Water. Desalination + reuse
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/749211
Water. desalination + reuse December 2016 The Quarterly 7 What happens next? What did people say? The editor The company's leadership has stated that business will continue as normal until a sale completes – an outcome it's hoping for by mid-2017. However, it is possible that if no buyer comes forward wanting to take the entire piece, the business could be split into its component parts, namely chemicals, equipment supply, and water production assets. Industry observers have noted that private equity bidders are likely to be among those with enough muscle to buy the entire business, if it's to be sold as a single entity. "We've been evaluating the fi t of GE Water in the portfolio for a period of time." Jeff Bernstein, GE chief fi nancial offi cer, as reported by Philly.com Under the terms of the deal, Abengoa will receive €1.17 billion, compris- ing fresh investment and the rollover of existing credit facilities, and it will be able to call on a new credit facility worth €307 million, reported the Financial Times in August 2016. "We wish to express our utmost gratitude to all those who have contributed to overcoming this crisis – employees, shareholders, clients, suppliers, fi nancial in- stitutions, offi cial agencies, and new investors – for their ongoing support." Abengoa executive board and management The non-governmental organisation wants to begin collecting a broader range of data. This could include gures around the basic operating costs of producing water, to enable water managers to better understand how their cost-to-tari• s ratio measures up compared with that of other cities or countries. Particularly, it wants to add data from cities and countries in the Middle East. "Our data points to countries where there is clearly a relationship between increasing tariffs and decreasing consumption, but it's difficult to draw a conclusion that tariffs alone have that impact." Tom Williams, IWA programmes director The plant that's reportedly at com- missioning stage is supposedly the fi rst of fi ve new desalination plants that are proposed in Cuba. Water conservation strategies and repairs to infrastructure are also underway. The amount earmarked for water projects is pesos 380 million ($308 million). "This initiative is part of a programme to provide fresh water for the areas that have diffi culty in accessing fresh water systems." Ines Maria Chapman, president of the National Institute of Water Resources, Cuba Trading in 'paper water' takes shape Innovation can show up in many diff erent forms. This quarter, among the industry's most surprising and exciting new ideas is the thinking going on about water trading across the border of Mexico and the US, relating to the Rosarito Beach project (see page 24) in Baja Norte, California. Ever heard of "paper water"? It could be a sign of things to come. It rep- resents a way of trading rights to water supplies in one place against a new supply of water from another – in this case a new desalination plant. It potentially alters the economics of a project by, for example, reducing the cost of conveying water, and/or mitigating the impacts of potential water loss through evaporation, or leakage. That the phrase "paper water" echoes the language of the fi nancial markets is perhaps less of a coinci- dence that it might at fi rst appear to be. As water becomes more scarce, more such innova- tive structures for trading in paper water look likely to emerge.