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Feature Economy, Efficiency Drive Trend Toward Decentralized Water Treatment New Direction Creates Oppportunity For Water Treatment Companies, Shift Economic Burden Away From Municipalities by Jim Lauria he next big thing may be smaller than ever. As urban areas continue to grow, many will outreach and outpace the capacity of their centralized municipal water treatment and wastewater treatment facilities, and, thus stretching the limits of cities' crumbling infrastructure. Decentralized water treatment is on the horizon, and companies across the industry can help make it feasible. Nearly 80% of Americans live in urban areas, according to the 2000 U.S. Census, and those cities are likely to keep growing — and not just in population. Los Angeles is a great example; the region's population grew 45% between 1975 and 1990 and tripled in area. Sprawled over five counties and nearly 90 municipalities, the greater Los Angeles area is now home to more than 17.6 million people. Similar spread is evident across the United States, and even more pronounced in global mega-cities like Hong Kong-Shenhzen-Guangzhou, with 120 million people, or Nagoya-Osaka-Kyoto-Kobe, the sprawling home of 60 million residents. That's a lot of sinks, swimming pools, and toilets — as well as factories, refineries, office buildings, and corporate parks. In the United States municipal water utilities do a valiant job of maintaining one of the world's best and most reliable water supplies T offer top-quality performance to high-rises, hospitals, corporate parks and subdivisions. Smart technology — from better sensors to remote monitoring and chemical management — will open the door for water treatment specialists to service the growing decentralized market. And, an army of private water treatment technicians and engineers, working on the model perfected in the industrial sector for boilers and cooling towers, will be needed to service and maintain future stand-alone treatment systems. Money, Health, And Regulation: Decentralized water treatment is on the horizon, and companies across the industry can help make it feasible. and wastewater treatment systems. However, they are faced with constant budget constraints, ongoing pressure to limit taxes, and tightening regulations on both drinking water and treated wastewater. Future municipal facilities will need to be highly effective and compact. Many cities will also likely push off water treatment responsibilities — at least on the pre- treatment level — on the developers who are creating the growth. That creates tremendous opportunities for water technology companies. Integrated water treatment systems that take a multi-barrier approach to deliver high-quality water or efficient wastewater treatment can 8 Water Online The Magazine, Cleanwater Edition ■ wateronline.com The big drivers will be economics, health, and regulation. As it stands, many cities can't afford to keep up with demands for water treatment, and federal help is endangered. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment, 53,000 community water systems and 21,400 not-for-profit systems will need to invest as much as $335 billion by 2027. There's no word on from where that money is going to come. Meanwhile, cities continue growing. That means more demand. It also yields untold acres of new pavement, contributing to floods of stormwater into municipal systems that frequently cause combined sewage overflows in many cities. Stormwater is the major contributor to non-point source water contamination in the United States and a huge burden on municipal systems and neighboring waterways. Removing suspended solids (TSS) and dissolved solids (TDS) — as well as oil and often nutrients — will be increasingly vital, using systems ranging from swales and retention ponds to compact treatment systems. Some cities require developers to identify the source of water for the residents, office occupants, or industries slated to occupy their projects. Many include systems development charges in their development fee structures, collecting money to offset the increases in