Water Market Heating Up For Engineering Firms

Feb 08, 2011

Press Release: February 8, 2011 Increasing regulation and a new focus on efficiency are turning the water market into one of the hottest commodities for engineering firms, The Zweig Letter discovers. A reinvigorated focus on water conservation, new supply sources and water efficiency installations throughout the U.S. are opening up major new business opportunities for consulting engineering firms beyond the traditional water/wastewater storage, treatment and conveyance systems. Also, a difficult funding environment in Washington, D.C., will force players in the market to come up with innovative solutions. Engineers are being called upon to be creative with their designs as public agencies are looking at new approaches and solutions for integrated water system management, which combines water conservation pricing and regulation with utilization of new water sources such as stormwater, graywater and blackwater on-site water recovery and reuse, desalination, reclaimed sewage and massive fixture retrofits. “A lot of stuff is happening in the water area after a few years of water being just ho-hum,” Jerry Yudelson, green development expert and author, told The Zweig Letter, ZweigWhite’s weekly management journal, in the January 7 issue. Steve Maxwell, managing director of TechKNOWLEDGEy Strategic Group, a Boulder, Colorado-based management consultancy specializing in merger and acquisition advisory services and strategic planning for the water and broader environmental industries, wrote in a column for The Zweig Letter (Jan. 7) that water treatment, storage and distribution systems depend upon an ever-increasing array of monitoring data and analytical information in order to function efficiently. “The ability to monitor, track—and understand—the quality and quantity water is becoming increasingly critical,” Maxwell wrote. “As new and more comprehensive regulatory controls evolve and as new contaminant effects are better understood, testing and monitoring requirements are only going to grow. And with growth will come exploding demand for more and better analytical and engineering support and management systems.” Yudelson, in his new book Dry Run: Preventing the Next Urban Water Crisis, examines some of these new opportunities and explains how engineers can help to create a future of water abundance and to profit from new opportunities in the water sector. Topics include:
  • Total water system analysis, planning, and building
  • On site wastewater treatment, building water monitoring, control, and conservation systems
  • The “water/energy” nexus that shows both promise and peril
  • Stormwater management with on site recycling and reuse
  • Cooling tower water management
Yudelson says engineers should explore new supply sources such as: desalination; “purple pipe” systems supplying treated wastewater for homes, offices and factories; and “virtual reservoirs” in water conservation systems. “It’s a holistic approach,” he says. For more information about The Zweig Letter, the weekly management advisor for the architecture, engineering and environmental consultant industry, visit www.zweigwhite.com. ABOUT ZWEIGWHITE ZweigWhite is the nation's leader in enhancing business performance for architecture, engineering, planning, and environmental consulting firms. The ZweigWhite team consists of experts in strategy, mergers and acquisitions, business valuation, ownership transition, human resources management, finance, marketing, market research, project management and project delivery methods who collectively produce a comprehensive suite of products and services, including advisory, consulting, newsletters, industry reports, executive training, business conferences, and more covering virtually every aspect of firm management. The firm is headquartered in Fayetteville, Arkansas, with additional offices in, Chicago, IL, Durham, NC, and Natick, MA. The ownership of ZweigWhite is investors Eli Global, BIA Digital Partners and MZ Ventures, Inc., with management including Mark Zweig and Ed Friedrichs. For more information, contact Sonya Stout at (479) 582-5700 or sstout@zweigwhite.com. ###

About Zweig Group

Zweig Group, three times on the Inc. 500/5000 list, is the industry leader and premiere authority in AEC firm management and marketing, the go-to source for data and research, and the leading provider of customized learning and training. Zweig Group exists to help AEC firms succeed in a complicated and challenging marketplace through services that include: Mergers & Acquisitions, Strategic Planning, Valuation, Executive Search, Board of Director Services, Ownership Transition, Marketing & Branding, and Business Development Training. The firm has offices in Dallas and Fayetteville, Arkansas.