The July 2022 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.
Water Infrastructure Financing, Supply, Augmentation Act
Status: Effective
Organization: State of Arizona Legislature
Summary: On July 6, 2022, Arizona Governor Ducey signed a water infrastructure plan that will bring forth $1.2 billion over the next three years to help boost long-term water supplies for the state and implement conservation efforts that will see more immediate effects. The legislation results from climate change and a 30-year drought, as Arizona faces a Colorado River water supply decrease. Legislation investments include a canal and pipeline to move floodwaters from eastern Kansas to southern Colorado and into watersheds, and a nascent plan to help fund a Southern California effort to treat wastewater and trade it for some of that state's river supply. The law is considered "historic," as the state implemented a groundwater protection plan over 30 years ago.
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National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023
Status: Proposed
Organization: U.S House of Representatives
Summary: On July 14, 2022, the U.S House of Representatives passed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023. The Act will authorize $857.4 billion for national defense commitment at home and abroad. In addition, the Act will advance and strengthen the national defense strategy and ensure that the services' unfunded procurement, research, and readiness priorities are met. The Act authorizes $817.1 billion for the Department of Defense (DOD) and $29.7 billion for national security programs within the Department of Energy (DOE). In addition, the bill contains several amendments tackling the PFAS chemicals through DOD, protecting service members and military communities from the toxic chemicals. The amendment will require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to publish water quality criteria and set industrial discharge limits for industrial users of PFAS. In addition, the DOD will need to clarify the scope of PFAS data in its reports to the EPA.
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Facilitating Large-Scale Water Recycling and Reuse Projects Act
Status: Proposed
Organization: House of Committee
Summary: On July 20, 2022, the Facilitating Large Scale Water Recycling and Reuse Projects Act was introduced before the House of Committee. The Act would be built on the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA, BIL) funding by providing an additional $700 million to the Competitive Grant Program for Large-Scale Water Recycling included in the IIJA. This legislation would also extend the length of the grant program to facilitate the long-term investments needed for these large-scale water recycling projects in the drought-stricken Western United States.
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Lead in Drinking Water in Schools and Licensed Child Care Facilities
Status: Proposed
Organization: New Hampshire State Legislature
Summary: On July 22, 2022, New Hampshire Governor Sununu signed a bill requiring all schools and licensed child care facilities in the state to test their drinking water with lead. In addition, the new law requires all schools and facilities to correct all locations where previous testing results showed lead levels above five ppb and to be completed by January 30, 2024. As a result, the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Sciences (NHDES) has launched a program that will provide resources and technical support to schools and childcare facilities testing for and correcting sources of lead in drinking water.
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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.
Inland Empire Utilities Agency, California, Capital Spending Increased by Nearly 1%
In the CIP covering the 2022-2031 Fiscal Years, Inland Empire Utilities Agency plans to spend $927.4 million on capital projects, an increase of 0.7% from nearly $920.7 million in its 2020-2029 CIP. The current CIP has 153 discrete projects, compared to 101 projects in the prior CIP. The table below breaks down Inland Empire Utilities Agency’s planned capital spending by business area for its last two CIPs.
$20 Million for New Projects
Inland Empire Utilities Agency’s most recent CIP plans to spend $140.4 million on Regional Wastewater Operations and Maintenance, a 32.9% increase from last year’s planned spending, partially due to the Advanced Water Purification Facility project, valued at $11.3 million. The Water Resources/ Wastewater business area also increased by 160.6%. The $19.9 million increase is due to the 22 new projects. The Regional Wastewater Capital Improvement category cut its spending to $67.4 million, a 10% decrease resulting from the Liquids Expansion and Solids Treatment Facility projects that will be completed by FY 2024/25.
Planned Investments in Biosolids, Plant Expansions
The current CIP contains 153 projects, with 3 projects valued at more than $100 million. Despite the decrease in Regional Wastewater Capital Improvement spending, it gets the three most significant projects. The largest single project is the construction of the Regional Plant (RP)-5 Biosolids Facility, a new solid handling facility to meet the agency’s needs throughout the decommissioning of the Regional Plant No. 2 site, worth $182.8 million. Another $167.4 is planned for the RP-5 Expansion to 30 million gallons per day (mgd) project to improve the tertiary treatment and lining of the recycled water lagoon. Additionally, $100 million is programmed for the Thickening Building & Acid Phase Digester project.
Click Here to See Inland Empire Utilities Agency, CA, CIP
City of Phoenix, Arizona, Capital Spending Increased by 3.5%
In the CIP covering the 2022-2027 fiscal years, Phoenix detailed plans to spend $8.5 billion on capital projects, an increase of 3.5% from $8.2 billion in its 2021-2026 CIP. The current CIP has 843 discrete projects, compared to 942 projects in the prior CIP. The table below breaks down the Phoenix’s planned capital spending by business area for its last two CIPs.
Increased Investments in Water and Public Transit
Planned spending in the Water and Public Transit categories increased by 9.9% and 11.2%, respectively, due to the additional spending on existing projects. Planned expenditures on the Aquifer Storage project increased by $48.3 million. The Capitol and I-10 - Phase I project and South Central Light Rail Extension project, under the Public Transit, also increased by $60 million each.
Spending in the Phoenix Convention Center category increased by 432.3% due to a new project, the second phase of building and garage renovations at 100 West Washington Street, valued at $150 million. On the other hand, one of the largest categories, Aviation, trimmed down its spending by 9.2% due to the 62 projects near completion in 2022.
Significant Investments in Aviation
The City of Phoenix has one project valued at more than $500 million and four projects valued at more than $200 million. The largest single project is the Airport Development Plan – Contingency, worth $541.9 million under the Aviation category to provide contingencies to cover future aviation capital improvement projects that may occur. The project is set to start in 2023. Another $290 million is planned to construct the Union Pacific Railroad Grade (Trench) Separation and $248.4 million to build the New Crossfield Taxiway U at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. Additionally, under the Wastewater category, $212.6 million is intended for the Cave Creek Water Reclamation Plant Rehabilitation project.
Click Here to See City of Phoenix, AZ, CIP
Notable M&A
The following M&A transactions in the Power Generation and Supply Industry stand out in the month of July:
What We Are Reading
Here are some recent articles our team has been reading:
- NYC completes $34M drinking water connection upgrade
- Arizona invests $1B to expand water finance authority
- Pennsylvania awards PWSA $209M for water reliability projects
- Arizona to test public water systems for PFAS
- N.Y. ASCE grades state’s water infrastructure
- AECOM to design Wisconsin’s first municipal PFAS treatment facility
- Pittsburgh maintains low lead levels in water
- New Hampshire opens PFAS removal rebate program for private wells
- East Valley Water District opens new wastewater treatment plant
- Water for Texas 2023 opens for registration
Meeting Planner
Organizations have shifted their event strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic. We are tracking these changing meeting plans.
Meetings in August and September 2022
- ACWA Annual CA Water Data Summit - Aug. 17 - Aug. 18, 2022
- WF&M Water Finance Conference - Aug. 17 - Aug. 18, 2022
- CS-AWWA Tri Association Conference - Aug. 30 - Sept. 2, 2022
- Annual KWEA / KsAWWA Water & Wastewater Conference - Aug. 30 - Sept. 1, 2022
- AWWA Water Infrastructure Conference & Exposition - Sept. 11 - Sept. 14, 2022
- ACWA Annual Watereuse California Conference - Sept. 11 - Sept. 13, 2022
- VA-AWWA WaterJAM - Our Water, Our Future - Sept. 12 - Sept. 15, 2022
- PNCWA Annual Conference - Sept. 12 - Sept. 14, 2022
- AWE One Water Summit - Sept. 13 - Sept. 15, 2022
- MI-AWWA Annual Conference and Exhibits - Sept. 13 - Sept. 16, 2022
- WCA-AWWA WCW22 Annual Conference & Exhibition - Sept. 13 - Sept. 16, 2022
- NE-AWWA Annual Conference - Sept. 18 - Sept. 21, 2022
- RM-AWWA Rocky Mountain Water Conference - Sept. 18 - Sept. 21, 2022
- WCA-AWWA Canadian Residuals and Biosolids Conference - Sept. 18 - Sept. 21, 2022
- NRWA WaterPro Conference - Sept. 26 - Sept. 29, 2022
Early Bird Registrations
- Event: AWWA WaterSmart Innovations Conference and Exposition
Dates: Oct. 2 - Oct. 4, 2022
Deadline for Early Registration: Sept. 2, 2022
Call for Papers
- Event: WEF/AWWA Utility Management Conference
Dates: Mar. 28 - Mar. 31, 2023
Deadline for Call for Papers: Aug. 18, 2022
- Event: AWWA ACE23 - Annual Conference and Exposition
Dates: June 11 - June 14, 2023
Deadline for Call for Papers: Sept. 8, 2022
- Event: WateReuse Association Annual Symposium
Dates: Mar. 5 - Mar. 8, 2023
Deadline for Call for Papers: Sept. 30, 2022