Experts agree the need for investment in water infrastructure globally is at an unprecedented level. According to the Global Commission on the Economics of Water, up to $400 billion of additional investment per year is needed in low- and middle-income countries in order to achieve universal access to clean drinking water, sanitation and hygiene by 2030. In the United States, the American Society for Civil Engineers (ASCE) has been grading the drinking water infrastructure in the country at D- or D consistently for more than a decade. The ASCE and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also determined a need for an investment of almost $743 billion to improve the water infrastructure.
The water crisis is sparking more interest from private equity. When Water Asset Management started almost 20 years ago, the amount of interest in water as an asset class was almost nonexistent. That investor interest is obviously increas