The financial services firm Janney Montgomery Scott held its annual Water Industry Summit March 22-23 in New York City at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. There were 125 in attendance. The principle organizer of the event for Janney was Debra Coy, Senior Analyst, Infrastructure Equity Research, Water Solutions Group.
Janney assembled 42 speakers overall. Each presentation segment was a panel discussion. Speakers presented their position and their organization?s role in the water market and then moderators and the audience challenged them with questions.

Speakers were comprised primarily of private water companies, water-related manufacturers, investment firms and water professional associations. The opening luncheon included a keynote panel that included former U.S. Senator Gary Hart of Colorado. This panel was organized with the assistance of the Water Environmental Federation. Rebecca West, Spartanburg (S.C.) Water and past president of WEF, was one of the panelists.

Topics included ?Water Rights – Is a Real Business Finally Emerging?? ?Investing in Water Infrastructure ? Who Will Pay?? and ?The Future of Water Infrastructure: Another Twist on the Energy-Water Nexus.? Representative panelists included Joe Burgess, Insituform Technologies; Dan Batrack, Tetra Tech; Dan McCarthy, Black & Veatch Water; Bill Bertera, WEF; Nick DeBenedictis, Aqua America; and Andy Seidel, Underground Solutions.

A common question throughout the meeting related to whether the water market was a growth industry. Water treatment, water reuse, desalination, water recovery and major infrastructure problems were all discussed as indicative of strong growth opportunities in the market. Bertera commented in his presentation that March 22 was World Water Day. He noted it was significant that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented a major speech on water. She said that developed countries can have a huge impact on less developed countries by introducing water technology.

The financial services firm Janney Montgomery Scott held its annual Water Industry Summit March 22-23 in New York City at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. There were 125 in attendance. The principal organizer of the event for Janney was Debra Coy, Senior Analyst, Infrastructure Equity Research, Water Solutions Group.

Janney assembled 42 speakers overall. Each presentation segment was a panel discussion. Speakers presented their position and their organization?s role in the water market and then moderators and the audience challenged them with questions.

Speakers were comprised primarily of private water companies, water-related manufacturers, investment firms and water professional associations. The opening luncheon included a keynote panel that included former U.S. Senator Gary Hart of Colorado. This panel was organized with the assistance of the Water Environmental Federation (WEF). Rebecca West, Spartanburg (S.C.) Water and past president of WEF, was one of the panelists.

Topics included ?Water Rights ? Is a Real Business Finally Emerging?? ?Investing in Water Infrastructure ? Who Will Pay?? and ?The Future of Water Infrastructure: Another Twist on the Energy-Water Nexus.? Representative panelists included Joe Burgess, Insituform Technologies; Dan Batrack, Tetra Tech; Dan McCarthy, Black & Veatch Water; Bill Bertera, WEF; Nick DeBenedictis, Aqua America; and Andy Seidel, Underground Solutions.

A common question throughout the meeting related to whether the water market was a growth industry. Water treatment, water reuse, desalination, water recovery and major infrastructure problems were all discussed as indicative of strong growth opportunities in the market. Bertera commented in his presentation that March 22 was World Water Day. He noted it was significant that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented a major speech on water. She said that developed countries can have a huge impact on less developed countries by introducing water technology.

Geospatial, Pace and Ridge Global Form Strategic Partnership

Geospatial Holdings Inc., Pace Global Energy Services (Pace) and Ridge Global have created a strategic partnership to offer infrastructure services to the energy, telecom, electrical distribution, industrial, municipal and government sectors.

The partnership combines Geospatial?s proprietary Smart Probe pipeline mapping technologies and GeoUnderground web-based secure 3D geographic information system database with Pace?s energy expertise and Ridge Global?s expertise in preparedness, security and resiliency to meet the growing challenges that businesses and governments face today.

?The integrated solution provides customers with systems that support effective planning and problem solving, as well as enhancing operating efficiency,? said Mark Smith, CEO of Geospatial. ?Customers can make better use of budgets by combining efforts across security, energy and underground infrastructure systems. Bottom line, this offering, together with our many years of experience, provides solutions and saves customers money.?

As part of this partnership, Tom Ridge, president and CEO of Ridge Global, and Tim Sutherland, chairman and CEO of Pace, have agreed to join Geospatial Holdings? Board of Directors.

New Resource for Ratepayers

A new free, online tool is now available that can help utilities deal with the issue of rate-setting. The Ratepayer?s Survival Guide was written by rate analyst Carl Brown with help from several rural water associations, leagues of cities and assistance providers. This booklet gives advice to ratepayers on how to make sure their water, sewer and other utility providers are charging them proper rates. Utilities can use the guide to educate ratepayers and help convey the message that their rates need to go up.

To get a copy of the guide, visit http://gettinggreatrates.com/, click the ?Products? link, then the ?All Products? link to download the guide. Print it and give it to your ratepayers or e-mail the link to them so they can get it themselves.