Water-as-a-Service® provides solutions to many of today’s pressing water challenges, including sustainability and financial viability
Public water providers and large commercial users share a number of challenges in meeting their current and future water needs. Aging infrastructure can decrease the quality of water and increase maintenance costs. Water supplies, particularly groundwater, can be threatened by overuse. In addition, federal law requires water providers to have comprehensive plans in place in case of unexpected emergencies.
Two of the biggest challenges faced by water providers — as well as businesses that rely on a steady water supply — are implementing sustainable practices and financing capital improvements and ongoing maintenance. Both of these challenges can be solved by
Seven Seas Water-as-a-Service® (WaaS®) platform.
With the backing of Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners, WaaS® uses build-own-operate (BOO) and build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) options to provide and maintain water and wastewater infrastructure with no upfront cost. And because Seven Seas is paid only for water or wastewater treatment provided to clients, it builds quality into its infrastructure.
Sustainable Water and Wastewater Treatment
What are some of the things that make water service sustainable? The National Academy of Sciences defines characteristics of sustainable systems as:
- Access to water supplies of sufficient quality and quantity to satisfy future demand.
- A distribution and treatment system that meets customer expectations and regulatory requirements.
- The technical, institutional, and financial ability to satisfy public health and safety requirements on a long-term basis.
One critical method of ensuring the sustainability of water supplies is desalination, which can transform seawater or brackish groundwater into drinking water.
Technology has decreased the cost of desalinated water while the costs of scarce freshwater sources have increased, making desalination a more affordable long-term solution. Technological advances have also made desalination practical on a smaller scale than previously possible.
The idea of small-scale treatment is important in another aspect of sustainable water and wastewater treatment: decentralization. Instead of relying on large, centralized plants, decentralization allows for the installation of smaller plants anywhere treatment is needed.
Decentralized water and wastewater plants are often modular and scalable, offering a level of flexibility not possible with centralized treatment systems. Decentralization reduces the major expense of creating and maintaining an extensive delivery infrastructure, giving businesses and municipalities the freedom to plan new developments without the restriction of having to connect to existing utilities.
Another aspect of sustainability is compliance with current and future governmental regulations, including proactive contaminant management and testing. Because Seven Seas has extensive experience in managing plants, it can efficiently meet all regulatory requirements.
Making Financial Hurdles Easier to Overcome
One of the biggest challenges to building and operating sustainable public water systems is funding, which falls primarily on state and local governments in the United States. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, the federal government’s share of capital spending on water infrastructure dropped from 63% in 1977 to 9% of total capital spending in 2017.
As municipalities grapple with financing water infrastructure, public-private partnerships (P3s) are an increasingly popular solution. Seven Seas is a multinational developer, owner, and operator of water and wastewater treatment plants. Water-As-A-Service® provides both BOO and BOOT contracts, freeing municipalities’ capital cost of building or refurbishing plants.
With WaaS®, it’s possible to solve infrastructure needs with no upfront investment, maintenance requirements, or workforce development. And it’s not limited to P3s. The contracts can be equally beneficial to commercial and industrial clients.
Ready to request a quote or discuss how we can help with your water supply challenges? Contact our team to learn how our focus on advancing water treatment and increasing water supply can help your business or community.
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