Oldcastle Infrastructure, a CRH Company, recently announced a new funding mechanism to support the deployment of promising new water technologies in the United States.
Through a ‘Minority-Led U.S. Utilities Trial Reservoir,’ a partnership with water consultancy Isle Utilities, technology companies can access loans for trialing new technologies at water utilities that advance social and/or environmental sustainability goals for local communities.
“Oldcastle Infrastructure is proud to partner with Isle Utilities on this exciting and important initiative. We work with our customers and partners to help solve critical infrastructure challenges,” said Brent Neubauer, director of innovation at Oldcastle Infrastructure. “The long-term safety and security of our nation’s water supply are foundational to how we develop the products and services we deliver. Our involvement with the Minority-led U.S. Utilities Trial Reservoir will foster a robust pipeline of innovative solutions to support the water infrastructure challenges the distribution network faces.”
Technology trials are generally required in advance of full-scale implementations. The Minority-Led U.S. Utilities Trial Reservoir will make a pool of funding available to technology companies, giving them the capacity to undertake trial deployments with water utilities. The ‘reservoir’ of funding will be replenished from the proceeds of commercial contracts when the trials move to full deployments. Oldcastle Infrastructure is the foundation sponsor of this initiative.
“Oldcastle’s sponsorship of the Minority-Led U.S. Utilities Trial Reservoir does much more than just create financial capacity for the uptake of new best practices in water utilities in the U.S.,” said Dr Jo Burgess, Head of the Trial Reservoirs. “The Minority-Led U.S. Utilities Trial Reservoir brings together all the players needed to de-risk the innovation process for those who have to take the highest risks of all. By removing financial uncertainty, partnerships between utilities and technology vendors can focus on solving the challenges facing communities in need.”
In the United States, Safe Drinking Water Act violations are often high in disadvantaged communities, which also face obstacles when it comes to testing new capital-intensive treatment solutions.
To combat these challenges, Oldcastle Infrastructure and Isle Utilities are launching a new Trial Reservoir focused on technologies serving disadvantaged communities, with an emphasis on efforts driven by Minority-Led Utilities in the United States that meet sustainability and environmental justice goals.
The Trial Reservoir is open to technology vendors around the world. Trials that either have a minority-led utility as an end-user or guarantee that the end-user will utilize the Trial to extend service delivery to minority communities in need in their service area are welcome to apply.
The Trial Reservoir expects to fund its first utility trials in the fourth quarter of 2024. For more information, contact Dr. Reshmina William, MLUU Trial Reservoir Lead, at reshmina.william@isleutilities.com.
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