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January 2022 Water and Wastewater Market Recap is a recap of some of the most interesting and useful water industry news from January 2022. It contains updates on industry drivers, notable projects, and recent mergers and acquisitions, as well as some interesting reads, and upcoming upcoming meetings and conferences.

Industry Drivers

Drivers Power Generation Roundup-min

Our data team tracks major developments in the water industry, which we call drivers. Here are some of the most important drivers from last month.

EPA Actions Related to Coal Ash Sites

Status: Effective

Organization: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Summary: On January 11, 2022, the Environmental Protection Agency announced taking several actions to protect groundwater from coal ash contamination. Those actions involve:

  1. proposing decisions on requests for extensions to the current deadline for initiating closure of unlined CCR surface impoundments;
  2. putting several facilities on notice regarding their obligations to comply with CCR regulations, and;
  3. laying out plans for future regulatory actions to ensure coal ash impoundments meet strong environmental and safety standards.

These actions will protect communities and hold facilities responsible for controlling and cleaning up the contamination created by decades of coal ash disposal.

Click here for more information 

 

Industrial Control Systems Cybersecurity Initiative – Water and Wastewater Sector Action Plan

Status: Effective

Organization: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Summary: On January 26, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in collaboration with its federal partners developed an Action Plan that concentrates on promoting and supporting the water sector’s adoption of strategies for the timely detection of cyber-threats and allowing for the instantaneous sharing of cyber-threat data across the government to expedite analysis and action. Actions include:

  1. It is establishing a task force of water sector leaders;
  2. Implementing pilot projects to demonstrate and accelerate the adoption of incident monitoring;
  3. Improving information sharing and data analysis;
  4. Providing technical support to water systems.

The Action Plan is part of President Biden’s Industrial Control Systems (ICS) Initiative, which he founded under National Security Memorandum 5, Improving Cybersecurity for Critical Infrastructure Control Systems.

Click here for more information 

 

Notable Capital Improvement Programs

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Here are some recent, notable Capital Improvement Programs (CIPs). FirmoGraphs has deconstructed the CIPs into data elements, along with available project descriptions. Please feel free to request a meeting and review the data live in our business intelligence application.

Richmond, Virginia, Cuts Planned Capital Spending 11%

In the Capital Improvement Plan for its 2022-2026 fiscal years, the city of Richmond, Virginia, detailed plans to spend nearly $1.07 billion on capital projects, down 10.7% from nearly $1.2 billion in its 2021-2025 CIP. The table below breaks down Richmond’s planned capital spending by business area for its last two CIPs.

Spending on Transportation and Water-Related Projects Falls

Richmond put the amounts it plans to spend on active projects in the “Active Projects” category of its most recent CIP, after allocating them to the projects’ business areas in its 2021-2025 CIP. That was largely responsible for the nearly 50% drop in planned spending on transportation projects, as an $85.25 million project involving asphalt restoration on streets throughout the city was classified as an active project in the latest CIP.

Overall, Richmond’s planned capital spending fell in its latest CIP largely due to decreases in the amount it allocated to projects in its water-related business areas. The city’s planned capital spending dropped $127.6 million, while its planned spending on storm water, wastewater and water projects fell $107.9 million.

13 Projects to Get More Than $25 Million

Richmond’s CIP contains 13 projects valued at more than $25 million and three valued at more than $100 million. One of the latter, despite the city’s plan to spend less on planned water-related projects, is a $171.1 million upgrade of its sanitary sewers. Richmond also plans to spend $100 million on a Technical Education Center as a way to pursue school modernization. Additionally, the huge growth in its planned Economic & Community Development spending is due to its intention to spend nearly $28 million over its next four fiscal years to plan, acquire land for, design and construct the Enslaved African Heritage Campus, which it estimates will have a total cost of $38 million.

In his introduction to the CIP, Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney said an agency called the Central Virginia Transportation Authority was recently created to fund transportation projects in central Virginia. Richmond estimates it will receive more than $16 million from the authority in its 2022 fiscal year.

Click Here to See City of Richmond, Va., CIP

City of Fort Worth, Texas, Capital Program Increased by 6.8%

In the Capital Improvement Plan for its 2022-2026 fiscal years, the City of Fort Worth, Texas, detailed plans to spend $1.9 billion on capital projects, which is an increase of 6.8% from nearly $1.8 billion in its 2021-2025 CIP. The table below breaks down City of Fort Worth’s planned capital spending by business area (BA) for its last two CIPs.

Water Capital Projects Increase, Transportation Decreases

In this period, Property Management BA has seen the most considerable increase in the allocation, $95.3 million, which is 164.5% higher than the previous budget of $36 million. In terms of the total budget, the biggest allocation is in the Water Business Area, $1 billion, or 11.1% more than the previous budget of $962.9 million. Despite a slight decline of 5.5% in allocation for the business area of Transportation and Public Works, from $377.4 million to $356.7 million, it is the second highest in the plan.

Strong Increase in Capital Project Size

City of Fort Worth’s current CIP contains 142 projects in total. Out of those, 6 are valued at more than $100 million, and 14 projects are valued at more than $25 million. Note that last year all individual projects were less than $25 million. With the Water Business Area being the largest one, it’s not a surprise that the project with the highest value is a $227 million Water Sewer Program – Streets project. This project provides for the replacement of water and sewer lines that are old and/or have a high maintenance record in streets that are scheduled for reconstruction. The City of Fort Worth is also planning to spend $190.9 million on the Wastewater Treatment Plants project, and $168 million on Wastewater Collectors project in the next 5 years.

Click Here to See City of Fort Worth, Tx, CIP

Notable M&A

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The following  M&A transactions in the Power Generation and Supply Industry stand out in the month of January:

What We Are Reading

Reading News and Market Updates

Here are some recent articles our team has been reading:


Meeting Planner

Fiscal Year Planning-min

Organizations have shifted their event strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic.  We are tracking these changing meeting plans. 

Meetings in February and March 2022


Early Birds Registration


Call for Papers 

Post by FirmoGraphs Staff
Feb 11, 2022 8:17:41 AM