water treatment.

About SENTRY Water Monitoring
SENTRY Water Monitoring develops bio-electrode monitoring technology that provides continuous visibility into biological activity in wastewater treatment processes. Its technology uses a live biofilm to generate real-time biological signals that can be translated into treatment parameters, including BOD, BCOD, and VFA, and used to identify changes in microbial activity. SENTRY's technology supports applications including influent monitoring, biological nutrient removal, industrial discharge monitoring, and anaerobic digestion.

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