Dewatering Without the Ditch with Michael Bensdorf from Flocate Industries

Did you know that this podcast is produced by Digital Stormwater? Digital Stormwater B2B Visibility & Digital Marketing, making a difference in stormwater 1 click at a time! They do all things digital. Check them out at DigitalStormwater.com because the best-known beats best every time.

Key Topics

Michael's path: a Purdue civil engineering degree, utility design, an MBA, management consulting, and then buying Flocate outright in February.

How the deal happened: retiring owners with no one to sell to, a broker who made the introduction, and family backing.

What Flocate does: anionic polymer pulls sediment out of turbid groundwater so contractors can discharge clean and stay NPDES compliant.

The original system: towable trailers that replaced hand-dug swales, so crews stopped excavating a channel just to get water onto polymer.

The new small-footprint tub: a patented 3D printed insert spins incoming water into a whirlpool, so it hits the polymer over and over instead of once.

Why that matters on site: no excavator, no Bobcat, no haul truck. One person can carry two or three units and set them anywhere.

Capacity: roughly 50 to 100 gallons per minute per unit today, with a manifold concept to reach 200 to 400.

Why polymer beats dewatering bags on clay soils, and why bags clog and slow the job down.

The adoption problem nobody talks about: no upside for the county reviewer who approves a new technology, and all the downside if it fails.

AI as leverage for a one-person company, and the hard limit Michael draws on what it can actually do.

Where Flocate goes next: get genuinely good first, then polymer distribution and a consulting arm for inventors facing agency approvals.

Quotes

“AI is never gonna take dirt out of water.” ~Michael Bensdorf

 

In this episode of the Stormwater World Podcast, host Ty Garmon talks with Michael Bensdorf, who bought Flocate Industries in February and is learning the stormwater industry in public. Michael explains how anionic polymer pulls sediment out of turbid groundwater, why a new patented tub with a 3D printed insert puts water in contact with polymer over and over in a footprint one person can carry, and why the hardest part of selling something new is that no county reviewer gets rewarded for going first. He also makes a case for AI as the great equalizer for small business, while noting it is never going to take dirt out of water.

 

The views expressed are that of the individual and do not represent the opinions of any companies past, present or future.

 

Mentioned in This Episode:

How the Flocate system works: https://flocate.com/how-it-works/

Barry Fagan on the pod, Episode 015: https://stormwaterworld.com/the-best-management-practice-with-barry-fagan-p-e-from-fagan-llc/

IECA Annual Conference & Expo, February 21-24, 2027, Reno NV: https://www.access-ieca.com/2027-annual-conference-expo

 

Connect with Michael Bensdorf:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-bensdorf/

Website: https://flocate.com/

Email: info@flocate.com

 

Connect with Ty Garmon, LEED AP:

Connect with Ty on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tygarmon/

Sign up to be a guest: https://forms.gle/whijSz9Tio3iZda57

Check out The Stormwater World Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9hVXVJ5oXplf_V9XOPpR6A

Podcast Website: https://stormwaterworld.com

 

Stay Informed! Sign-up for the Stormwater World Newsletter: https://stormwaterworld.com/newsletter-sign-up/

 

Please don’t forget to rate, comment, and subscribe to Stormwater World Podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts!