Water & Wastewater Market Recap, February 2023

The February 2023 Water and Wastewater Market Recap covers interesting and useful water industry news for this month. 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

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 Announces Financial Capability Guidance to Support Communities and Ensure Clean, Affordable Water

Status: Effective

Organization: US Environmental Protection Agency  

Summary: On February 1, 2023, the US Environmental Protection Agency released its updated Clean Water Act Financial Capability Assessment (FCA) Guidance to assist communities in ensuring financial feasibility and health protections while planning to comply with the Clean Water Act (CWA). The latest FCA Guidance updates provide better measures and procedures to assess the capabilities of communities to afford water quality infrastructure and highlight assistance programs, grants, and subsidized loans to plan and pay for necessary water infrastructure. The updated guidance is not legally binding but provides a starting point for negotiations.

Click Here for More Information

Notable Capital Improvement Programs

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.

Hampton Roads Sanitation District, Virginia, Planned Capital Spending Increases by 17%

In the CIP covering the 2023-2032 fiscal years, Hampton Roads Sanitation District (HRSD) detailed plans to spend $3.4 billion on capital projects, an increase of 17% from $2.9 billion in its 2022-2031 CIP. The current CIP has 220 funded projects, compared to 194 funded projects in the prior CIP. The table below breaks down HRSD planned capital spending by business area for its last two CIPs.

Planned Increases for Almost All Business Areas

In the current CIP, three business areas have increased the most: Administration, Army Base and Eastern Shore. However, categories with significant planned increase and most interesting projects are described below.

• Atlantic - An increase of $64 million, or 82%, is due to new projects in the current CIP. The largest project is ATP Solids Handling Improvements and Odor Control Upgrades Phase I. The project involves replacement of two of the aging and inefficient odor control units with one larger unit with a project value of $26 million.
• Future Improvement - For both previous and current CIPs, there is only one project: Interceptor System Rehabilitation and Replacement. The project is a placeholder to meet future year spending targets, and it is related to undefined rehabilitation or replacement interceptor projects. It has increased from $217 million to $281.2 million, or 30% from the previous CIP.
• Nansemond - An increase of $69.9 million or 20% is due to new projects and an increment of the project value of twelve projects from the previous CIP. New projects amount to $37.9 million; the largest is related to the Wilroy Pressure Reducing Station and Off-line Storage Facility. This project is about installing New Pressure Reducing Station (Prs) With 80 Feet Of Assistance; the project value is $27 million.

Major Planned Investments for Water Treatment Facilities

HRSD planned spending has two notable projects in the current CIP under the General Business area, both concerning swift water delivery. One is the VIP SWIFT Facility, which includes water treatment facilities needed to produce swift water at the VIP Treatment Plant. The second is Nansemond SWIFT Facility, and it will consist of advanced water treatment facilities required to make swift water at the Nansemond Treatment Plant. The value for both notable projects is $334.1 million and $306.4 million, respectively. 

Click Here to See HRSD, Virginia, CIP

City of Gilbert, Arizona, Planned Capital Spending Increases by Over 20%

In the CIP covering the 2023-2032 fiscal years, City of Gilbert detailed plans to spend nearly $3.4 billion on capital projects, an increase of 20.1% from $2.8 billion in its 2022-2031 CIP. The current CIP has 345 discrete projects, compared to 309 projects in the prior CIP. The table below breaks down City of Gilbert’s planned capital spending by business area for its last two CIPs.

Major Planned Increase for Street Improvements

Planned Spending on the Street Improvements increased by 24.5% to 843.2 million. The increase goes to new projects such as Val Vista Drive and McQueen Road, and Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) Improvements and Grade Separation worth nearly $26.5 million each. The Water Improvements and Park and Recreation Improvements also increased by 15.8% and 15.3% with funding towards ongoing improvements or projects.

Water Improvement Project to Receive Over $400 Million in Funding

Three notable projects are valued at more than $100 million in the City of Gilbert’s recent CIP. First, the North Water Treatment Plant is the largest single project valued at $447.3 million under the Water Improvements category. This project involves the construction of a new 60 million gallons a day (MGD) surface water treatment plant located directly east of the North Water Treatment Plant. In addition, under the Water Improvements category is the Asbestos Concrete Pipe (ACP) Water Line Replacements valued at $200.3 million throughout Gilbert’s water distribution system. Lastly, the Parks and Recreation will also get a notable project, the Gilbert Regional Park Phase 2 and 3, valued at $164.1 million for flood control, stormwater retention, and park and recreation amenities. 

Click Here to See City of Gilbert, Arizona, CIP

Notable M&A

The following M&A transactions in the Water and Wastewater Industry stand out in the month of February:

• Flowserve Corporation, a provider of flow control products and services, announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Velan, a manufacturer of highly engineered industrial valves, in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $245 million.

What We Are Reading

Here are some recent articles our team has been reading:

• California awards $46M for drought resilience
• EPA Announces 100th WIFIA Loan, Investing $115 Million to Improve Resilience to Extreme Weather in Santa Clara County, California
• Ridgewood, IDE partner with City of Fort Lauderdale for new water treatment plant
• Water utilities to be affected by EPA’s proposed PFAS regulations
• New York to bring new water infrastructure to rural communities throughout the state
• EPA allocates $2.4B for 2023 Clean Water State Revolving Fund
• $80 million project installs over 9.5 miles of new water mains, sewers in three NY neighborhoods
• North Carolina to spend $463 million on local water infrastructure improvement projects

Meeting Planner

There is no replacement for face-to-face meetings with your prospects and customers! We track meetings of interest to our customers serving the US water and wastewater industry industry so you won’t miss upcoming meetings and deadlines. Also, FirmoGraphs has recently implemented a free-of-charge service for tracking notable infrastructure events. 

Meetings in March and April 2023

Call for Papers

• Event: AWWA Water Quality Technology Conference
  Dates: Nov. 5 - Nov. 9, 2023
  Deadline for Early Registration: Apr. 6, 2023

Early Bird Registrations

• Event: IN-AWWA Annual Conference
  Dates: Apr. 10-13, 2023
  Deadline for Early Registration: Apr. 3, 2023
  
  
• Event: AWWA ACE23 - Annual Conference and Exposition
  Dates: June 11-14, 2023
  Deadline for Early Registration: Apr. 21, 2023