Water Weekly No.5

Welcome to our fifth edition of #WaterWeekly, your go-to weekly newsletter on all things Water.?

Let’s dive in to this week’s stories!?

Making a Splash – Top Story of the Week?

?Making a splash this week are the Global Water Awards. This year sponsored by Almar Water Solutions . These prestigious awards are given out each year during the Global Water Summit, the main international corporate gathering for the water sector. The Global Water Intelligence Awards, which were established in 2006, honour the most significant accomplishments in the global water industry across a number of categories. They also honour initiatives in the water, wastewater and desalination sectors that are advancing the sector through enhanced operational performance, the adoption of cutting-edge technology and the use of sustainable business models.?

There are 12 categories in total, including Water company of the Year and Technology Company of the Year. We’ve decided to focus on 5 awards that we think deserve particular attention, but congratulations to all nominees!?

Award number 1: Water Company of the Year?

This year’s nominees are: Aegea Saneamento Saneamento,?for its work changing the lives of millions of Brazilians through piped sanitation, Aqualia for increasing the number of people served by 10 million, Almar Water Solutions for its impressive work on multiple Middle eastern projects and French giant, Veolia for its work with former competitor, Suez.?

Award number 2: Water Technology Company of the Year?

The nominees for most innovative technology this year are: 杜邦 Water Solutions for its a new range of reverse osmosis membranes for industrial applications, Nijhuis Saur Industries , for an impressive year of acquisitions including Veolia’s Mobile Water Services (MWS) arm, NX Filtration for securing a massive 167 pilot projects and 22 full scale projects, and Royal HaskoningDHV who, through their acquisition of Helea from Anglian Water Services Water, can better provide technologies to customers to reach net-zero.?

Award number 3: Breakthrough Technology Company of the Year?

This year’s ‘breakthrough acts’ are: AM-Team for its work highlighting the water sector’s emissions challenges, leak detection start-up FIDO Tech after detecting over 650,000 points of interest in networks across five continents between November 2019 and December 2022, Pani after 150 plants signed up to its Process Operations AI platform by the end of 2022 and ZwitterCo who received $33 million of funding in September billed as the largest ever Series A round for a water technology start-up.?

Award number 4: Smart Water Project of the Year?

The four nominees for Smart Water Project of the Year come from the UK, Singapore and New Zealand, the first of 2 UK entries is Northumbrian Water Limited Water’s real-time reservoir monitoring project, PUB, Singapore's National Water Agency , Singapore’s Intelligent Network Renewal Programme is the next entry, United Utilities ’ first-of-its-kind predictive analytics and real-time monitoring platform for sewage is a third entry and Wellington Water and its intelligent network management is the final nominee.?

Award number 5: Net Zero Carbon Champion?

Congratulations to ACCIONA who have seen significant results following the launch of its 2021 Sustainability masterplan including 97.2% of its electricity consumption at treatment plants coming from renewable energy! The three other nominees are: Anaergia , GRUNDFOS and SUEZ .?

More information on all of the categories and a more in-depth look at all of the companies mentioned can be found at: https://globalwaterawards.com/.?

The winners will be announced on May 9th, so keep an eye out for news next Tuesday!?

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In other news:?

?? The market for smart water metres is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 10% from 2023 to 2033 and reach US$9.5B by that time.?

??In appointments, Kieran Ingram has been appointed as Water Director at NWG (Northumbrian Water Group) Water, Cenergist has appointed Fernando Padmos MBA as Head of the Netherlands and Chris Falconer has joined Water Direct as its Head of Strategic Partnerships.?

??To maintain a bustling dock free of trash, a plastic-eating marine robot has landed in London's financial sector. The Middle Dock at Canary Wharf, which has an outdoor swimming area and holds water from the River Thames, is where WasteShark was first introduced. WasteShark can navigate itself through water for up to 5 km and gather up to 500 kg of plastic garbage every day, which is equal to 22,700 plastic bottles. The waste is then recycled and reused when possible.?

??A significant recovery plan in the British Isles will include the expansion and restoration of two water-rich temperate rainforests. The plan will engage local people by providing improved access to nature, volunteer opportunities, educational possibilities, and economic prospects, under the direction of the Wildlife Trusts, a federation of conservation organisations.?

This weeks featured guest is Tom Cork , Sales Director covering EMEAI and NAM for Ovarro Ltd. Ovarro Ltd is a UK based technology provider who serve water utilities, critical infrastructures, utility providers, and various other industries both direct and with a network of global partners. Their secure, intelligent solutions allow companies throughout the world to better capture, analyse and use their data to conduct projects and activities. Their vision is to support a sustainable future for industries and communities around the world by connecting technologies and increasing operation efficiency and effectiveness.?

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

“This changes depending on where you are focussed but globally, I think that it is the speed of response and delays in making decisions. Typically, there is a lot of talk at the top but delays filtering down to the investments and changes. As a British company we are benefitted by working in collaboration with the UK water utilities and we try to speed things up by showing ‘best practices’.? The concerns of current and future water scarcity are clear, what we need now are politicians and business leaders to act on ensuring access to clean drinking water is not only maintained, but bettered.”?

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

“I would love to see water companies globally embracing big data and really understanding the value that data lead decision making can have to quicker show improvements. I understand the sensitives around data capture and security but it think it’s imperative that utilities give solution providers access to their data more readily and work in a collaborative manner to quickly find the win-win!?

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

“I always worked in process automation but my previous roles have been more Power Distribution and Manufacturing focussed. The fact that Water is one of the fastest growing industries and the vision of Ovarro really captured my attention.? I thought I could bring my skills from working in large corporations into the industry!? (On bringing new talent to the water industry): “We are not an attractive industry as water is not that sexy, because it falls from the sky I think people perceive there to be an abundance readily available.? But the industry as a whole needs to find a way to attract the best talent. If we don’t act now and plan for the future, we are going to be in a difficult situation!?

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