Water & Wastewater Market Recap, January 2023

The January 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 Plans for Wastewater Regulations and Studies, Including Limits for PFAS, New Study for Nutrients

Status: Effective

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

Summary: On January 20, 2023, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued Effluent Guidelines Program Plan 15 (Plan 15), which focused on evaluating the extent and nature of PFAS and nutrient discharges. Plan 15 directs the agency to safeguard the waterways from industrial wastewater discharges by following the Clean Water Act and science to develop technology-based pollution limits. Plan 15 advances the commitment of the EPA in the PFAS Strategic Roadmap to restrict PFAS pollution.

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.

City of Portland, Oregon, Planned Capital Spending Increases by 20.4%

In the CIP covering the 2023-2027 fiscal years, City of Portland, Oregon detailed plans to spend nearly $3.7 billion on capital projects, an increase of 20.4% from $3 billion in its 2022-2026 CIP. The current CIP has 485 discrete projects, 5 less compared to the prior CIP. The table below breaks down the City of Portland’s planned capital spending by business area for its last two CIPs.

Planned Spending Increase for Water Projects, Portland Parks & Recreation Drops

Planned spending in the Portland Water Bureau category increased by 43.4% to nearly $511 million. The increase goes to 23 new significant projects valued at $98 million, including the Washington Park Reservoir 3 project, worth $34 million, and another $30 million for the Advanced Metering Infrastructure project. Portland Parks & Recreation cut its planned spending by 25.3% to nearly $48 million due to completed and near-completion projects.

$1.3 Billion Planned Investment for Water Projects

The City of Portland, Oregon’s recent CIP has four projects valued at more than $100 million:

• Bull Run Filtration - valued at $873.4 million under the Portland Water Bureau business area; this will plan, design, and construct a new filtration plant for the City of Portland’s water supply. 
• Bull Run Pipelines - valued $333.1 million under the Portland Water Bureau business area; this will design and construct large-diameter pipelines that connect the proposed Filtration Facility to the existing conduits.
• Distribution Mains - valued at $123.5 million under the Portland Water Bureau business area; this is to improve maintenance of the water system infrastructure, including repairs, replacements, and upgrades.
• CityFleet Kerby Garage Replacement - valued at $120 million under the Office of Management and Finance business area.

Click Here to See City of Portland, Oregon, CIP

Notable M&A

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

• On January 23, 2023, Water technology company Xylem Inc. announced that it is acquiring Evoqua Water Technologies, a provider of water and wastewater treatment solutions, in an all-stock transaction worth around $7.5 billion.

What We Are Reading

Here are some recent articles our team has been reading:

• EPA Announces $500 Million Loan to Modernize Wastewater and Drinking Water Infrastructure in New Jersey
• EPA Reaches Settlement with San Diego-based Pacific Ship Repair & Fabrication Inc.
• Mich. launches interactive SRF dashboard
• PWSA rehabilitates Highland II Reservoir
• Pennsylvania to invest $236 million for drinking water, wastewater, stormwater projects
• DeSantis pledges $3.5 billion to Florida water projects, conservation efforts
• Missouri utility unveils $425 million water infrastructure plan
• Georgia plant spills 100 million gallons of partly treated water
• Xylem to acquire Evoqua in $7.5B transaction
• AWWA releases think tank report for technological advancement
• Pennsylvania passes ‘forever chemicals’ drinking water limit

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 February and March 2023

Early Bird Registrations

• Event: AWE California Irrigation Institute Annual Conference
  Dates: Feb. 27 - Feb. 28, 2023
  Deadline for Early Registration: Feb. 27, 2023
  

• Event: WEF Forum – Intensification of Resource Recovery
  Dates: Mar. 20 - Mar. 22, 2023
  Deadline for Early Registration: Feb. 17, 2023