“Council approved the expansion of the current water treatment plant … we are basically adding a new building to the existing building,” said Lindsay Penner, utilities engineer with the City of Lloydminster. “The flow will be doubled in capacity so we will be able to build new homes or add additional industry to the current system.”

With the current system projected at maximum, Lindsay said there is little room for growth within Lloydminster.

“It will be very difficult to handle further improvement for further building and expansion within the city without building and expanding the water treatment plant,” she said, adding the problems has been masked with the past few summer being very wet.

“But if we have a very dry summer this summer, we would be at our capacity,” said Lindsay. “If we have another wet summer, like we have had in the past couple of years, the current water treatment plant would be able to provide adequate water.”

The expansion of the water treatment plant is included in the 10-year utilities and engineering capital budget at a capital cost of $14 million. Design is scheduled for 2009 with construction taking place in 2010 and 2011.

A UV disinfectant will be added to both the existing plant and the new plant to provide further treatment.

The study was done to provide short and long term improvements to the water treatment plant to accommodate growth and meet regulatory requirements.

Over the course of the study, which began in February of 2007, city staff met with UMA three times to discuss present and future operations of the plant. Lindsay said the existing plant built in 1984 was built with a lot of interconnections, making it easy to expand.

The AguaCure technology offers environmental and economic benefits through removing dissolved and suspended contaminants from water, while eliminating bacteria and viruses.

Its versatility allows the process to be used in a variety of applications, including membrane pre-treatment, mine wastewater, metal finishing and treating phosphate-contaminated water. A large scale system is operating successfully in the car manufacturing industry, and is expected to generate growing revenues.

This investment of £400,000 in new equity gives Modern Water a 45% share in AguaCure, and it further expands Modern Water’s portfolio of technologies.

The environmental benefits of the technology developed by AguaCure were a key attraction of the investment for Modern Water, which aims to commercialise energy-efficient water and wastewater treatment methods offering significant capital and operating cost savings.

Modern Water executive chairman Neil McDougall said: “AguaCure fits well with our existing portfolio. The technology has been proven and directly addresses an area for which there is strong demand.

“Following the announcements regarding the commercial roll-out of our patented desalination technology in Gibraltar and Oman, our partnership with AguaCure further enhances our position as a leading company in the provision of fresh water and the treatment of waste water within our key target markets.”

John Bostock, founder and chief executive officer of AguaCure, said: “We are delighted to link up with Modern Water and we are sure that working with their team and existing infrastructure, together with their market knowledge, will enable us to roll out our technology much more quickly and effectively both in the UK and internationally. In addition, the investment gives us the time and opportunity to develop our other ideas to reclaim value from the waste streams that we are already treating.”

By those metrics, water may be the ultimate commodity investment. Demand for water is steady and never-ending, meaning water investments should not be correlated with broader economic developments. Meanwhile, history shows that as economies develop, citizens will demand more and more water to support richer lifestyles, making water an interesting play on countries like China and India. And finally, the world is in a silent water crisis, with rising demand set against limited supply; a classic commodities squeeze.

We're taught to think that there's plenty of water: 75% of the Earth's surface is covered with it. The problem is, most of that water is useless: 97% is seawater, 2.5% is frozen in the ice caps and just 0.5% is fresh and available for use. Worse, much of what remains is contaminated, polluted or otherwise degraded, and not fit for consumption.

On the demand side, water needs are growing ... fast. The world's population growth provides an underlying pressure on demand, while growth in the developing world accelerates that demand curve dramatically.

Meeting this global crisis from a fixed supply will involve massive expenditure, and it will be the companies that clean, support, supply, reuse and save water that will benefit from this flow of capital.

As if the problem of a fixed supply were not enough, there are three further major supply problems affecting the world's water situation.

First, the distribution of existing water resources around the world is horribly uneven: 60% of the world's fresh water is located in just nine countries. And unlike many commodities, water isn't portable; it simply doesn't make economic sense to transport water from (say) Canada to (say) China; water, even if its value rises tenfold, is simply too voluminous.

Second, where water is actually available, it is often not available in a suitable form. It may, for instance, be either too hot or too old, or, perhaps, too dirty or too salty. Increasingly, it's also too polluted; in the U.S., the gasoline additive MTBE has rendered a significant percentage of wells unfit for human consumption.

Third, in developed countries, where water is generally available as needed, the infrastructure supplying it is old and decaying. Estimates of how much a country like the U.S. must spend upgrading its water infrastructure over the next 20 years measure in the billions.

Population growth and economic growth are the two biggest drivers of demand. On the one hand, as population numbers increase, so does the demand for potable water. On the other, as economies grow, so does the demand for water for use in both agriculture and industry: the richer people get, the higher they live on the water food chain. The U.S., for instance, is the world leader in water consumption per capita, largely because we live such a rich, luxurious lifestyle.

While the case for investing in water, as a theme, is compelling, the question remains of how actually to go about making such an investment.

Unfortunately, unlike many other strategic commodities, water is not yet traded on any exchange. Indirect investment, therefore, remains the only option available to investors; that is, investment in those companies in a position to provide solutions to the water crisis. Estimated by some already to be worth $450 billion a year, the water and water treatment industry is predicted to grow to some $650 billion in the next 20 years.

The job of water utilities is to deliver the actual water to the consumer. Most water in the world is delivered through utilities.

In the U.S., there are a number of large such companies; for example, California Water Services Group and Aqua America and myriad small ones. Continued consolidation and rising water values are the key to profits in these markets.

Historically speaking, water utilities have provided consistently strong returns, and these companies remain respected as steady, low P/E and high-yield stocks.

In addition to the current crisis, the further privatization of public water utilities globally will also offer established utilities the opportunity for water utilities to grow their businesses.

Water Treatment

The greatest innovations in the water industry are to be found in the field of water treatment. The three most important technologies are:

• Wastewater treatment (whether industrial or domestic) - a market worth more than $200 billion a year - with such players as the French companies Veolia and Suez and the U.S.-based Nalco.
• Filtration and chemical treatment, with pure-plays like Calgon Carbon and the involvement of such large entities as ITT and General Electric.
• Desalination, an arena in which, again, General Electric plays, together with others such as Dow Chemical and Singapore's Hyflux.

Each of these sectors has a key role to play in solving the water crisis, and each will benefit from efforts to solve the crisis.

Infrastructure

Currently a $50 billion sector, infrastructure companies make their business from manufacturing and supplying equipment - for example, valves, pumps and pipes - and servicing the water utilities - for example, digging wells and irrigation canals. In addition, there are companies that both make and supply the systems to actually monitor, measure and meter water use ... increasingly important as the value of water grows.

Once again, ITT and General Electric are to be found in this space, but so too are a number of smaller specialized companies based both in the U.S. and Europe, such as Badger Meter - a leading provider of residential water meters.

Investing In Water

Companies active in the business of water can be categorized not only by activity, but also by their structure.

The behavior of the small, specialized, often technology-based, companies can be akin to that of any other technology stocks. In contrast, companies like Suez and Veolia are essentially just huge utilities, and behave according. Finally, large conglomerates like General Electric are also major players in the market.

Although there has been considerable consolidation, across its breadth the industry remains highly fragmented, with some very large players and a slew of midsize and smaller players. As a result, and with the large role that conglomerates play, developing a coherent water-themed investment strategy is challenging.

There are now, however, several water-sector tracking indexes available to help address just this issue: the ISE Water Index ,the Palisades Water Indices ((PIIWI and ZWI)) and the S&P Global Water Index ((SPGTAQUA)). Backtested data on each of these stocks shows water has been a strong-performing theme already; moreover, water stocks have had only a weak correlation to the S&P 500, and have been negatively correlated with other commodities, making them a strong diversification option for new portfolios.

These indexes are currently "investable" through four different exchange-traded funds, or ETFs: First Trust ISE Water (FIW), Powershares Global Water (PIO), Powershares Water Resources (PHO) and Claymore S&P Global Water (CGW).

Conclusion

Water is the most important commodity in the world, and it is a commodity "in crisis." As the world's population grows, and as the emerging markets develop, ever more water is needed and commensurately less is readily available. For companies that find, extract, clean, supply, reuse and save water, business opportunities are, therefore, set only to multiply. Consequently, for investors, water as a theme, commodity and a sector provides a unique and exciting investment opportunity.

The solution proved to be the $27 million Jerry Plott Water Treatment Plant, a state-of-the-art facility on the hill overlooking Lake Tuscaloosa’s dam. It’s named for the five-term city councilman who spearheaded Tuscaloosa’s water system expansion.

“Sometimes you need somebody who will take the bull by the horns on the big issues to drive things through the bureaucracy of City Hall,” said Jimmy Junkin, director of the Tuscaloosa Water and Sewer Department. “Jerry has been the guy who drove that on the water side. His leadership was instrumental in keeping us ahead of the curve with treated water and waste water and distribution.”

Junkin believes the plant is aptly named.

“If it hadn’t been for him, it might never have been built,” he said. “Without him, a lot of the improvements we’ve seen might not have come as timely as they did. He was a driving force in satisfying the major needs for our department for years.”

Plott, who retired from city politics in 2005, said he believes the water system is a major key to the city’s growth.

“A city is not going to grow and be prosperous if you don’t have infrastructure and water,” Plott said. “You’re not going to get a Mercedes plant or any of the other industries we have without it.”

He said he is particularly pleased to have a plant adjacent to Lake Tuscaloosa named for him. His father-in-law, former Tuscaloosa Mayor Snow Hinton, was instrumental in building Lake Tuscaloosa, which now serves as Tuscaloosa’s raw water supply.

“That lake meant so much to him,” Plott said. “To have a water plant sitting next to Lake Tuscaloosa treating water, it ties our careers together and that’s very special.”

With its only water filtration plant straining to meet the city’s demands less than a decade after a major expansion, Tuscaloosa officials had two options, expand the existing plant again or build a new one. A new facility made sense in several ways, Acklin said.

First, the city was maxing out its high pressure pumps supplying water to areas north of the Black Warrior River, where most of the city’s growth is projected to occur. Finally, having a separate plant would give the system some redundancy if a tornado or mechanical failure knocked out the Ed Love plant.

Once they settled on a new plant, city officials still had to decide on the type of treatment technology it would use. The Ed Love plant uses sand filters, a proven, cost-effective and reliable technology. But Acklin said the wave of the future is plastic fiber membrane filters.

The new technology’s advantage is that it can filter out smaller particles from the water. The sand filters can remove particles down to 0.8 microns in size. The membranes can filter out particles down to .02 microns.

That means it can filter out two deadly viruses, giardia lamblia and cryptosporidium, that can get into water supplies. A “crypto” outbreak in Milwaukee killed 100 people and made 400,000 ill a few years ago, Acklin said.

Acklin calls the Ed Love plant a “smooth operating plant” that has never been out of compliance. But its conventional system has some disadvantages. It takes up to 30 minutes to shut down the plant.

“In a conventional plant, you don’t have the luxury of the turnaround time you have here,” Acklin said, sitting in the Jerry Plott plant’s conference room. “No conventional plant is easy to shut down.”

If something goes wrong with the water treatment process at the Ed Love plant, the operators must struggle to correct the problem while the process continues, he said. At the new plant, everything is run by computers that operators monitor. When something goes wrong, the operator can almost instantly shut down the entire plant and correct the problem.

Acklin strolls down the hall into the main control room where Operator Kevin Turner stands before a computer monitor viewing the plant’s systems. Beyond a bank of glass windows is a room filled with big pumps and membrane filters.

“He can run everything from here,” Acklin said, gesturing toward Turner.

Next to the control room is the lab where operators test water samples. They run tests every two hours, and those tests take about 30 minutes. The goal is to keep the city’s water in compliance with the strict standards set by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management.

The plant, which went online in September, can run off of water from Lake Tuscaloosa or Lake Nicol. Lake Tuscaloosa water is easier to treat, but Lake Nicol could serve as a backup if necessary. The plant can also pump treated water back across the river if necessary.

A raw water pumping station located near the Lake Tuscaloosa dam pushes raw water up the hill to the plant through two 24-inch water lines. It comes into a “flocculation basin” where chemicals are added and solids are allowed to settle out.

A feed channel takes the water into the plant where it’s pumped into the filter membranes. The plant has seven banks of filters with 60 filter cartridges in each bank. Each filter bank can produce 2 million gallons of water a day.

Operators can take any given filter bank off line at any time, Acklin said.

And the system is designed so that operators can replace individual filter cartridges if needed. The cartridges are supposed to be good for 10 years.

The filters are maintained by daily backwashing, a process where the water flow is reversed through the filters with chemicals.

The backwash goes into a tank and is eventually pumped into the sanitary sewer.

After water goes through the filters it goes into the clear well, a storage tank. From there, “finished water” pumps send it into the distribution system.

“It’s an extremely complicated process but there aren’t that many steps,” Acklin said.

Although the system appears to have enough capacity to last another 15 years, that’s also what city officials thought when they expanded the Ed Love Plant. So they designed the plant with stub-outs that will allow the city to add more pumps and filter units when needed.

“There was a whole lot of thought put into future needs when they built this plant,” Acklin said.

history - is nearing completion six months ahead of schedule.

"We're actually anticipating to have substantial completion by the end of March and to be completely done by May or June," said Jim Keech, president and CEO of Utilities Kingston.

The state-of-the-art facility wasn't supposed to be done until January of 2010.

In fact, the plant, located out Highway 2 east along Lake Ontario at the headwaters of the St. Lawrence River, switched from basic primary sewage treatment to the more environmentally friendly secondary treatment process this fall.

The facility -built based on projected growth for Kingston in the next 25 years -is touted as the largest sewage plant of its kind in Canada and among the most modern in the world.

The proof of that is in the quality of the treated wastewater that's directed into the lake.

Brown and murky after going through the old process, the roughly 60 million litres of wastewater the facility flows into Lake Ontario each day is now clear.

The city's wastewater is the cleanest it has been since the first toilets were installed in Kingston in the late 1800s.

During a recent tour of the shiny, new plant, Utilities Kingston work planner Jeff Froats proudly showed off the clarity of the wastewater in a glass after it went through the new treatment process.

"Now it looks like a glass of water - sparkling clean," he said.

Froats said the new system at Ravensview has brought about a vast improvement in the quality of water the plant discharges. While the old plant was meeting Ontario's environmental standards, it wouldn't have meet those requirements because the province is in the process of making its rules more stringent, Froats said.

The retrofitted plant processes between 50 million and 75 million litres of wastewater a day, generated by 70,000 residents.

It has a processing capacity of 195 million litres of waste per day.

Every time a toilet is flushed or a sink of dirty water is sent down the drain in the old City of Kingston, the waste ends up at Ravensview for treatment. The entire process takes about two days to make its way from local homes, through municipal sewage pipes to Ravensview and through the secondary treatment process at the plant.

The new process has been slowly phased in over the past year.

The retrofit project has taken roughly two years. At the construction peak, as many as 175 workers were on site.

The project required 25,000 cubic metres of concrete to be poured for several new buildings that together make up 10,000 square feet to house the new equipment.

Each of those buildings is interconnected with a series of tunnels that carry electrical and pipe work, as well as act as a passageway through the guts of the plant.

One of those new structures, the biosolids building, will replace an asphalt pad that was used to store the solid waste before the upgrades.

"With the prevailing winds here, our neighbours had to keep their windows closed all year round," Froats said.

The biosolids building, complete with an air treatment system, stores the solid waste known as cake. After it's separated from the liquid waste, the manure-like sludge is housed in three massive cement bunkers.

The cake is stored until spring, when it is trucked away to be spread as a fertilizer on farm fields around the Kingston region.

"Cake is basically sludge that's been spun through a centrifuge so the liquid is spun out of it," Froats said.

"Cake is what's leftover and it's pumped over from our de-watering building into the [biosolids building]. It looks like cow manure, really."

The new system, which removes more water from sewage than the old system, produces 11,700 cubic metres of cake per year.

Once the raw sewage comes into the plant, it first goes through a de-grit process and then goes through the primary clarifiers, which basically separate the solids from the liquid.

The sludge-like waste, which contains the solid matter, is stored in the primary digesters and then moved to the secondary digesters, where the waste is held for 28 days. Inside the digesters, the waste is heated to 35 degrees and millions of bacteria bugs eat away at the sludge to break it down.

"That's where the methane gas is created," Froats said.

After four weeks in the digesters, the sludge is moved to the de-watering building where it's dried to become cake. After that, the cake is stored in the biosolids building until springtime.

The liquid waste, immediately after it's separated from the solids in the clarifiers, is moved by gravity through pipes that go underground into the bottom of the biological aerated filter facility.

Kingston has the largest such facility in Canada. "We have the newest one - there is a similar process as this being used in Syracuse, N. Y.," Froats said.

It is inside this facility that the secondary treatment occurs.

Once inside the bowels of the biological aerated filter facility, four 200- horsepower pumps force the effluent water upward into a channel that flows the waste into 11 treatment cells, which are full of tiny styrofoam-like balls.

These tiny white biostyrene balls act as a bio-filter for the sewage. Attached to the biostyr are tiny bugs that eat away at the bacteria in the waste.

"That's what helps to filter the water," Froats said.

"When the ef fluent comes up through these cells, we add air to it and then the bugs start to clean the effluent -it's just a filter system."

The bugs also remove the ammonia found in the waste.

"In the old system, we didn't remove the ammonia," Froats said. "It went directly into the lake."

Inside the cells, water is flushed through 77,000 nozzles in the cement floor. For the final stage of treatment before the wastewater goes out into the lake, chlorine is added to the waste to kill any remaining bacteria.

After the chlorine is added, the waste goes through a pipe that directs the effluent into two chambers, where sodium chloride is added to neutralize the chlorine before the water goes out to the lake.

In about two weeks, a new co-generation plant at Ravensview will start using the methane that comes from the sewage to help power the equipment. Methane is created from the breakdown of organic matter in the sewage.

The co-generation system will use the majority of the methane gas that's created and then blend it with natural gas to use it as fuel for other operations at the plant, such as generating electricity to heat the treatment plant and to heat the hot water used to break down the sewage.

A newly installed flare stack will burn off any excess methane.

The facility is about 90% complete and with most of the construction done at Ravensview, workers are now completing the administration building that houses one of the plant's control rooms. The other two are located in the de-watering building and one in the biological aerated filter facility.

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Programme

Day one, February 24, 2009
Day two, February 25, 2009
Pre-conference Masterclass, February 23, 2009

last modified: 05/12/2008 20:22:32 (GMT)

Day one, February 24, 2009
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
8am Registration and coffee

9am Chairperson’s opening remarks

  
Ms. Fransesca McCann, Managing Director,
Stanford Financial Group
 
WATER DEMAND + SUPPLY CHALLENGE = INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY
 
9.10am Western keynote address: implementing a paradigm shift in approaches to water management

“For many years we have attempted to change the environment we inhabit. With the onslaught of the drought and the rude wake-up call that climate change is bringing to the entire western United States, we have realized that it is in fact us that needs to adapt to the desert. But how?”
  Ms. Patricia Mulroy, General Manager,
Southern Nevada Water Authority
 
9.40am Eastern Keynote address: a forthright assessment of the challenges in supplying water to the people

The need for substantial capital investment, PPPs, strategic alliances and acquisitions
Adapting to comply with strict environmental, health and safety standards
Economic regulation at state level, and across local governments 
 
Mr. Thomas Paolicelli, Executive Director,
New York City Municipal Water Finance Authority
 
10.10am Keynote panel: what infrastructure is needed? And where do we look for investment?

How will municipal water utilities raise the necessary capital for investment?
What are the subsequent investment opportunities in both utilities and infrastructure services?
What do utilities companies need to encourage this investment?
 - Single-tariff pricing?
 - Infrastructure surcharges to help diminish regulatory lag?
 - Small system acquisition adjustments?
 - Commodity cost adjustments?
How have municipal water utility and clean water revenue bonds performed? 
 
Mr. Doug Scott, Managing Director,
Fitch Ratings
Mr. Eugene Schiller, Deputy Executive Director,
Southwest Florida Water Management District
Mr. Ken Kirk, Executive Director,
National Association of Clean Water Agencies
Mr. Kevin Ward, Executive Administrator,
Texas Water Development Board
Ms. Teresa Daniell, Interim General Manager,
Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission
 
10.50am Refreshments & networking

 
MAKING BIG PROJECTS HAPPEN – FINANCING CRITICAL WATER INFRASTRUCTURE
 
 
11.20am Federal address: developing innovative, market-based, and sustainable solutions for water infrastructure financing and management

The role of water efficiency and conservation in sustainable water systems
What must be done at local, state and federal level to overhaul the water industry?
How regulators can help the water industry by providing incentives to attract the necessary investment 
 
Mr. Michael Deane, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Water,
US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
 
11.50am Deal-making: how to implement co-operative funding to get projects off the ground

Re-thinking the role of government in the water industry
How to create partnerships across political boarders
Overcoming the challenges presented by public-private and public-public partnerships 
 
Mr. Eugene Schiller, Deputy Executive Director,
Southwest Florida Water Management District
 
CASE STUDIES – WATER, MONEY, RISK AND POWER
 
 
12.20pm Case study: financing and operating the nation's largest seawater desalination facility

Using private activity bonds to finance a project
Methods used to transfer risk to the public sector
Coping with the huge power costs associated with desal 
 
Mr. Chuck Carden, Operations Director,
Tampa Bay Water
Ms. Koni Cassini, Finance Director,
Tampa Bay Water
 
12.50pm Networking lunch

 
2.30pm Case study: working to overcome infrastructure funding challenges

Identifying and prioritizing infrastructure needs
The search for financing
Innovative ideas for energy management 
 
Ms. Teresa Daniell, Interim General Manager,
Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission
 
3pm Case study: Saint Lucia Water and Sewerage PPP – a model for the future?

A new mixed capital (public and private) company created with no liabilities
Operational control by an international water company, with a 40% share capital
Local investors and Government mobilized for 60% of capital, with no operational control 
 
Mr. Nico Saporiti, Investment Offier,
IFC Advisory Services
 
3.30pm Speed Networking

 
4.10pm Refreshments & networking

 
ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, REGULATION AND POLITICS
 
 
4.30pm Panel: meeting the challenges of environmental management, regulatory issues and cultural barriers

Can municipalities meet EPA standards on their own, and will this drive the need for private investment?
What kind of framework is needed to regulate investor-owned utilities?
What procurement barriers exist in the municipal set-up?
How can municipalities work to educate local communities? 
 
Ms. Kathy Shandling, Executive Director,
International Private Water Association
Mr. Michael Deane, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Water,
US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
 
5.10pm Chairperson’s closing remarks

 
Ms. Fransesca McCann, Managing Director,
Stanford Financial Group
 
5.20pm End of day one

 
Register Now! 
 

Day two, February 25, 2009
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8.15am Registration and coffee

 
9am Chairman’s opening remarks

 
WATER PLAYS FOR ASSET OWNERS
 
 
9.10am Investment opportunities: niche hunting - emerging water services and their investment potentia

New ways to extract water
Trenchless infrastructure technologies
Smart metering - a sustainable solution to the water crisis
Water and wastewater treatment - the chemical formula
Security solutions - anti-terrorism, natural disasters and chemical warning
Key developments in membrane technology 
 
Dr. Helge Daebel, Technology Specialist,
Emerald Technology Ventures
Mr. Neil Berlant, Fund Manager,
PFW Water Fund
Mr. Patrick Cairo, Executive VP,
Suez Environment North America
 
9.50am Asset allocation: brainstorming water’s role in an institutional portfolio

Assessing water as a long-term investment opportunity – risk/reward pay off, capitalization and cash flow frequency
Where should water fit into the portfolio?
- Fund structures?
- Infrastructure?
- Clean tech?
- ETFs and indices?
- Small-scale project finance?
How do water rights work and how are they traded? 
 
  Mr. Craig Bonthron, Senior Analyst,
KBC Asset Management
Mr. Daniel Macdonald, Portfolio Manager, Alternative Investments,
Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan
Mr. John Greenwood, Portfolio Manager, AIM,
CalPERS
 
10.30am Refreshments & networking

 
WATER RESOURCES AS AN ASSET CLASS
 
 
11am UTURN!

A new conference concept. During Day One we will have a board for you to post the most pressing topic for your business. At the end of Day One we will aggregate everyone’s votes – and announce the topics and speakers for an impromptu 50 minute panel session on Day Two. So bring your ideas, and be ready to make a name for yourself!
 
11.50am Water resources: an emerging asset class

Water effluent credits
Groundwater storage
Using market based pricing to promote conservation 
 
Mr. Disque Deane Jnr., CIO,
Water Asset Management
 
PRIVATE EQUITY AND PROJECT FINANCE FOR WATER INFRASTRUCTURE
 
 
12.10pm Private investment: investing in water infrastructure projects through PPPs

What are the most significant risks for water projects?
What are the key considerations in financing water projects?
What do private equity firms looks for in water deals?
Do we invest in companies or projects?
Who to partner with on water deals 
 
Mr. Larry Chertoff, Director,
Alinda Capital Partners
Mr. Robert Dove, Managing Director, Co-Head of Infrastructure,
Carlyle Group
Mr. Tony Clamp, Director, Infrastructure,
CVC Capital Partners
 
12.30pm Networking lunch

 
INTERNATIONAL PRIVATE SECTOR INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES
 
 
2.20pm Overview - Latin America: overcoming the challenges in investing in Latin water projects

Why privatization hasn’t worked so far and key factors for future ccess
How to find the right partners in Latin America 
 
Ms. Susan Wermcrantz Davis, Senior Investment Officer,
Inter-American Development Bank
 
2.50pm Snapshot - Brazil: how to invest in the Brazilian water sector

Overview of Brazil’s first water PPP
Outlook for other PPP water projects 
 

Mr. Rui de Britto Alvares Affonso, CFO,
SABESP
 
3.10pm Snapshot - Mexico: lessons learned from Mexico’s water privatization

The Mexican water story so far
How to tap into the local market 
 
Mr. Stephen Zoota, Managing Director ,
Hydro Capital Partners
 
4.10pm Snapshot - China: foreign investment in China’s water industry

Why China has the world’s most acute water problem
Which companies will take advantage of the $128 billion committed by the PRC to water infrastructure 
 
Mr. William Brennan, President & Managing Director,
AquaTerra Asset Management LLC
 
4.30pm Snapshot - Israel: at the forefront of water treatment technologies

Identifying high growth segments in the $400B water market
Investing in novel purifications and treatment technologies 
 
Mr. Jack Levy, Founder,
Israel Cleantech Ventures
 
4.50pm Chairman’s closing remarks

 
5pm End of conference

 
Register Now! 
 

Pre-conference Masterclass, February 23, 2009
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Doing business in the Latin American water industry
 
 
8.30am Registration and morning coffee

 
9am Session 1 – Challenges and opportunities in the Latin water sector

A brief history of Latin American water projects
Current need for investment and why this need is not being met
Key developments in the last decade and the potential for the future 
 
Ms. Susan Wermcrantz Davis, Senior Investment Officer,
Inter-American Development Bank
 
10.30am Refreshments and networking

 
11am Session 2 – Latin legal eagle

Understanding legal and regulatory challenges
How regulatory frameworks differ across borders
Tariff setting mechanisms

12.30pm Networking lunch

 
2pm Session 3 – Future of the Latin water sector and keys to success

Public vs. private; PPPs 
Public relations / appreciating the cultural resistance to privatization
Creating and maintaining partnerships with Latin American water operators
Finding the right deal

3.30pm End of workshop

Sponsorship and exhibition opportunities: Rowan Mackie Tel: +1 646 619 1783 Fax: +1 212 379 6319 rowan.mackie@terrapinn.com

Marketing opportunities and press relations: Stefanie Baronoff Tel: 1.646.619.1788 Fax: 1.212.379.6319 stefanie.baronoff@terrapinn.com

Conference programme and speaking opportunities: Robert Marten Tel: +1 646 619 1798 Fax: +1 212 379 6319 robert.marten@terrapinn.com

Did you know?  The water sector is the single largest expense to the U.S.
government, after defense spending and Social Security.
(U.S. EPA).