More opportunity than curse? The aging U.S. water grid

October 8, 2015 | By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

Like the nation's electric grid, the U.S. water grid is aging and struggling to deal with operating costs and comply with regulatory issues.

Credit: lzf

This could be perceived as both a curse -- and a blessing (or better, an opportunity), as revealed in a survey of industry leaders, including public and private water systems, industry investors and suppliers, and government regulators highlighted in the 2015 U.S. Water Industry Outlook published by accounting, tax and advisory services firm WeiserMazars LLP.

The curse side is pretty clear, but the blessing? While the industry does face many challenges, respondents clearly see technical innovation as the big opportunity for the sector, paired with water management and conservation. Technical innovation presents a major investment opportunity for the water industry -- and is also the main competitive driver.

"In addition to highlighting the increasing focus of the industry on technology, this year's Outlook reconfirmed themes that have surfaced in our past two studies -- namely the challenges posed by aging infrastructure and, to a lesser degree, regulatory compliance and staffing issues," said Jerome Devillers, a partner in the WeiserMazars Water and Utilities Practice Group. "On the positive side, this year respondents indicated a more favorable outlook for infrastructure financing, noting that funding is more readily available and accessible."

The 2015 survey found that the water industry is increasingly technology focused, and views technology and innovation as the means to addressing these challenges.

Nearly 80 percent of respondents agreed that technology will play a key role in competitiveness in the water industry over the next 10 years. Smart meters/business intelligence, asset management programs, and energy-efficient technologies were the key areas of interest among participants as a means to increasing performance metrics.

As energy-efficient technologies continue to have a positive impact on the performance of water utilities, they also create green benefits within the utility space by reducing the energy required to provide water and wastewater services.

Smart metering and business intelligence gain momentum within system operations, as organizations continue to see the performance benefits from the deployment of these technologies as they continue to expand and enhance their understanding of the performance metrics associated with these technologies.

The use of asset management programs continues to expand across the industry. While these programs can expensive to implement, they provide valuable insight into the identification and management of critical infrastructure, allowing organizations to proactively manage these assets for repair and replacement as needed, which can lead to less critical failures within the system.

"Energy-efficient technologies have been a focus of the water industry for some time now," said Robert Wilson, Water and Utilities Practice Group partner. "Smart metering and business intelligence continue to gain momentum among system operators, while asset management programs have expanded across the industry, generating green benefits, reducing energy costs and decreasing the number of critical systems failures."

For more:
- download the report

http://www.smartgridnews.com/story/more-opportunity-curse-aging-us-water-grid/2015-10-08