www.britishwater.co.uk
PAGE 11 WHERE WE are GOING: THE GLOBAL WATER MARKET
opportunities presented by the final ‘good ecological quality’ objectives remain rather dramatic.
As far as water projects go, China continues to be the powerhouse for the sector’s development. Market conditions are difficult, especially for developing industrial parks, but at the same time, water and wastewater have been identified as core development priorities areas for stimulus-related spending. While China aims for technological self- sufficiency in the long term, it fully accepts the need to be a major importer of foreign water and wastewater technologies until at least 2015. Likewise, the development of water and wastewater PSP projects in China (65% of global activity in population terms since 2005) remains open to international expertise, especially when it combines technical innovation with attractive prices.
As a dry tree seeks water, some projects are so expedient that something will be done to ensure that they go ahead. A fundamental reappraisal about the potential of treated wastewater to be used in agricultural and industrial applications is pushing the deployment of appropriate wastewater treatment plants and water recovery systems. This in turn is spurring the development of effluent energy recovery systems (when 6% of Britain’s greenhouse gases come from the water sector, don’t think about a threat, think about the opportunities) and the potential to couple these with carbon offset mechanisms in developing economies.
Meanwhile, climate change and population growth grind on. More mouths to feed and more endemic water scarcity, with a broad shift in populations towards their seaboards. It is remarkable how conservative the
agricultural irrigation and market garden business have been when it comes to fundamentally addressing their water efficiency, from where their water comes from to how it is best used. These are exciting times for innovators because this is a classic sector where the potential for radical improvements in performance remains.
Speaking as an eternal optimist, don’t forget that once all the export work has been done, we can look forward to the wonderful prospect of metering all of England & Wales’s domestic water and helping to ensure that all this information is put to really good use!
Dr David Lloyd Owen is the Managing Director of Envisager Limited. He is also Head of Research at WHEB Venture Partners and the author of the Pinsent Masons Water Yearbook.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100