Item 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

Our management, with the Chief Executive Officer ("CEO") and Chief Financial Officer ("CFO") of the Company, has evaluated the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures as of the end of the year ended December 31, 2023 pursuant to Rule 13a-15(b) and 15d-15(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“the Exchange Act”). Based upon that evaluation, our CEO and our CFO concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures as of the year ended December 31, 2023 were effective, in all material respects, and designed to provide reasonable assurance that the information required to be disclosed by us in the reports we file or submit under the Exchange Act is (1) recorded, processed, summarized and reported, within the time periods specified in the SEC's rules and forms and (2) accumulated and communicated to our management, including our CEO and CFO, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosures.

Management's Annual Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

As required by the SEC's rules and regulations for the implementation of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Company's management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act. The Company's internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with GAAP.

The Company's management, including the CEO and CFO, conducted an assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023 based on the framework established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organization of the Treadway Commission (2013). This assessment included an evaluation of the design of our internal control over financial reporting and testing of the operational effectiveness of those controls. Based on our assessment, the Company's management has concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was effective as of December 31, 2023. Management's assessment of the effectiveness of the Company's internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023 excluded Evoqua, which was acquired by the Company on May 24, 2023. Evoqua is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company whose total assets (excluding goodwill and intangible assets, net) and total net sales represent 17% of consolidated total assets and 16% of consolidated net sales, respectively, of the Company as of and for the year ended December 31, 2023. As permitted by guidelines established by the Securities and Exchange Commission, companies are allowed to exclude certain acquisitions from their assessments of internal control over financial reporting during the first year following an acquisition while integrating the acquired companies.

The effectiveness of the Company's internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023 has been audited by Deloitte & Touche LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, as stated in their report which appears following Item 9C of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

There have been no changes in our internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rule 13a-15(f) under the 1934 Act) during the fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2023 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.