Water waste demands private-public co-operation

The latest in the Cleantech in Canada series of events, which highlights cleantech opportunities around the world, focused on reform in the water sector. It singled out water as the next big growth area in cleantech thanks to increased scarcity and rising prices.

John Ruffolo, Canadian industry and global tax leader at Deloitte’s Canadian operation, warned that the public sector in North America is averse to private sector involvement in water for reasons of safety and price. He called for a change in regulations to loosen governmental water subsidies, which he said would make conservation technologies more attractive.

“If we start changing the regulations, people get very nervous about it, but the infrastructure required to start changing this thing isn’t there. Politically, we haven’t been sensitised that water is an issue,” Ruffulo said.

Usha Srinivasan, director of market intelligence at non-profit innovation centre MaRS, which helped organise the panel, highlighted the decaying infrastructure in North American cities.

“We’re using the highest technology to treat the water and then running it through pipes 100 years old, and you’re losing 20 per cent of the water,” Srinivasan said. A $22.6 trillion investment is required to bring the worldwide water deliver infrastructure up to par, according to research from Booz Allen Hamilton detailed during the panel.

Water provision in England and Wales was privatised in 1989. In London, Thames Water has said it will spend more than £650 million by 2010 to replace 1,300 miles of mains pipe in the capital, much of which was originally installed more than 100 years ago.

Globally, the majority of water is used by the agriculture sector, followed by industry, according to research highlighted during the panel discussion. As a group, consumers use the least water of all.

Moderated by XPV Capital, a Canadian venture group focused on water investments, the event consisted of a panel including representatives from Siemens Water Technologies, financial services firm Janney Montgomery Scott, and EnviroTower - a cooling-tower water treatment firm which is listed in XPV’s investment portfolio.