Water Industry News
national news    global issues

Bitter Pill
U.S. manufacturers, including major drug-makers, have legally released at least 271 million pounds of pharmaceuticals into waterways that often provide drinking water -- free of charge!

Recession -- no peace for old pipes
Water scarcity means big growth for companies that purify, transport, and distribute the world's most essential resource, but a global recession that has halted new projects and put off price hikes means water investors will have to wait for the boom years.

Pennsylvania to offer $550 million low interest and grants for water
The state will offer $411 million in low-interest loans and $119 million in grants to pay for the work, through the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority's first round of federal stimulus money. The projects are expected to begin this summer.

 

California to get $260 million for AgWater -- nothing for wastewater
The California's sagging water infrastructure will get a boost from the $260 million in federal stimulus funds that target a number of agriculture projects -- little or no money for wastewater infrastructure.

Bottled water no better -- maybe worse -- than tap
Tests on leading brands of bottled water turned up a variety of contaminants often found in tap water, according to a study released Wednesday by an environmental advocacy group. The findings challenge the popular impression — and marketing pitch — that bottled water is purer than tap water, the researchers say.

 

Cal-Am loses eminent domain taking of Felton water system
California-American Water Co. tried and failed to short-circuit the eminent domain process under which San Lorenzo Valley Water District is moving to acquire Cal-Am’s Felton water system.

US EPA updates infrastructure needs
The U.S. needs to invest $202.5 billion in its wastewater infrastructure due to aging facilities, rising water quality standards and population growth according to EPA -- 8.6 percent more than the federal agency said was needed in 2000.

West Virginia American Water admits to losing one-third
of treated water
By its own admission, West Virginia-American Water Co. leaks, mis-measures and simply loses a third of the water its customers pay to have treated and pumped. The problem at West Virginia-American is getting worse, and it’s going to cost ratepayers one way or another — on top of the huge rate hike that the utility is already pushing for.

 

Bond-like assets draw more money in these uncertain times
"These types of assets generate very steady cash flows," says Arthur Simonson, managing director of Standard & Poor's utilities and infrastructure rating group. "They're bond-like." Ernst & Young figures that private investment money could finance infrastructure projects worldwide to the tune of $240 billion to $360 billion a year.

Private equity contracting in '08 ? -- no big deal 
but many small ones
Gone will be the Wild West-style deal making of early 2007, which was fuelled by cheap and easy debt. In its place - a return to caution and greater quality regarding both assets and their prospective buyers, according to Torys' report, the Top 10 M&A Trends for 2008. "I think we've seen a halt, at least, in the very, very large deals led by private equity," Tory's reports.

New funds and old jump into US infrastructure in 2008
Babcock & Brown raised an additional $230 million of committed capital focused primarily on infrastructure investment opportunities in North American markets. This increases Babcock & Brown's total amount raised for acquiring North American infrastructure to more $1 billion. Washington, D.C.-based global private equity firm The Carlyle Group recently entered the market, raising more than $1 billion in equity commitments this fall for its first infrastructure fund, Carlyle Infrastructure Partners (CIP). Many more jump into the pool...

 

$41 trillion for global ... $1.6 trillion for US infrastructure
"Infrastructure: A Global Opportunity for Investors" notes that $41 trillion will be needed to modernize urban water, electricity, and transportation systems globally, during the 2005-2030 period, according to an estimate by Booz Allen Hamilton. In the United States, the figure is $1.6 trillion, according to research by the American Society of Civil Engineers. There are two distinct but massive infrastructure tasks: in emerging markets, a massive build-out to support growth; in the United States and the developed world, a focus on repair and replacement, according to U.S. Global Investors.

Global investment ahead
China just reported that investments in fixed assets - factories, property, plants and equipment soared 26.6% to $747 billion in the first seven months of this year, as the country tries to build needed facilities and capitalize on most opportunities as its economy continues to rocket along. Not all of this investment is related to infrastructure, but a lot of it is.

CalPERS to allocate up to $2.5 billion in infrastructure
The nation's largest public pension fund plans to allocate up to $2.5 billion into an inflation-linked new asset class that will include the pilot infrastructure program as well as investments in commodities, inflation-linked bonds and timber.
 

Huge hikes due in municipal water rates -- the bill comes due
Some communities are getting scalded by price hikes of 50%, 100% or more. Many municipal owned systems have treated rate hikes like tax increases and avoided them for years. The Government Accountability Office estimates that 29% of water systems and 41% of sewer systems charge customers less than the cost of the service.

 

Tampa Bay desalination plant open for business ... finally
The nation's largest desalination plant has passed a final round of testing and is now officially part of Tampa Bay Water's regional water supply system. The plant successfully completed a 14-day acceptance test during which it produced 28 million gallons a day. The acceptance test was the final act in the difficult and expensive four-year struggle to get the plant operating properly. 
With the successful acceptance test, American Water can now collect the final $3 million payment on its $29 million contract.

 

The Tampa Bay back story -- how good projects go bad when governments get greedy

 

What if we don't rebuild the nation's pipes?
What happens if we don't invest in water pipes? What happens if half the water leaks?  Lost water -- yes, but lost city streets and all the cables that run beneath and the children that walk on top. The EPA projects that unless cities invest more to repair and replace their water and sewer systems, nearly half of the water system pipes in the United States will be in poor, very poor or "life elapsed" status by 2020.

In praise of private equity
Like most other successful industries, from supermarkets to pharmaceutical giants, success has brought envy, jealously and, all too predictably, increasingly vocal attacks against private equity firms in the media. They have been accused of all the usual sins from which capitalist entrepreneurs supposedly suffer: short-termism, asset stripping, greed and excessively secrecy. 

 

 

 

On The Street

RWE now plans to IPO American Water end of April or September or October or...
RWE said in November that it would miss an earlier goal of selling American Water shares in 2007 because of an ``unfavorable'' market environment. At the time, the company scrapped plans to buy back stock and pay a higher dividend and set a new target to complete the sale by at the end of April or in September or October.

Babcock & Brown European Fund over the top
Babcock & Brown reached final close on its European Infrastructure Fund with total commitments of €2.17 billion exceeding its initial target of €1.5 billion.

Water Facts

The truth about plastic bottles
Is it so that: “Reusing plastic water bottles (PET) can cause them to break down into carcinogenic compounds (diethylhydroxylamine or DEHA).
reprinted from The Water Connoisseur

The origin of water
Water is the essence of life, but where did water come from? The latest discoveries in astrophysics point to water not being a natural terrestrial product but imported from the edges of our solar system.
reprinted from The Water Connoisseur

Archaea -- the oldest new solution to wastewater treatment?

The story of sludge processing
How it is generated, dewatered, dried, distributed.

 

For an intelligent perspective of  
global water issues click to:
Global Water Intelligence

 

How corrupt is your country?

Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index for 2005 lists 143 countries from Finland to Haiti in order of the integrity of business relations. Compare this index to the 2003 Corruption Perception Index. 

Corruption Perception Index 2004
Corruption Perception Index 2003

 

Water Industry News 

Published by Larry Chertoff