August 2016, Vol. 71 No. 8
Newsline
Municipal Water Infrastructure CAPEX To Exceed $532 Billion By 2025
According to Bluefield Research, capital expenditures (CAPEX) for U.S. municipal water and wastewater utilities are expected to exceed $532 billion between 2016 and 2025, almost 28 percent more than CAPEX during the last 10 years.
A significant decrease in federal funding for water utilities — $4.3 billion in 2014 from $16 billion in 1976 – passes the burden on to states, municipalities and, ultimately, ratepayers. While residential and sewer bills have increased annually since 2000, 5 percent and 20 percent, respectively, their impact is expected to continue falling short of infrastructure needs.
With most of the CAPEX over the forecast period – almost $300 billion – going towards upgrades to address the 1.6 million miles of rapidly aging underground water and wastewater pipe networks, Bluefield Research anticipates a surge in new infrastructure technology, such as cured-in-place pipe rehabilitation and pipe bursting replacement, to extend network life with limited system disruption.
A critical input to addressing overall system issues most efficiently will be found through data and analytics solutions, or “smart water.” Bluefield forecasts this burgeoning sector to total $12 billion over the 10-year period.
“Unfortunately, all of this spend is not expected to cover the full cost to catch up to an aging system, particularly if the federal government is not going to step in,” said Reese Tisdale, president, Bluefield Research. “It is for this reason, among others, that public-private partnerships will begin to take on greater significance. They enable deployment of more advanced solutions in an industry that does not lack technology options, but rather capital.”
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