Agenda 2019 – Day 1

In order to keep up with the requirements of Moore’s Law, the semiconductor industry is continually redefining the capabilities of water purification and water quality monitoring technology. Here we bring together Slava Libman and Alex Milshteen, two of the world’s leading experts on ultrapure water for the microelectronics industry, to discuss what the rest of the water industry can learn from their rapid deployment and disruptive designs.

The pulp and paper industry is a water industry in disguise. Almost all of its processes involve the treatment, conditioning, movement and removal of water. Along the way these processes involve heavy energy investment. Matti Korhonen from Metsa Board explains how the need for greater energy efficiency in paper’s water processes is creating opportunities for water solution providers.

Produced Water volumes are increasing in the oil fields of the GCC region, bringing challenges for transport, management and disposal. Hani Al-Khalifa from Saudi Aramco looks at the obstacles and the opportunities that are arising in Produced Water handling and reuse.

New regulations in Chile require mines to use desalination if their water demands exceed certain limits. How large an opportunity is this for desalination companies, and how can they get involved? Jorge Cantallopts from the Chilean Copper Commission Cochilco provides the answers.

The role of industrial utilities is expanding around the globe. Ahmed Al-Mazrouy, CEO of Majis Industrial Services in Oman, discusses the needs of the Industrial Utility sector to ensure this growth continues, and the opportunities this presents for private sector participation.

The water midstream in the Permian basin has been the single biggest focus of private equity investment in the global water industry over the past four years – attracting more than $3.5 billion of new capital. Which investment strategies look smart and which are failing? Where will the next wave of investment be directed, and who will be the ultimate winners and losers?

The switch from fossil fuels to renewables has created massive demand for lithium in the battery industry. Ironically this shift is creating new opportunities for water management in the oil field. Jared Lazerson, CEO of MGX Minerals, explains how lithium extraction from produced water is potentially a game changer.

Suddenly everyone wants higher recovery rates and industrial users see this as a means to cost savings and better environmental performance, with customers like Coca-Cola at the forefront of this trend. Coca Cola’s Nils Deecke explains their water sustainability strategy and the challenges and solutions implemented by the bottling industry.

Water underperformed in 2018, but the year was also the best year ever for fundraising by specialist water funds. It suggests that investors are expecting a lot in 2019. Deane Dray, the doyen of Wall Street Water analysts explains what is going on.

The International Finance Corporation is the World Bank Group’s private sector development arm, and it is looking to expand its impact on the water sector. IFC’s George Butler and Ana Trujillo explain the strategy.

There is a growing consensus that Nature Based Solutions hold the key to climate change adaptation. The challenge is finding a business model to finance them. The Nature Conservancy’s Sophie Tremolet discusses how investment can be scaled up to support nature-based water management.

More than 3,800 mergers and acquisitions have been completed in the global water industry since the year 2000. The market is more dynamic than ever, as companies look to beat sluggish organic growth and fast-track R&D to get ahead of the competition. Not all M&A strategies are born equal, however – what separates the winners from the also-rans?

The EIB outstrips the World Bank as the biggest lender to water projects. With a debt portfolio which encompasses stretches from the Thames Tideway tunnel to Dhaka WASA in Bangladesh. Karine Méasson and Edouard Pérard from the Water Management Division, outline what the bank looks for in a project.

Private finance is now absolutely central to water infrastructure investment across the GCC region, creating an opportunity for investors which is greater than the rest of the world put together. It is a competitive market however and success depends on choosing the right projects and partners. Christophe Guillet, who advises many of the key players in the market, talks through strategies for success in each country market.

Investors have a strong appetite for US water infrastructure, and utilities need a lot of investment, but politics have historically created a barrier between the two. Matthew Diserio, president and co-founder of Water Asset Management, and one of the savviest water equities investors, has been raising an infrastructure fund.

There is a great deal of willingness to invest in the infrastructure the world needs to meet the Sustainable Development Goals for Water and Sanitation. In theory. In practice there are very few projects which are bankable because the weak performance of utilities makes them unattractive propositions to both donors and lenders. GWI’s publisher explains how the Urban Water Catalyst Fund might solve this problem.

Disruptive technologies are being introduced not only by utilities, but also by the customers themselves. Kishia Powell clues us in on how customers’ disruptive technologies adoption is impacting the Department of Watershed Management’s revenues and their approach to implementing smart solutions for revenue enhancement.

With 53,000 separate water systems, America’s water sector is impossibly fragmented, but as the financial and regulatory pressures on small systems increase, consolidation looks unavoidable. But how will it happen? Bill Teichmiller, whose EJ Water cooperative is leading the trend, gives his insight into what could be the most significant development in the US water sector this decade.

Oman’s water and wastewater sector is on the cusp of a major reorganisation that could rewrite its relationship with the private sector. Mohammed Al-Mahrouqi, the head of major utility and regulator Diam, explains how the Sultanate is expanding its service coverage, and how things will change in the years to come.

The Namami Gange river clean-up programme is possibly the most ambitious environmental project in Asia, but despite the scale of the challenge, the commission responsible for delivering it has been struggling to deploy funds over the last 12 months. Dr. Vinod Tare outlines the learning points from this experience and points to the opportunities in the way ahead.

Abu Dhabi’s Department of Power has set up the Emirates Water and Electricity Company to lead the transition from fossil fuels to renewables, from thermal desalination co-production to stand-alone membrane desalination plants and from decentralised water management to networked production and supply. It is a huge undertaking. Bruce Smith and H.E. Mohammed Bin Jarsh explain how it is going to happen.

The 2022 World Cup will be the the largest global event hosted ever hosted by Qatar, and with so little margin for error every contingency has to be expected. This puts the pressure on Ashgal, the country’s wastewater and stormwater management agency H.E. Dr Saad Al Muhannadi explains how the utility is preparing for everything – including extreme weather events.

How do you provide water for a major global sporting event like the World Cup in a country of 2.7 million with almost no natural water resources? It is perhaps the greatest logistical challenge any water agency anywhere in the world is facing today. The president of KAHRAMAAexplains how the organisation is delivering the seemingly impossible.

The EBRD has loaned $30 million to the municipal water company of Albania’s capital Tirana, UKT, to finance improvements in the city’s water supply system. The funding is required to cover construction of new pipeline from Bovilla water treatment plant to Yzberisht, expansion of Bovilla water treatment plant, project implementation unit support, procurement and contract supervision and a financial and operational performance improvement programme. How will UKT’s General Director, Redi Molla, steer the utility’s investment decisions to get value for money and also the most transformative improvement in Tirana’s water services?

Pakistan’s largest city is looking to engage with the private sector as it seeks to reverse decades of chronic under-investment in water services. The World Bank, the AIIB and the Government of Pakistan plan to invest up to $640 million to improve water and wastewater services in Karachi, using the resourcing study as a guide to prioritise investments and reduce non-revenue water from its current level of 50-60%.

2019 will be the biggest year ever for the desalination industry, driven primarily by growth in the GCC region. This explosion of desal demand is obscuring a more significant trend which is growing in the background: the transition from a single use water supply paradigm to the creation of a circular water economy across the Gulf region. Miguel Angel Sanz, the president of the IDA offers his unique insight into this rapidly growing market.

The GCC desalination market has long been dependent on electricity and water co-generation with thermal desalination. The switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy is already driving the adoption of reverse osmosis as the technology of choice for desalination. In the longer term it will have much more significant implications as Corrado Sommariva, one of the most respected engineers in the region explains.

Improving membrane performance has been an innovation priority for the water industry for decades, but as improvements in flux rates become ever more incremental, innovators are starting to think in radical new directions. Tom Pankratz looks at how the next generation of water membranes will impact water and wastewater treatment and desalination.

Since the port city of Corpus Christi signaled its interest in desalination as a solution to its water supply deficit five years ago, multiple projects, both solicited and unsolicited have been promoted. It represents the most realistic major opportunity for desal plant suppliers in North America, but it is difficult to see through the confusion of projects to understand what is real and what is not. Consultant Paul Choules has the best insight.

Neom is Saudi Arabia’s vision for a new eco-city on the northern Red Sea coast promoted by the Public Investment Fund. Eventually it will need 1 million m3/d of desalinated water, but there is a catch. All of it will have to be generated on a carbon neutral basis without brine discharge into the delicate marine environment of the Red Sea. Gavin Van Tonder, who heads Neom’s water sector strategy explains how this will become a reality.

Over the past fifty years membrane bio-reactors have steadily revolutionised wastewater treatment delivering higher quality product water on smaller plant footprints with lower energy consumption than anyone could have imagined. But does the technology still have ambitions to do more? Professor Simon Judd – the leading authority on MBR technology explains the opportunities.

Producing biofuel from municipal effluents can now be achieved with a productivity 4 times higher than that of Bioethanol from sugarcane or Biodiesel from Palm Oil. The rising production of biofertilizers or bioplastics marks further steps towards realising the value of residuals. Aqualia’s Director of Innovation and Technology discusses the ongoing evolution towards a circular economy for water.

Guy Sagie, CEO of IDE Projects, IDE Technologies, explains a visionary plan for saving the Sea of Galilee, the Jordan River and the Dead Sea through a collaborative international approach and a combination of reverse osmosis and pressure retarded osmosis (PRO).

Germany has led the way using regulation to drive utilities to develop beneficial uses of sewage sludge. It has created a buoyant market for value from waste technologies which is likely to become a global phenomenon as other countries follow suit. Gauke Reitsma shares his experience from the front line of the transformation.

Digital systems are having a dramatic impact on the way industrial water users manage their wastewater systems and the municipal wastewater sector may soon follow this lead. Dr. Sichel of Siemens and Acciona’s Julio De La Rosa share their perspective on how this fresh wave of digitalization is creating value for water customers.

The availability of continuous performance data enables customers to pay for outcomes rather than inputs. This creates the possibility of new service-based business models that will benefit customers and suppliers alike. Grundfos, the worlds largest pump manufacturer has been leading the way in developing new performance based propositions for its industrial customers. Chief Business Developer Jens Skødt explains what the future looks like for municipal and industrial water users and their suppliers.

The eutrophication of surface water bodies has become a global environmental disaster, but despite the urgency many utilities have preferred to turn a blind eye, largely because of the cost – in terms of both capex and opex – of nitrogen removal. This may be about to change. Suez’s Sylvian Donnaz presents how the up-grade to the Boneo wastewater treatment plant turned the economics of nitrogen removal upside down.

UV disinfection has been one of the fastest growing sectors of the water treatment sector, but it could be about to change direction dramatically as LEDs become cost competitive with traditional mercury lamps. United Utilities Water and Scientific Director Martin Padley explains why he is now backing LED technology over the mercury alternative and why other utilities should follow.

Many utilities are data rich but information poor – collecting huge amounts of data that goes unanalysed. While a major issue for utilities, Snehal Desai, Chief Growth Officer of Evoqua Water Technologies discusses what digital solutions providers might also stand to gain by tapping into the dark data to realise value for customers – driving insights and supporting decision making.

Water quality regulators all over the world are turning their attention to micropollutants, but the treatment of these micropollutants is notoriously complex and expensive. How great a challenge do these micropollutants present, and what technologies and strategies are required to combat them?