Global Water Design, Build and Operation Market Expected to be Fast Growing

Numerous ways to manage water resources more efficiently and sustainably have been developed including recycling and desalination plants. Other smart technologies have been developed to combine this with reducing the carbon footprint, promising attractive potential for the water design-build-operate (DBO) market. Demand for water operation and management will continue to grow extending outsourcing of water and wastewater services. This will deliver excellent opportunities for DBO companies specialising in overall project and service provision.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (UK), CEO 360 Degree Perspective of the Global Water Design-Build-Operate (DBO) Market, found that the global municipal water DBO market created revenues of $84.68 billion in 2011 and has predicted this to reach $185.21 billion by 2020.

Sustainable water management solutions have a number of urgent issues that need addressing such as rapid urbanisation, distribution of water supply, poor water quality and myopic exploitation of current water resources. One of the key factors that has come to light in recent years has been the need for local solutions in a globalising marketplace. These factors increase the pressure for high-quality water and wastewater services, shaping the global water DBO.

“While construction of new water and wastewater infrastructure is expected to expand in emerging markets there are enormous modernisation and rehabilitation needs in developed nations dedicated to ageing infrastructure,” said Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Paulina Szyplinska. “Growth in developing markets is expected due to expansion of adequate facilities while that in the developed market will revolve around the improvement of drinking water quality and water reuse.”

Package services have become very beneficial thanks to the complexity of water businesses. Implementation of integrated water cycle is the responsibility of local water authorities and can be improved by outsourcing the water supply and wastewater services. This opens new opportunities for DBO water companies specialised in complex project delivery.

“The key part in the formulation of the DBO contracts lies in the assimilation of ‘operation’, aiming at combining it into an attractive package of design, build and operation for the contractor, and allowing for faster and more cost-efficient project delivery,” opined Szyplinska.

Frost & Sullivan predict that companies that can offer sustainable package services for the global water DBO market will experience sharp growth in future years. However participants will need to have clear geographic priorities, balanced business models, and state-of-art technologies to constantly stay ahead of environmental challenges and client needs.