Vol 6, Issue 12 (December 2005)

Need to know

  • FRENCH PROGRESS

    * Veolia announced two new deals, one big and one small.

  • PIPE DREAMS

    * Andy Seidel, the wonderboy of the US water sector, who has been pursued by packs of hungry venture capitalists since he left US Filter earlier this year, looks as if he has chosen slip lining specialist Underground Solutions Inc. as the vehicle for the second act of his career.

  • REUSE AND ABUSE

    * A growing anxiety seems to be gripping residents of southwestern states frightened by the prospect of water reuse.

  • SOUTH ASIA STEPS FORWARD

    * Pakistan is now well and truly on the private water map.

  • STOCK EXCHANGE STARS

    * Aqua America bought the Berkeley Water Company (serving 12,000 residents in New Jersey) for approximately $4.2 million, and a wastewater system serving 2,100 people in near Chapel Hill in South Carolina for $2.2 million.

Analysis

  • CHART OF THE MONTH

    One of the most bullish reports published by Frost & Sullivan this autumn has been its investigation into European industrial water reuse: Industrial Water Recycling and Reuse Equipment Markets in Europe and the Middle East (see Frost.com for details).

  • Galloping towards 2006

    GWI publisher Christopher Gasson makes his predictions for the year.

  • Insight - David Lloyd Owen

    The Harbinger of Gloom.

General

  • $1bn for basic sanitation in Brazil

    Lula’s government is serious about investing in the wastewater sector.

  • Bahia state kicks off Brazil PPPs

    Last year’s public-private partnership legislation is finally bearing fruit. Bahia will be tendering a US$73 million ocean outfall project this month.

  • Bulk transport: a solution to scarcity?

    Dams, reservoirs and desalination plants are expensive things to build on the off-chance that there is a drought. Gordon Cope explores a low, fixed-cost alternative to infrastructure investment.

  • Flexibility key to IWPPs, says NPC

    Clients are missing a trick at the moment because projects are coinciding, according to National Power Company boss Fareed Al-Yagout. By deciding on a running order, they could improve the situation for everyone.

  • Get your nominations in now

    GWI marketing manager Alison Ireland says there is going to be tight competition for the 2006 Global Water Awards.

  • LatAm investors prepare for European retreat

    With investment in the water sector falling below 2% of GDP, and foreign private firms in a rout, there are a lot of reasons to feel pessimistic about the region’s water sector. There are also a lot of reasons to feel the worst is over.

  • No action on German VAT

    Germany\'s new government has decided not to act against the discrepancy which penalises private wastewater provision.

  • Ofwat opens door to competition

    Large UK customers can choose their water supplier. But will it make a difference?

  • Russian roulette continues to spin

    The government, municipalities and the market are sending contradictory messages about the direction of water sector reform in Russia. The privatisation process is continuing apace – but it has become less visible.

  • Saudi Arabia: the Bushnak approach

    Adil Bushnak is one of the few individuals to have recognised how to deal with the challenges facing Saudi Arabia. He has some forthright ideas about desalination, water conservation and education.

  • Seidel sees a future in slip lining

    The former US Filter CEO is negotiating to join pipe rehabilitation specialists, Underground Solutions. Larry Chertoff looks behind the move.

  • UK companies surge on higher tariffs

    The UK-quoted water companies have published a bullish set of half-year accounts.

  • Veolia set to shed Southern interest

    RBS may also sell. With buyers lining up for Thames, 2006 looks set to be a vintage year for water industry bankers and lawyers.

Brief

  • ASIA IN BRIEF

    * Veolia has been awarded a new water management contract in Kunming, Yunnan province.

  • ASIA PACIFIC IN BRIEF

    * Veolia is venturing into Pakistan through a DBO contract with the municipal corporation of Islamabad to improve the city’s wastewater services.

  • EUROPE IN BRIEF

    * The consolidation of the German water sector under communal ownership continues with three new contracts announced by Hessenwasser, Germany’s fifth largest water supplier in terms of water sales, with 92 million m<sup>3</sup> supplied annually.

  • LATIN AMERICA IN BRIEF

    * Aguas Nuevas of Chile, which owns water utilities in the I, IX and XII regions and is controlled by the powerful Solari group, aims for $110 million in expanding its wastewater treatment coverage next year.

  • MIDDLE EAST IN BRIEF

    * MEED held its first water reuse conference in Abu Dhabi last month, which showed the region’s increasing interest in the subject.

Companies

  • Bravo for Befesa’s golden year

    The Seville-based construction and environmental services group has suddenly become desalination’s hottest ticket. Christopher Gasson talks to the man behind its growth.

  • Getting to know Befesa

    How does Abengoa\'s construction and environmental technology subsidiary fit in the group?

Market insight

  • A very domestic agenda

    The Chinese government sees membranes as a core technology in its bid for sustainable development.