Burnett was founded in 1983 as Burnett Lime Company and started with one truckload of lime. The firm expanded throughout the 1980s to include lime distribution, wholesale garden center supplies, and athletic field supplies distributed across the Southeast.

In the late 1980s, the company was approached by the lime industry and asked to manufacture lime slurry. It was through this experience that Burnett realized that they could refine and improve the lime application process. Work on the CAL~FLO® System began. The first CAL~FLO® System was installed at a South Carolina water treatment plant in 1992.

The technology was refined throughout the 1990s and water/wastewater treatment plants across the Southeast moved from dry lime and liquid caustic to the CAL~FLO® System. In 2005, Burnett took their enhancements even further, developing a dosing technology featuring complete remineralization using CAL~FLO® without raising the turbidity over 1 NTU. This resulted in the launch of RE~MIN PROCESS® technology in 2011.

As a result of the RE~MIN PROCESS® research, in 2012 Burnett started manufacturing CO2 feed systems. Diversity of process technology, chemicals, and capabilities led to the name change from Burnett Lime Company to Burnett Inc.

In 2012 Burnett Inc. expanded its CAL~FLO® brand service area by signing a licensing agreement with ChemTrade, formally General Chemical. ChemTrade can manufacture CAL~FLO® slurry across North America while Burnett Inc. provides the liquid feed equipment and technical expertise.