… and How WaaS® Delivers Clean Water Without the Headaches
Over the decades, Seven Seas Water Group has learned about the challenges that water utilities face. Our team of engineers and financial professionals poured a great deal of thought and resources into developing the most dependable way to meet all these challenges. It’s a comprehensive delivery mode called Water-as-a-Service®, or WaaS®, and it’s designed to offer innovative (and painless) solutions.
- Regulatory Challenges
Navigating complex and evolving federal and state regulations can be burdensome and costly. In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2022 Clean Watersheds Needs Survey Report to Congress gives new attention to public wastewater, stormwater, nonpoint source control, and decentralized wastewater treatment. In April, the EPA issued the first legally enforceable standard for notoriously hard-to-remove PFAS chemicals. The agency has now turned to regulation of small water supplies. Emerging contaminants include not only PFAS chemicals but also pharmaceuticals, hormones, industrial chemicals, detergents, cyanotoxins, and nanomaterials.
Regulations are increasing at the state level as well. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality standards, for instance, have a reputation for being burdensome and costly, and California’s Title 22 is known for its exacting standards and is being used as a model for other jurisdictions.
Worldwide, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal Six has challenged the world to improve water and sanitation, and more than 37 countries and territories reference the World Health Organization’s updated Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality (GDWQ) in their regulatory standards.
WaaS® allows utilities to shift that burden of regulatory compliance to Seven Seas. With long-term, performance-based agreements, utilities can leave the task to us.
- Water Scarcity and Drought
A stark reminder of California’s drought: Lake Oroville, the state’s second-largest reservoir, at a record low level in 2015.
Regardless of recent wet seasons, the “megadrought” or long-term aridification trend in the Western U.S. is expected to continue. In addition, a 2022 report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration indicates that over 60% of the continental United States is experiencing some level of drought, with conditions ranging from abnormally dry to exceptional drought.
To make things worse, climate change projections call for more frequent and severe droughts. While flooding is also expected to rise, floods often run off before they can adequately recharge groundwater reserves.
The threats to human water supplies include more than just climate change-driven aridification. Pollution of aquifers, spiking demand from industry, and increasingly urbanized populations also make the job of water utilities more challenging.
WaaS® offers complete water cycle solutions to make the most of every drop of available water, including nontraditional sources like desalination and water recycling. Brackish, saline, and wastewater sources can now be used and reused for maximum sustainability.
- Aging Infrastructure
The 16,000 wastewater treatment plants in the U.S. are struggling to meet demand as they near their design capacities, and 15% have reached or exceeded them. The EPA in its 2022 Clean Watersheds report to Congress set its sights on regulating even nonpoint sources of water pollution. It concludes that water system upgrades to comply with public wastewater, stormwater, nonpoint source, and decentralized wastewater treatment regulations will require an investment of more than $1.2 trillion. EPA concedes the figure is probably optimistic. Where will the funds come from?
Seven Seas is linked with EQT, a purpose-driven global investment organization that partners with companies worldwide through its Private Capital and Real Assets strategies, and our history of successful projects helps streamline the financing process to make infrastructure happen. We provide the financing, with no hoops for utilities to jump through.
- High Operational Costs
The costs associated with energy, treatment, distribution, and maintenance are high, especially in rural or underserved areas, where economies of scale are limited. Smaller systems may not have the resources to use the most cost-effective technologies.
Reverse osmosis (RO), for instance, and other advanced membrane processes such as membrane bioreactor (MBR) produce unprecedented quality, but setup and membrane replacement costs can be significant. Seven Seas has made decentralized water and wastewater treatment for smaller service areas a major focus of our business, and because we own and operate the assets we provide, we build for maximum reliability and energy efficiency. Utilities pay only an agreed-upon amount.
- Water Quality Issues
Ensuring safe, high-quality drinking water can be a challenge for utilities because of a lengthening list of contaminants and agricultural runoff. With PFAS chemicals finally on the regulatory radar, RO and other advanced membrane treatment technologies such as microfiltration and ultrafiltration can help protect public health like never before.
Other processes that commonly support RO include activated carbon filtration, which removes chlorine, volatile organic compounds, and other organic contaminants that can affect taste and odor. Ultraviolet (UV) disinfection uses light to kill bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms. Ion exchange removes hardness (calcium and magnesium ions) and other ions like nitrate, fluoride, and arsenic. Ozone is a powerful oxidant used to disinfect water and break down organic contaminants. Dosing with chemicals like coagulants and flocculants can also remove suspended particles and improve the efficiency of filtration.
Seven Seas offers the full complement of water treatment technologies, tailoring the process to each feed water stream.
- Public Perception and Trust
Water utilities must maintain trust with customers through clear communication and transparency to secure funding for repairs and avoid costly breakdowns and crises caused by neglect.
Water utilities often face scrutiny from the public about rates, service quality, and transparency, making it important to maintain trust and clear communication with customers. If they lose confidence, it can be more difficult to secure funding for repairs and maintenance. Then, the resulting breakdowns and crises can feed more mistrust. If assets become unusable because of neglect, they must be replaced, a practice that costs far more than regular maintenance.
WaaS® avoids these crises of confidence by keeping Seven Seas responsible for maintenance, and it makes our job easier to use the most reliable equipment available and to adhere to tight maintenance schedules. Rates, quality, and quantity are established at the outset, and the public can safely go back to forgetting about how water gets to them.
- Climate Change Impacts
Extreme weather events such as hurricanes, floods, and prolonged droughts can disrupt water supply and demand, strain resources, and damage infrastructure. Once they break down, large-scale water assets may take months to become operational again, and the secondary impacts from the loss of water service can be worse than the primary impacts. Sanitation problems, drinking water contamination, and lack of drinking water can harm the public health.
Seven Seas has learned from long experience with our many plants in the Caribbean that have found themselves in the paths of hurricanes or operated through droughts. We own and operate the Caribbean’s first and only certified resilient water treatment facility. We know the durable units that stand up to hurricane-force winds, and that decentralization may add climate resilience. If one small plant in a group of small plants goes down, the crisis remains smaller than if a large regional plant breaks down.
- Capital Investment Needs
Securing funding for infrastructure projects, technology upgrades, and sustainability initiatives can be difficult for smaller utilities or those serving low-income areas. Bonds must be issued, taxes levied, or costly loans secured in traditionally financed projects.
WaaS® takes a different approach. Seven Seas finances projects in-house to streamline infrastructure delivery with performance-based build-own-operate contracts. Customers face no capital expenditure obstacles and pay only one easily budgeted bill. Perhaps just as importantly, Seven Seas handles operations and maintenance, with no surprise costs for the customer.
- Workforce Staffing Shortages
Finding and retaining skilled workers, such as engineers, technicians, and operators, is increasingly challenging, leading to gaps in expertise and experience at utilities. Many of the nation’s trained water professionals are nearing retirement, with few waiting to take their places, and workforce worries consistently rank in the top 10 list of challenges for the American Water Works Association. Utilities also have begun to recognize the importance of workers who can manage digital water systems. Some 55% of utilities now prioritize data management in staffing.
Under WaaS® agreements, Seven Seas provides plants with professionals and manages all labor relations, hiring and training from within the community to build strong ties and support the areas we serve.
Pain-Free Water Delivery
Utilities have faced increasing challenges, but Seven Seas has developed an infrastructure delivery mode that can keep them insulated from the complexities, risks, and pains of the water sector. We are planning with climate change adaptation in mind, not just for large-scale projects but for smaller utilities and service areas that often wait too long for the water and wastewater infrastructure they need. Contact Seven Seas to discuss how to make sustainable infrastructure happen for your community.
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