News Release

NAPERVILLE, Ill., March 19, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- More than one billion people worldwide lack access to safe water and more than 2.5 billion don't have adequate sanitation, leading to increased disease and greater stress on those limited water supplies. Nalco Holding Company (NYSE:NLC), the leading global provider of integrated water treatment and process improvement programs for industry, helps customers reduce water use and improve water quality in more than 130 countries.

In conjunction with the United Nations' annual World Water Day on March 22, The Nalco Foundation is adding to these efforts by providing an additional $50,000 grant to Water For People, an international agency that focuses on increasing access to safe drinking water and on preventing water- or sanitation-related illnesses.

Since 2004, The Nalco Foundation has provided $250,000 to fund Water For People projects in Malawi, Honduras, Guatemala, Bolivia and India.

"We believe in the vision of helping people in developing countries improve their quality of life through access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation," said Laurie Marsh, President of the Nalco Foundation. "We also know that water is a basic building block for all development and one of the first big steps in helping people break out of the cycle of poverty. By supporting Water For People, we help to create a dual benefit -- improved health and time to pursue economic opportunity -- for people who need it most."

The Foundation's 2008 grant will support nine local schools in West Bengal, India, that teach 9,000 students. The program combines safe, convenient drinking water and hand-washing facilities in the schools with a health and hygiene education module. This successful model enables the students to become agents of change, demonstrating to their parents and communities the benefits of good hygiene, while at the same time increasing school attendance and enrollment.

For 80 years, Nalco Company has provided solutions to industrial customers to save water and energy. Increasingly, customers are focused on efforts to improve environmental and economic performance through water reuse and recycling efforts that reduce freshwater demand and more effectively treat water that is reintroduced into the environment.

Two of Nalco's most important recent innovations in reducing industrial freshwater withdrawal globally are:

     *  3D TRASAR(r) technology for cooling water brings together
        Nalco's state-of-the-art monitoring and control technology
        with proprietary chemistries that manage scale, corrosion
        and microbiological treatments in real time, minimizing
        chemical treatment and reducing water usage. In 2007, this
        technology saved an estimated 40 billion gallons of water in
        Europe and North America. These savings will grow with
        increased penetration in these markets and expanded use
        in Latin America and Asia.

     *  PARETO(tm) Wet-End Optimization technology replaces
        freshwater chemical dilution by reusing process water,
        reducing demand in a water-intensive industry. Paper customers
        using this innovation have seen savings of more than 600
        million gallons of freshwater per year.

About World Water Day

The international observance of World Water Day originated with the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro. For more information, visit http://www.worldwaterday.org.

About Water For People

Water For People is a non-profit international development organization founded in 1991 to help people in developing countries improve their quality of life by supporting the development of locally sustainable drinking water resources, sanitation facilities, and health and hygiene education programs. For more information, visit http://www.waterforpeople.org.

About Nalco

Nalco is the world's leading water treatment and process improvement company, delivering significant environmental, social and economic performance benefits to our customers. We help our customers reduce energy, water and other natural resource consumption, enhance air quality, minimize environmental releases and improve productivity and end products while boosting the bottom line. Together our comprehensive solutions contribute to the sustainable development of customer operations. More than 11,500 Nalco employees operate in 130 countries supported by a comprehensive network of manufacturing facilities, sales offices and research centers to serve a broad range of end markets. In 2007, Nalco achieved sales of more than $3.9 billion. For more information, visit www.nalco.com.

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CONTACT:  Nalco Company
          Media Contact:
          Charlie Pajor
            630 305 1556
            cpajor@nalco.com
          Investor Contact:
          Mike Bushman
            630 305 1025
            mbushman@nalco.com