Water Weekly

Welcome to our inaugural #WaterWeekly official newsletter!?

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Let’s take a dive into this week’s stories.?

Making a splash – Top Story of the week!?

The theme of the week seems to be investment, investment, investment! On both sides of the Atlantic we’ve seen huge amounts of money being spent on water infrastructure with both the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Ofwat announcing spending and investment plans. ?

Included in this are three Severn Trent projects that have been given the green light to be brought forward. The expedited projects will build on Severn Trent's current ￡2 billion investment cycle, which spans five years, as well as its industry-leading Get River Positive commitments and ￡566 million Green Recovery programme, for which the company has been recognised by the Environment Agency as an environmental leader after receiving its highest four-star EPA rating three years in a row.?

?The projects announced include:?

?-An extra 250,000 smart meters, which will assist users in reducing usage and addressing leakage.?

-A project that aims to boost reservoir capacity in order to improve the region's water security.?

-80 sewage treatment facilities will have increased monitoring installed, supporting river health.?

As well as?Severn Trent, Ofwat, the British regulator have also announced that 31 other investment schemes will be implemented more quickly to benefit customers and the environment. The work will start in the upcoming two fiscal years, from 2023 to 2025, and the total investment will be roughly ￡1.6 billion.?

Across the pond in the US, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced two separate investments for drinking water and waste and storm water.?

With the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF), they announced nearly $6.5 billion for states, tribes, and territories to upgrade crucial drinking water infrastructure across the country. EPA is expanding the capital available to improve the country's water infrastructure thanks to a $6 billion boost from President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. ?

Additionally, they announced that the Clean Water State Revolving Funds (CWSRF) for this year will receive over $85 million from the 2023 Consolidated Appropriations Act for states, Tribes, and territories in the states that make up the EPA's Mid-Atlantic Region: Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. The financing will assist local governments in modernising crucial stormwater and wastewater infrastructure to safeguard the region's priceless water resources and the public's health.?

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In other news:?

??Israeli wastewater intelligence software platform provider, Kando , announced a new collaboration in Australia and New Zealand. The agreement will offer a framework for the introduction of cutting-edge wastewater management technologies as well as for obtaining a complete image of the networks, optimising results, and offering solutions while letting clients get a "network awareness picture."?

??In acquisitions, 100% of the corporate shares of Schweitzer-Chemie were acquired by SKion GmbH Water. Schweitzer-Chemie will continue to run as a separate business inside the SKion Water-owned Envirowater Group.?

??There were a relatively large number of appointments recently as William (Bill) Decker was named the new Vice President of Water and Wastewater Treatment technologies at?Fuel Tech, Ecolab named Nicholas J. Alfano as President of its Global Industrial Group, Chris Walters was appointed as Senior Director for the Price Review at Ofwat, SJW Group appointed Thomas Hodge as Vice President of Business Development and Aris Water Solutions ?announced the addition of?Jacinto Hernandez to the Company’s Board of Directors. Congratulations to all!?

?? France's President Macron has unveiled a strategy to combat water scarcity that focuses on sharing, recycling, and conserving water. This is in response to the nation going without rain for a record-breaking 32 days last winter after France and the majority of Europe endured an extraordinary drought last summer. The greatest user of water is agriculture, using roughly 60% of it; other uses include drinking water (26%), industry (4%), and cooling nuclear power stations (12%).?

We are also going to be including a including a Spotlight interview every week with an exciting member of the water community we are calling 'This week's Water Source', punny know...

This week we welcome Jonathan Grant . Jon is the Chief Commercial Officer of SENTRY . SENTRY is an innovative and growing solution provider based out of Canada who are providing a 'real-time biological monitoring platform that allows operators to understand imbalance and optimise their processes"

This is what he had to say;

What or who do you think is the greatest threat to water resources??

“climate change, continued overuse and drought. We keep putting industry and polluters where they shouldn’t be!”?

What is the greatest change you want to see in the water industry over the next 5 years??

“I would like to smarter water usage. Wastewater treatment accounts for 1% of the world energy usage so if we can reduce this by 30-40% this will make it much more sustainable. Smart monitoring and improved decision making is the forefront of this”?

Why do you choose to be in the water industry? What advice do you have for others looking to join??

“Because I care about the environment. I realised during my first job I am happy to work until 2am, so I thought I would do it for something I cared about! It is an industry full of good people where we can truly win together”?

We have some great guests lined up over the next few weeks, but perhaps you can let me know in the comments who you would like to see featured! As well, let us know if we missed any big news! Most importantly, subscribe for next week, and give it a share so we can keep you up to date with everything you need to know in next weeks WaterWeekly!