(don’t) Waste Water! | Water Tech to Solve the World
- Episódios
- 511
- Publicação
- semanal
- Último episódio
- 13 nov 2026
Sobre o podcast
❓ Ever wondered how the #WaterIndustry was reacting to our World's Water Challenges? Water Scarcity? #SDG6? PFAS? Climate Change? Circular Economy? Digitization and Smart Water? 💪 Get the Water Market pulse for free. In one hour per week, while you do the dishes! 📈 We talk water investment, water tech, water entrepreneurship and water market with entrepreneurs, thought leaders, book authors, scientists, investment funds, VCs, and C-Level experts from water majors. ➡️ Leverage their insights, advice & experience and ensure to stay on top of best practices 🗓️ Tune in every Wednesday (don't miss out! 😅) 🌐 Find all the detailed episode notes, interviews, infographics, and more at http://dww.show Currently in its 10th Season, the "(don't) Waste Water" podcast has already welcomed around 250 guests from Water Majors (SUEZ, Veolia, Jacobs, Xylem, Kemira, Evoqua, Aquatech, SKion Water...), Scale-Ups (Cambrian Innovation, Epic Cleantec, Gradiant, Liqtech, 374Water, Gingko Bioworks...), Start-Ups (Puraffinity, KETOS, 120Water, ZwitterCo, Membrion, Source...), Universities (Berkeley, the Columbia Water Center), Investment Funds (Sciens Water, Mazarine, Burnt Island Ventures...), Business Accelerators (Imagine H2O, Elemental...), Book Authors (Seth Siegel, David Sedlak, David Lloyd Owen...) or Market Intelligence Companies (BlueTech Research, Global Water Intelligence, World Bank, OECD, Isle Utilities...). Or simply water legends like Gary White, Mina Guli or Andrew Benedek! On the "(don't) Waste Water" podcast, I strive to make the Water Industry easy to understand for everyone, starting with water professionals, executives, and investors. Hence, he opens the microphone to seasoned, inspirational water experts to discuss their field of excellence. No one can claim an all-around in-depth understanding of a matter as complex as Water. But piece by piece, you can rebuild the puzzle. With curiosity, patience, and passion, Antoine Walter explores topics such as Advanced Treatment Technologies, Water-Energy Nexus (Hydrogen, Lithium...), PFAS removal, Nature-Based Solutions, Wastewater Reuse, Distributed Water Treatments, Water Finance, and Water Entrepreneurship. I actually firmly believe that regular listeners of the "(don't) Waste Water" podcast may, in the end, claim a "Water MBA!" A particular field of interest is how innovation forms, grows and gets widely adopted in a complex and conservative field like the Water Industry. This may be one of the keys to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal n°6 - #SDG6. Oh, and in short, about me: I'm a water engineer turned avid student of the water business, market, finance, and tech. I'm married, a happy father of three, and I'm French (nobody's perfect 😅). Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.
Episódios 511
They Sold Water Plants for 25 Years. Now They Want Them Back! (w. Guillaume Clairet - H2O Innovation)
H2O Innovation just bought back the first WaterHub: a sewer mining, water reuse plant on Emory University's campus in Atlanta, built by the team H2O later acquired, yet never owned by it. So why would a company …
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H2O Innovation just bought back the first WaterHub: a sewer mining, water reuse plant on Emory University's campus in Atlanta, built by the team H2O later acquired, yet never owned by it. So why would a company that has sold more than a thousand water treatment systems start buying them back? Guillaume Clairet, COO of H2O Innovation, walks me through the deal.
He calls it BBUOO: Buy Back, Upgrade, Own, Operate. And it's a lesson in the economics of owning a water utility asset: who pays for the plant, who owns it, who runs it, and who gets the upside when it is upgraded.
H2O Innovation is a North American water treatment company that has sold more than a thousand systems and provides operations and maintenance to over 600. Since acquiring NextEra Distributed Water in October 2024, under Ember Infrastructure's backing, it also develops, owns and operates water reuse plants called WaterHubs on campuses across North America.
Guillaume Clairet is COO of H2O Innovation and leads its shift from selling water treatment systems to owning and operating them, from the NextEra Distributed Water acquisition to the first deployment of its $200 million blue loan.
🌶️ KEY SPICES 🌶️
🏛️ Who actually owned the Emory WaterHub for ten years (not Emory, not its developer, not yet H2O Innovation)
🚽 How sewer mining works: an 18-inch campus sewer line, up to 400,000 gallons a day, a moving bed biofilm reactor, a greenhouse and 4,400 feet of purple pipe
💰 The $200 million blue loan with a consortium including Scotiabank, and why Guillaume still says the team matters more than the capital
⚡ Buy a plant on Thursday, cash your first revenue on Friday: why a buyback beats the 18 months to three years of a greenfield water reuse project
🌱 Do the hydroponic gardens actually treat the water? Guillaume's honest answer
📈 Five buyback deals in active discussion, $20 to $150 million each, and the water investing returns he calls fair (nobody makes a 75% IRR)
🥜 IN A NUTSHELL 🥜
What does BBUOO mean?
Buy Back, Upgrade, Own, Operate: H2O Innovation buys a water plant it already knows, upgrades it, and runs it as the long-term owner.
What is sewer mining?
Sewer mining taps an existing sewer line and treats the wastewater on site into non-potable water, which at Emory feeds the steam plant, the chillers and a few dorm toilets.
Why does ownership matter in the economics of owning a water utility asset?
From 2015 on, the people who designed and ran the Emory plant were not the people who owned it, while an owner-operator can fund upgrades such as more purple pipe or an MBBR-to-MBR conversion, and share the gains with the customer.
Is buying back water plants a good water investing thesis?
Guillaume argues it is faster than greenfield, with revenue from the day after closing and simpler due diligence on systems H2O engineered or operated, as long as returns stay fair rather than squeezing the customer.
What's next for H2O Innovation?
Over the next 12 months, Guillaume expects new greenfield projects, new acquired plants and new technology acquisitions, after bestUV joined the portfolio in May.
#️⃣ Mentioned Links #️⃣
H2O Innovation - https://www.h2oinnovation.com
My December episode with Guillaume, 25 Years of Acquisitions Built This Water Tech Powerhouse - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOvJK8BnOJoHosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.
The Brutal Truth About Groundwater No One Wants to Hear (w. Christian Montag - iFlux)
How do you manage an aquifer nobody can see, and what changes when iFlux measures how its groundwater moves?iFlux is a Belgian company that measures how groundwater moves: its speed, its direction, and how much …
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How do you manage an aquifer nobody can see, and what changes when iFlux measures how its groundwater moves?
iFlux is a Belgian company that measures how groundwater moves: its speed, its direction, and how much contamination travels with it. Most tools only give snapshots, a water table level here, a nitrate concentration there, while groundwater flows anywhere from 2 centimeters to 2 meters a day. So I sat down with its CEO to find out what measuring that movement changes.
Christian Montag joined iFlux in 2023 as operations director, coming from lean consulting with no background in hydrogeology, raised the round that brought in PureTerra as lead investor, then took over as CEO from co-founder Tim.
🌶️ KEY SPICES 🌶️
🌊 Flux versus flow: cover half a hose with your thumb and the same water comes out at a different speed, which is what happens to groundwater squeezing through sand and sediment
🗺️ My dad's 35-kilometer pollution plume in eastern France, and why every new sampling campaign drifted from what his model predicted
📍 Why PFAS sitting still is a smaller risk than the same PFAS moving toward a river, a town or a nature reserve
💧 A managed aquifer recharge site in the Netherlands, where river water filters through the ground before it becomes drinking water, and the three questions it needed answered
🏭 Groundwater pumping on a worst-case permit: why an industrial site may pump in the wrong places for years and still prefer not to know
✅ How flux data let one industrial site prove its cleanup had worked and switch to monitoring, saving 90 to 95% of the cost
🔬 3.6 million euros from the European Innovation Council (EIC), and full-scale deployments at three drinking water utilities
🤝 Why environmental consultants are iFlux's route to scale, and whether its data platform helps them or competes with them
⛏️ Oil and gas, mining and EIT Raw Materials: the markets I kept pushing Christian toward
📈 The pitch: 27% growth last year, 75% targeted this year, and a 5 million raise that could open up to 7 million
🏷️ The exit landscape, from AEM buying Van Essen Instruments to Saur buying Imageau, and why strategic buyers do their R&D through M&A
🥜 IN A NUTSHELL 🥜
What does iFlux measure? The speed and direction of groundwater movement, and the mass of contamination moving through the subsoil with it.
Why isn't a good groundwater model enough? Because from the day you release a model into the real world, the real world drifts away from it, and flux lets you calibrate with a vector instead of a single point.
Who buys it? Industrial sites, drinking water utilities and cities, mostly through environmental consultants, of which iFlux wants to focus on two handfuls out of about 30 big ones worldwide.
What is the 5 million for? Commercial rollouts through partner ecosystems in each country, more sensor development, and data-driven models that move from measuring to predicting.
When should iFlux pay its own bills? Christian aims for a self-sustaining state in 2028.
#️⃣ Mentioned Links #️⃣
📌 iFlux, Christian's company: https://iflux.be/
📌 Email Christian: [email protected]
Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.
Capítulos (11)
How a Magician Exposed Australian Magic Wand Believers (aka - Water Dowsing)
Why do water professionals still trust dowsing rods, and how did a magician expose them?So I traced dowsing from a coconut in an Indian field to the UK's water companies, an American engineering firm's podcast …
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Why do water professionals still trust dowsing rods, and how did a magician expose them?
So I traced dowsing from a coconut in an Indian field to the UK's water companies, an American engineering firm's podcast and the drillers of Australia. Then I looked at what the controlled tests say, from a magician's trial in Sydney to Kassel, and at what people really buy when they pay a dowser. It leads to my conversation with Christian Montag, CEO of iFlux, on measuring the water under our feet.
The figures come from the sources named in the video: Hans-Dieter Betz, the US Air Force Institute of Technology, James Randi's 1980 test, Kassel 1990, the US Geological Survey, the New York Times and the United Nations.
🌶️ KEY SPICES 🌶️
🔮 Dowsing at work: in 2017, 10 of the 12 big UK water companies said their engineers used rods
🎙️ Brown and Caldwell's Engineering Legends podcast hosted a dowser who "map dowses" from his office
🍷 Mark Mondavi: 40 years of water witching, more than 100 wells, and a wine label called the Divining Rod
🕳️ Water well drilling in Montgomery, Vermont: seven wells picked by hydrogeologists came up short, a dowser's eighth gave 300 gallons a minute (over 1,100 liters)
🎩 James Randi offered $10,000 in Sydney in 1980: 111 tries, 15 hits, about 12% against 10% for pure luck
🧠 Confirmation bias: the wells that worked get retold, the dry holes never do
🧽 Groundwater is not an underground river: an aquifer is porous material soaked like a sponge
💵 A geologist quoted $6,500 for a range and a probability, a dowser about $1,400 for a cross on the ground
☢️ Montgomery's eighth well also held uranium: 76 parts per billion, nearly three times the state limit
🥜 IN A NUTSHELL 🥜
Does dowsing work? In field reports it seems to, but in controlled tests dowsers score barely better than chance.
What are the tricks? Water is almost everywhere, the hands move the rods (the ideomotor effect), confirmation bias, and the wrong picture of what lies underground.
Why do professionals still pay for it? Because the underground is invisible, and the dowser sells certainty where the scientist sells a probability.
Why does it matter? Groundwater is about 99% of the liquid freshwater on Earth, and once polluted, it tends to stay polluted.
#️⃣ Mentioned Links #️⃣
📌 Interius Solutions: https://academy.interius.io/watertech-marketing-system
Use code ANTOINE15 for 15% off the Interius Academy, their WaterTech Marketing System
(and yes, Björn only pays me if you sign up 😅)
Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.
Capítulos (7)
Results DON’T Get Water CEOs Fired... But THIS Does [Corporate Politics & Governance Research]
Do Water CEOs Get Fired for Their Results, or for Company Politics?When Saur pushed out Patrick Blethon in October 2026, I noticed he had brought former colleagues into his executive team... just like Sabrina …
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Do Water CEOs Get Fired for Their Results, or for Company Politics?
When Saur pushed out Patrick Blethon in October 2026, I noticed he had brought former colleagues into his executive team... just like Sabrina Soussan before SUEZ let her go. So I traced 30 years of water CEOs, 659 tenures at 110 companies, to see what gets a CEO fired: results, gender, age, degrees, friends, or corporate politics.
Every number comes from annual reports, filings, Global Water Intelligence, the Wayback Machine, press articles and LinkedIn, and the research archive is right here: https://dww.show/trust-me-bro/
🌶️ KEY SPICES 🌶️
🚪 Succession planning, insider or outsider: CEOs hired from outside the company were fired about twice as often as internal promotions, yet revenue grew a little faster and operating margins improved more under them (1.8 points up, against 0.2 down under insiders)
🏛️ Corporate governance: state-controlled and private equity-owned water companies fire about twice as often as other owners, but 16 of their 22 firings come from four companies, Sabesp, Copasa, Acea and Saur
🗳️ Company politics, literally: at state-controlled water companies, 8 of 14 firings came within a year of a new governor or mayor, like Sabesp's new CEO, named 26 days after São Paulo's new governor took office
🔁 Change management: outsiders are appointed to trigger change and appoint 3.2 newcomers to the executive team in their first two years, against 2.1 for insiders, but those who appoint four or more are fired 42% of the time against 25%, while the 18 insiders who changed as much were never fired
🎓 Gender, age, nationality, an MBA, a PhD or an elite school: none of them predicts a firing, and the degrees don't even buy a reliable starting-pay premium
💸 The price of an outsider: more than a third of outside hires in US and UK filings got a payment to join, and three in four firings with known terms came with severance, a median disclosed payout of about $2 million
🤝 Bringing your friends: outsiders hire six times more former colleagues than insiders, like Patrick Blethon bringing Xavier Savigny from Otis to Saur, but once the CEO's own background is accounted for, the friends add no statistically relevant firing risk
📉 A bad last year: a loss, a profit warning, an operational failure or a scandal preceded 41% of firings, against 15% of other exits, as when Xylem cut its forecast in July 2013 and Gretchen McClain was out six weeks later
🥜 IN A NUTSHELL 🥜
What gets a water CEO fired, if not their results? A bad last year raises the odds for every CEO, but what sets outsiders apart is a power shift above them: under the board or chairman who appointed them, they were fired 3 times per 100 years in the job, against 7 under a new one, while insiders stayed at 1 either way.
Do fired CEOs do a worse job? No. The shares of companies that fired their CEO beat their market by 3.4 points a year, against 3.3 when the CEO retired as planned.
Should you follow your former boss onto their new executive team? Maybe, but know that when a CEO is fired, half the people they appointed leave the executive committee within two years, against 22% after a planned retirement.
What does it mean for succession planning? Knowing water helps, but knowing the company helps more: outsiders who kept most of the team they inherited were fired only 10% of the time, and CEOs hired from rival water companies were fired in 18% of known departures, against 11% for internal promotions.
#️⃣ Mentioned Links #️⃣]
📌 My investigation on Saur and Patrick Blethon's departure: https://youtu.be/50ZvH3Xv3SEHosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.
Capítulos (18)
Why Is EVERYONE Getting Pushed Out of Saur? (WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON?) - Patrick Blethon got Ousted
Work with me: [email protected] a slot directly in my calendar: https://dww.show/meetWhy Was Patrick Blethon Fired From Saur, Five Days After Its Sale Was Called Off?On October 7, Saur announced that Patrick …
Notas do episódio
Work with me: [email protected]
Get a slot directly in my calendar: https://dww.show/meet
Why Was Patrick Blethon Fired From Saur, Five Days After Its Sale Was Called Off?
On October 7, Saur announced that Patrick Blethon was leaving with immediate effect, after nearly seven years leading France's third-largest water company. In June, Menno Holterman and the Nijhuis executive team had already been pushed out, and on October 2, EQT had reportedly dropped its plan to reduce its stake. So I went through what Patrick and Menno built, how Saur paid for that growth, and what remains unfinished now that they are gone.
🌶️ KEY SPICES 🌶️
🗓️ The timeline, from the March 2026 Morgan Stanley mandate to explore selling Saur's municipal business, to Patrick Blethon fired five days after EQT reportedly backed off
🏚️ Bouygues, PAI, a €2.3 billion leveraged buyout and the 2013 debt restructuring: why Saur came to EQT in 2018 wary of debt
🧭 How Patrick Blethon used the loss of Nîmes to Veolia to make Saur less dependent on French municipal water
🏭 Nijhuis, Aqua-Chem and Veolia's Mobile Water Services for about €190 million: the industrial leg that beat its €500 million target a year early
💶 €75 million of capex against €63 million of EBITDA in 2023, net debt up from €1.24 to €1.4 billion, and a 2024 downgrade below investment grade
📉 2025: industrial sales down 9% to €496 million, a cyber incident, and a negative Fitch outlook in May 2026, while the municipal business carried the group
🥜 IN A NUTSHELL 🥜
Why was Patrick Blethon fired from Saur? Saur says its strategy is unchanged, but my reading is that the test applied to that strategy changed: Patrick could point to a bigger group with a real industrial leg, while the shareholders asked when that growth would turn into cash, and into an exit.
Did Patrick Blethon's strategy work? Largely, yes: industrial sales reached €545 million in 2024, a year ahead of the target, and that business cushioned Saur in 2023 when energy costs hit the French municipal side.
Why did a growing Saur need cash? Because industrial contracts and mobile rental fleets are paid for upfront and earn back over time, and rising interest rates made that growth more expensive to finance.
Who replaces Patrick Blethon at Saur? Didier Michaud-Daniel, previously chair of the supervisory committee, becomes executive chairman, and Jean-Paul Michel takes day-to-day responsibility as interim CEO.
What is the point of being third? At home, Saur will always build behind Veolia and SUEZ, so the question is how it grows out of the giants' shadow without growing beyond what its owners are ready to finance.
#️⃣ Mentioned Links #️⃣
📌 My July article on Menno Holterman's departure: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/menno-holterman-story-antoine-walter-3q9re/
📌 My investigation on SOURCE: https://youtu.be/NQDWrLDPBuM
00:00 Patrick Blethon Fired as Saur CEO
03:24 Saur's Leveraged Buyout and Debt Restructuring
08:25 Patrick Blethon's Plan Beyond France
13:34 Private Equity Exit: EQT Sells Half of Saur
17:01 Cash Flow vs Profit: Why Saur Needed Blue Bonds
25:19 Slowdown and Menno Holterman's Exit
29:25 Exit Talks: How Patrick Blethon Got Fired
34:58 Third Behind Veolia and SUEZ: What Now for Saur?
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Capítulos (8)
The End of the Water Operator As We Know It? | WEFTEC 2026
🙌 My WEFTEC 2026 coverage is sponsored by Interius Solutions: https://academy.interius.io/watertech-marketing-systemUse code ANTOINE15 for 15% off the Interius Academy, their WaterTech Marketing System (and …
Notas do episódio
🙌 My WEFTEC 2026 coverage is sponsored by Interius Solutions: https://academy.interius.io/watertech-marketing-system
Use code ANTOINE15 for 15% off the Interius Academy, their WaterTech Marketing System
(and yes, Björn only pays me if you sign up 😅)
Will AI Replace Water and Wastewater Operators, or Become Their New Co-Worker?
AI was everywhere I looked at WEFTEC 2026 in New Orleans, so I spent three days on the show floor asking 14 companies what artificial intelligence can really do for water utilities and wastewater treatment plants, from leak detection to water treatment automation. That gave me 17 interviews, one nerdy question I kept asking (what's under the hood?), and a pretty good idea of what the end of the water operator as we know it could look like.
🌶️ KEY SPICES 🌶️
🛠️ Cox Research has 4 engineers running a workflow that would take 20 to 30, because its AI turns a pump spec into schematics, a bill of materials and a quote in minutes
🔬 Nyad turns a microscope photo from the wastewater lab into operating advice, with vision models that only ship once they score 90% or more against human microbiologists
🛰️ ASTERRA's satellites tell water leak detection crews where to look, and TransientDetect has recorded over 250 million pressure waves to keep pipes from breaking in the first place
🤖 Zed, AVA, Nelson and Eddy: the AI agents and assistants that Pani, Aquasight, MentorAPM and EAOS put next to the operator, and why MCP (Model Context Protocol) came up on a utility booth
🔐 RAG, fine-tuning or a frontier model behind an API: where your data goes, and why Rockwell Automation's cybersecurity team wants your control network (SCADA included) to keep running when IT is under attack
🎓 The 18-year-old who learned more in 4 days with an AI-built football playbook than in 4 months with the certification binder, and what it means for wastewater operator training
💸 Vibe coding, one founder who replaced $2,500 a month of software in a weekend, and an AI water startup that expects to break even within its pre-seed round
🥜 IN A NUTSHELL 🥜
Will AI replace wastewater treatment plant operators? No. The teams I met build for the licensed operator, who stays in charge and gets help with the 2 a.m. questions, the work orders and the microscope.
Is water AI just ChatGPT with a logo? The chat window is often a big model called through an API. The value sits behind it, in the utility's data, the specialist models and the tools an AI agent can use.
Is it safe to connect AI to a water treatment plant? It depends on the access you give it: Pani stays read-only, Nyad starts with no plant connection at all, and Rockwell wants a control network that runs without IT.
Can a water utility vibe code its own software? For a personal tool, yes. For something the whole organization depends on, somebody still has to maintain it once the summer intern is gone.
Is AI in water another AI bubble? Partly, since not every use will stick. But after three full days of it, I'm betting AI is here to stay in the water industry.
⏰ TIME CODES ⏰
00:00 AI for Water at WEFTEC 2026
04:01 AI Engineering and Field Inspections
07:38 AI Assistants for Water Utilities
12:06 Wastewater AI: Microscopy and Modeling
23:43 AI Leak Detection and Prevention
32:36 AI Water Asset Management
38:24 RAG, Fine-Tuning and Data Privacy
46:16 Vibe Coding vs Utility Software
54:00 AI Agents and MCP
1:00:21 Water Utility Cybersecurity
1:11:06 AI Copilots for Wastewater Operators
1:14:41 AI Training for Water Operators
1:19:34 AI Water Startups and Funding
1:24:02 Future of AI in Water
1:25:56 WEFTEC Booth Swag and BribesHosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.
Capítulos (15)
How Smart Towns Make Data Centers Pay (w. Ralph Exton - WEF & Water AI Nexus Center of Excellence)
Is Data Center Water Use a Threat to Your Town, or the Money Its Water System Has Been Waiting For?Data center water use has become one of the loudest arguments about AI, from the one-bottle-per-prompt claim to …
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Is Data Center Water Use a Threat to Your Town, or the Money Its Water System Has Been Waiting For?
Data center water use has become one of the loudest arguments about AI, from the one-bottle-per-prompt claim to US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick arguing both sides on The Daily Show. So I looked into where that water goes, what the tech giants' promises are worth, and how smart towns make the AI boom pay for better water systems.
With insights from Ralph Exton, Executive Director of the Water Environment Federation (WEF), which founded the Water-AI Nexus Center of Excellence with Amazon and other partners.
🌶️ KEY SPICES 🌶️
🏘️ In The Dalles, Oregon, Google used a third of the city's water in 2024, and letting it grow meant new wells, storage and pumping that Google would build and then hand over to the city
🔍 Hinkley, Flint and Erin Brockovich's data center initiative show why neighbors want a baseline before construction, results they can check, and someone responsible for fixing problems
🚰 "Water positive" put to the test: Amazon's $2.2 million for leak detection in Orange County, and why a saving only counts if it reaches the same water system a data center draws from
❄️ Air cooling, treated wastewater or warmer-water designs: how to cut data center water use when thermodynamics offers no free lunch
🤖 AI inside water utilities: why operators must stay the human in the loop, after the FBI and EPA warned of attacks on water control equipment in at least seven states
💵 From Douglas County, Georgia, to Ralph's call to cut the ribbon at the new pump station rather than the data center: how the AI boom can finally fund the water projects communities need
🥜 IN A NUTSHELL 🥜
How much water does AI actually use? It depends on what the number counts (one response, training a model, or a whole building) and on whether that water goes back to its source or evaporates.
When does data center water use become a local problem? When one customer needs a big share of a town's supply, because someone then has to find more water, build the equipment and keep the taps running on the hottest day.
Can a data center really give water back? Yes, if the savings reach the same water system it draws from, anytime, and preserve more water than its infrastructure withdraws.
Who should control AI inside a water utility? The utility, with trained operators who stay the human in the loop for any change to pumps, valves or chemical feeds.
Who pays if the promised demand never arrives? That's the hard part of the deal, which is why utilities consider charges for unused capacity, and why water has to be on the table in the first six months of a data center project.
#️⃣ Mentioned Links #️⃣
📌 AI 101 for Water Professionals, the free 90-minute course by Watura and WEF: https://www.watura.us/courses/ai-101-for-water-professionals
📌 My previous video on the water-and-energy tradeoff of data center cooling: https://youtu.be/1o-cdb8xzZ0
📌 Water-AI Nexus, Principles for Sustainable Water Use by Data Centers: https://water-ai-nexus.org/insight-report/
📌 Erin Brockovich's data center initiative: https://www.brockovichdatacenter.com/
Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.
So, Thermal Desalination is the Future Now? (w. Willian Janssen - Desolenator)
Thermal desalination lost the water industry to reverse osmosis on one number: boiling seawater takes about ten times more energy than pushing it through a membrane. So why is one of the 20 teams left in the …
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Thermal desalination lost the water industry to reverse osmosis on one number: boiling seawater takes about ten times more energy than pushing it through a membrane. So why is one of the 20 teams left in the XPRIZE Water Scarcity competition still betting on heat?
Desolenator is a Dutch water tech company that desalinates with heat instead of pressure, running on solar energy and industrial waste heat rather than grid electricity. Its hybrid panel harvests electricity and thermal energy from the same sunlight, recovers the latent heat of its own steam, and can run to zero liquid discharge, leaving salt instead of brine. Four patents, and a scale-up from 25 to 100, then 1,000 cubic metres a day.
William Janssen built the first proof of principle in his living room and kept the distilled water in his freezer as proof. He won 100,000 euros at Climate Launchpad, was picked up by the Dubai Future Accelerator and Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, and delivered plants in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Desolenator is chaired by Paddy Padmanathan, who led ACWA Power for 18 years and made it the world's largest desalination company.
🌶️ KEY SPICES 🌶️
🌡️ Why thermal desalination's ten-times energy penalty disappears when the heat is "chaleur fatale", the waste heat industry pays to throw away
🔌 How a phone call about data centre cooling became patent number four: one heat pump worked from BOTH sides, lifting 50°C exhaust to the 70°C a distiller needs
🌱 Why farmers around Al Ain are salting the aquifer they irrigate from, and how zero liquid discharge breaks that loop
📉 Paddy Padmanathan on the cost curve he signed himself: $2.50 per cubic metre in 2005, $0.46 on his last ACWA Power contract in 2023, and why it still isn't solved
🏆 What William answers when asked point blank whether Desolenator wins the XPRIZE: two words no founder is supposed to say
🥜 IN A NUTSHELL 🥜
What is thermal desalination, and how does it differ from reverse osmosis?
Thermal desalination makes fresh water by evaporating seawater and condensing the steam, the way rain works, while reverse osmosis pushes seawater through a fine membrane under pressure. Reverse osmosis uses roughly ten times less energy and won the municipal market, but it needs electricity, while thermal desalination runs on the low-grade heat industry already wastes.
Can solar energy power desalination?
Yes. Desolenator's panels harvest electricity and heat from the same sunlight and buffer both, which is how its Dubai plant hit the benchmark set by Dubai Electricity and Water Authority: 10 cubic metres a day, 20 hours a day, year-round.
What is zero liquid discharge, and why does it matter for water scarcity?
Zero liquid discharge recovers all the water from a stream and leaves solid salt instead of brine. It matters where brine has nowhere to go: around Al Ain, farmers desalinate saline groundwater and flush the concentrate back into the aquifer, making it saltier each year.
Is thermal desalination a good water investment in 2026?
It depends on scale and free heat. Desolenator draws its own fence at 100 million litres a day, above which membranes win. Its CapEx runs higher than conventional quotes and its OpEx dramatically lower, so the economics favour industrial sites with waste heat or land for solar, and buyers needing zero liquid discharge.
#️⃣ Mentioned Links #️⃣
Desolenator - desolenator.com
Why Elon Musk's Desalination Vision is Failing - watch on YouTube
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3 Days at the Glastonbury of Water (Northumbrian Water Innovation Festival 2026)
FREE TOOL ➡️ Get your water tech pitch reviewed: https://app.leviathandata.io/pitch-deck-analyzerMore #water insights? Connect with me on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/antoinewalter1/See how the …
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FREE TOOL ➡️ Get your water tech pitch reviewed: https://app.leviathandata.io/pitch-deck-analyzer
More #water insights? Connect with me on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/antoinewalter1/
See how the Northumbrian Water Innovation Festival brings together creative minds in Newcastle for collaborative problem solving.
Watch the energy of this unique event.
This episode takes you inside the Northumbrian Water Innovation Festival to show how large groups tackle industry challenges through structured collaboration.
You will see firsthand how participants move from concept to practical solutions using specific frameworks like sprint tents and the Crystal Ball method.
Whether you are interested in corporate innovation or local Newcastle events, this footage highlights the collaborative process in action.
It is designed for professionals and curious viewers who want to observe how collaborative problem-solving works in a real-world setting, moving beyond traditional meeting rooms to open, creative environments.
If you enjoyed seeing how an Innovation Festival operates, subscribe for weekly industry event recaps, and let us know in the comments if you prefer structured workshops or free-form brainstorming sessions.
#️⃣ All the Links Mentioned in this Video #️⃣
Design Thinking with Lea im Obersteg: https://dww.show/who/lea-im-obersteg/
🎙️ Subscribe and Listen to the Don't Waste Water Podcast HERE 🎙️
Podcast Channel: @dwwpodcast
Main Channel: @AntoineWalterDWW
Smartlink: https://smartlink.ausha.co/dont-waste-water
Website: https://dww.show/podcast/
🙋 QUESTION: What would you like me to cover next?
⏰ TIME CODES ⏰
00:00 The Northumbrian Water Innovation Festival
03:55 Inside Tent 15
04:32 Design Sprint Crash Course
06:13 South Bend Smart Sewer Origin
09:18 UK Spill Crisis Context
11:25 Power of Ten Ambition
13:30 Reality Check and Tease
14:27 Beetroot Break
15:21 Adoption Workshop Takeaways
20:39 Why Tents Work
21:23 NUAR Billion Dollar Story
24:55 Festival Scale and Impact
28:50 Wrap Up and Reflections
30:31 Free Tool
About this Podcast:
Welcome to the (don't) Waste Water podcast, the leading podcast for water industry professionals, investors, and entrepreneurs seeking deep insights into water tech innovation, investment trends, and strategic moves in the sector. Host Antoine Walter blends his technical expertise with sharp business acumen to deliver weekly episodes featuring candid conversations with C-suite executives, detailed analysis of major water industry developments, and practical insights for water tech startups and seasoned players alike.
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The Water VC You Can't Name (How HG Ventures Deployed $48,523,663 in Water Tech)
How did HG Ventures quietly become one of the most active water tech investors on the planet, without even calling itself a water VC?HG Ventures is the corporate venture capital arm of The Heritage Group, a …
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How did HG Ventures quietly become one of the most active water tech investors on the planet, without even calling itself a water VC?
HG Ventures is the corporate venture capital arm of The Heritage Group, a 100-year-old, family-owned Indianapolis conglomerate active in asphalt, quarries, environmental services and specialty chemicals. With $350M in assets, the fund deploys around $50M a year across 41 portfolio companies and 7 sectors, and ranks 5th globally in water tech by deal count despite water being only 18% of its thesis.
Ginger Rothrock holds a PhD in chemistry from UNC Chapel Hill, co-founded the NASDAQ-listed pharmaceutical company Liquidia, was promoted to Managing Director of HG Ventures in December 2025, and is a Global Corporate Venturing Rising Star and Kauffman Fellow with deep expertise in industrial water, industrial wastewater treatment, and corporate venture capital in cleantech.
🌶️ KEY SPICES 🌶️
🏗️ How a 100-year-old asphalt-and-quarries empire ended up running one of the most active water tech portfolios on the planet
🧪 Why a PhD chemist with 75 R&D scientists down the hallway puts technology last, and storytelling first, when she evaluates water tech founders
💧 How HG Ventures built its industrial wastewater treatment, industrial water reuse and zero liquid discharge thesis from the inside out
⚡ Why a 4-person investment team and a 2-month decision cycle out-deal-flow every other corporate venture capital fund in the water industry
🎯 Why Ginger Rothrock calls the water industry "inevitable", and how HG Ventures is positioning for the next decade of water tech exits
🥜 IN A NUTSHELL 🥜
Who are the biggest water tech investors and venture capital firms in 2026?
The most active water tech investors by deal count are Burnt Island Ventures, Echo River Capital, PureTerra Ventures, Emerald Technology Ventures, and HG Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of The Heritage Group, ranked 5th globally despite water being only 18% of its thesis.
What is corporate venture capital (CVC) and how does it differ from traditional venture capital?
Corporate venture capital is venture investing from inside a corporation rather than from an independent fund, which means a CVC like HG Ventures can hold portfolio companies for a decade or more without the LP pressure that kills the average CVC at year four.
How do you pitch a venture capital firm to fund a water tech startup?
Most water tech VCs filter pitches on whether the fund can actually help you commercially, whether you understand the market problem (especially who your real competition is), and whether you can tell a clear story under five minutes, and most water tech founders lose by leading with the technology.
Is the water industry a good long-term investment in 2026?
Yes, water tech venture capital deal counts have quadrupled since 2018, but capital flows mostly through specialist venture capital, corporate venture capital and private equity rather than the public market, because most water stocks underperformed in the 2020s.
What is industrial water reuse, and what is zero liquid discharge?
Industrial water reuse is treating a facility's wastewater on-site and recycling it back into the process, while zero liquid discharge is the extreme version where 100% of the water is recovered, and both are accelerating because of rising freshwater costs, tightening discharge regulations and corporate ESG targets.
#️⃣ Mentioned Links #️⃣
HG Ventures — hgventures.com
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600 Private Water Bets - Zero Public Exits. Is This Sector About to Crack? (and will Gradiant IPO?)
The First Water Sector Unicorn Wants to IPO. But Wall Street kinda forgot how to buy water... Early-stage water tech funding quadrupled in seven years. Private equity's share of water M&A doubled in a decade …
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The First Water Sector Unicorn Wants to IPO. But Wall Street kinda forgot how to buy water...
Early-stage water tech funding quadrupled in seven years. Private equity's share of water M&A doubled in a decade, with a record 165 PE-led acquisitions in a single year. The bench of PE-owned water platforms grew from 42 companies in 2015 to nearly 600 in 2025. And the sector just minted its first twice-unicorn - Gradiant - with a Series E at a $2 billion valuation on Day 1 of the Global Water Summit 2026! So, will Gradiant IPO?
Four all-time highs at once... but the fifth dimension - the public market - went the other way. IPOs in the 2020s are a pale echo of the 2010. So I flew to Madrid to ask the people building the machine (the VCs, the PE platforms, the strategics, the bankers, the entrepreneurs) a single question: is this closed-loop water-capital machine a feature of a mature sector, or a $300 billion pressure cooker about to crack?
🌶️ KEY SPICES 🌶️
💵 108 funding rounds in early-stage water tech in 2025 alone vs. 33 in 2018: 3.3× the count and roughly 5× the dollars
🏗️ 42 → ~600 PE-owned water platforms in a decade, with 165 PE acquisitions in 2025 (the most ever)... but 80 of them sub-$10M targets: high velocity, low ticket
🦄 Gradiant's Series E at $2B valuation announced Day 1 of GWS 2026. What Anurag Bajpayee told me: "We have to be ready to go public because we want to control our destiny"
💰 Four specialist water VC funds raising at the exact same time: a feature or a weakness?
🏢 Summa Equity (€10B+ Nordic thematic PE) entering water for the first time, targeting the missing middle
🥜 IN A NUTSHELL 🥜
Is water tech actually a good investment in 2026? Water-tech venture capital just hit an all-time high. Early-stage funding rounds quadrupled in seven years (from 33 in 2018 to 108 in 2025) and total water VC inflow exceeded $1 billion in 2024. Private equity also set a record with 165 water-company acquisitions in 2025, roughly double its 2015 share of the market. The catch: with almost zero water IPOs in a decade, investor returns flow mostly through PE-to-PE handoffs and strategic acquisitions, not the public market.
What is Gradiant and why does its $2 billion Series E matter? Gradiant is a Boston-area water-treatment company specializing in industrial-water reuse, brine management, and ultrapure water for semiconductor and AI data-center fabs. They just announced a Series E at a $2 billion valuation, making it water tech's first twice-unicorn. CEO Anurag Bajpayee announced on camera that the company is preparing to go public, which would be the first venture-stage water IPO in over a decade.
Why are there no water IPOs if the sector is growing so fast? The public-market track record is brutal. Of Global Water Intelligence's 2022 list of 30 listed water stocks, 21 lost more than two-thirds of their value by 2026. The listed water universe is small (about 139 stocks worth roughly $122 billion in total) and too illiquid to absorb new venture-stage water IPOs. Instead, the sector built its own private-market exit machine.
#️⃣ Mentioned Links #️⃣
WTF Is Happening with Water Stocks? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Flen_vwx0kQ
5 Water Tech Investment Facts (that will blow your mind): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCfcigu_oPQ
Global Water Intelligence — globalwaterintel.com (check out their new WIN and Euro WIN AI platforms!)
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Guess Who Just Spent $700M on Water? (10 Things Investors Missed) - CRH acquires Axius Water from KKR and XPV Water Partners
On April 30, 2026, CRH plc (NYSE: CRH) announced a $700 million agreement to acquire Axius Water from KKR and XPV Water Partners - instantly making the Irish-American building materials giant one of the largest …
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On April 30, 2026, CRH plc (NYSE: CRH) announced a $700 million agreement to acquire Axius Water from KKR and XPV Water Partners - instantly making the Irish-American building materials giant one of the largest water infrastructure players in North America. If CRH acquires Axius, what's next?
Most investors missed it, so I thought I'd decode it!
Here are the 10 things you need to see.
So you got it, CRH acquires Axius. Here's the deal in 30 seconds:
• Buyer: CRH plc - a $77B market cap building materials company most water investors don't track
• Target: Axius Water - a wastewater treatment platform built by KKR and XPV Water Partners through a multi-year roll-up
• Price: $700M (reported)
• Sellers: KKR (Global Impact Fund) and XPV Water Partners
• Strategic logic: bolts wastewater treatment onto CRH's existing water infrastructure portfolio (Hydro International, Oldcastle Infrastructure)
What's actually new here - and why it matters for water investors:
00:00 - On your Bingo Card?
02:30 #1: The Cast
07:35 #2: The Substance
11:40 #3: The Number
16:23 #4: The Timing
20:54 #5: The Macro Reality
24:40 #6: The Credibility
28:26 #7: Inside the Platform
32:28 #8: The Synergy Story
35:17 #9: The Risks
39:58 #10: The Sector Signal
📰 Sources & further reading:
• CRH Q1 2026 earnings call transcript: https://www.crh.com/investors/results-presentations/
• KKR Global Impact Fund: https://www.kkr.com/approach/sustainability/sustainable-investing/trends
• XPV Water Partners portfolio: https://xpvwaterpartners.com/companies
• Axius Water: https://www.axiuswater.com/
• My newsletter on Water Infrastructure: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/us-water-bill-4x-what-everyone-thinks-antoine-walter-3rqnc/
🎙️ If we don't know each other, Hi, I'm Antoine Walter! I help newcomer investors decode the water tech sector. Each week, I break down a water deal (like here, when CRH acquires Axius), technology, or company through an investor-forward lens. No acronyms, no jargon (hopefully) just the signals that matter.
🔔 Subscribe for weekly water investment briefs: youtube.com/channel/UCsMC1BYAun2JtMT177jTGOw/
🎧 Podcast version: https://feed.ausha.co/br23DCZ1GnG3
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/antoinewalter1
⚠️ Disclaimer: This video is for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing here constitutes investment advice. Always do your own research.
#CRH #AxiusWater #KKR #XPVWaterPartners #WaterInvesting #WaterMA #WaterStocks #WaterInfrastructure #WastewaterTreatment #WaterTech #PrivateEquity #ImpactInvesting #ESG #WaterSector
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Your Cup of Coffee Uses 29,600x More Water Than a ChatGPT Prompt (w. Alex Passini) [2/2]
Everyone says AI is drinking the planet dry, right? Well, the numbers say your morning coffee uses 29,600× more water than a ChatGPT prompt! In this episode, I sit down with Alex Passini to pressure-test the …
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Everyone says AI is drinking the planet dry, right? Well, the numbers say your morning coffee uses 29,600× more water than a ChatGPT prompt!
In this episode, I sit down with Alex Passini to pressure-test the dominant narrative around AI's water footprint - and what we found completely flips the story the media is telling.
Here's what most "AI water crisis" headlines miss:
→ A single ChatGPT prompt uses roughly 16 milliliters of water. One cup of coffee uses ~140 liters when you count the beans. That's a 29,600× gap.
→ Of the water a hyperscale data center consumes, ~75% isn't used by AI at all — it's used upstream for the energy that powers it. Blame the grid, not the GPU.
→ One banana = ~6,250 ChatGPT prompts. One almond = ~12 prompts. The water-per-prompt math is rounding-error territory next to your lunch.
→ Florida already reuses 800 million gallons/day of treated wastewater. Data centers aren't the threat - they're an accelerant for the water reuse capex the sector has been waiting twenty years for.
If you're an investor trying to figure out whether AI's water story is a real thesis or a media artifact, this episode gives you the framework (and the numbers) to decide.
🧠 What you'll learn:
- Why "data center water consumption" and "AI water consumption" are not the same thing
- The actual per-prompt footprint of generative AI (modeled, not estimated)
- How water reuse technology turns the alarmist narrative into an investment opportunity
- Where the real bottleneck sits - and which sub-sectors stand to benefit
🎙️ Guest: Alex Passini (https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexpassini/)
Alex is Vice President of Business Development at CSA Group
CSA Group is hiring: https://csagroup.com/careers/
(I promised Alex in the podcast to put this in the show notes!)
📰 The newsletter behind the show: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/don-t-waste-water-6884833968848474112/
🎧 Podcast feed: https://feed.ausha.co/br23DCZ1GnG3
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/antoinewalter1/
🔔 Subscribe if you want the unfiltered, numerate take on water sector investing - no jargon, no acronym soup, just the asymmetric bets worth pricing.
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Nobody Asked What the Public Actually Thinks About AI and Water. So I Did. [1/2]
Every analyst, every think tank, every consulting deck has an opinion on AI's water footprint (and overall on AI and Water)But nobody bothered to ask the people actually watching the videos, posting the …
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Every analyst, every think tank, every consulting deck has an opinion on AI's water footprint (and overall on AI and Water)
But nobody bothered to ask the people actually watching the videos, posting the comments, and shaping the narrative. You'd need to be mad to do that, right?
So I read 2,540 of them. 😅
Across 9 of the most-watched YouTube videos on AI water consumption, and overall on AI and Water.
Here's what I found:
1️⃣ The public is right about geography. Boardman, Oregon, shows up at 80 comments per minute for a reason.
2️⃣ The public is right about the executives. The -0.20 sentiment around Sam Altman's "one-fifteenth of a teaspoon" line is actually a signal.
3️⃣ The public is wrong about closed-loop cooling. The most-liked comment on the entire dataset? Hank Green publicly correcting himself. 13,000 likes for "I was wrong."
4️⃣ And the public is missing the bigger story almost entirely — the one that's about to constrain AI before water ever does.
This is the third and final chapter of a trilogy on AI, water, and the trillion-dollar infrastructure thesis hiding behind the headlines - basically on AI and Water:
📍 Part 1 - Data Center Consumption DOESN'T Matter... But Discharge Does! → [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o-cdb8xzZ0
📍 Part 2 - The 2027 Deadline That's About to Reprice Water Companies → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PKHUo6q5gw
📍 Part 3 - You're watching it 😅
⏱️ Chapters
00:00 — Nobody asked. So I did.
01:44 — The dataset: 2,540 comments, 9 videos, 1 spreadsheet
03:58 — What the public got wrong (closed-loop cooling and the misleading-true problem)
07:07 — The most-liked comment on AI water — and why it matters
10:53 — What everyone is missing
🔬 Methodology 2,540 individual comments analyzed 9 source videos (the most-viewed English-language content on AI water consumption as of) Sentiment scoring + theme clustering done manually, then cross-checked
🏷️ Topics covered AI water consumption · AI water usage · data center cooling · AI environmental impact · closed-loop cooling · AI energy consumption · water sector investing · sustainability · generative AI infrastructure · AI data center water · Sam Altman water · Boardman Oregon data centers
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The 2027 Deadline That's About to Reprice Water Companies (Data Center Water)
Who Buys the First Data Center Water Company? And When Does the Repricing Start? Data center water treatment is a $1.1 billion market growing nearly 15% per year, with 60% of spending recurring - generating an …
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Who Buys the First Data Center Water Company? And When Does the Repricing Start?
Data center water treatment is a $1.1 billion market growing nearly 15% per year, with 60% of spending recurring - generating an "infinite money glitch" for the righty designed water tech companies. So, strategic buyers, private equity sponsors, and VC-backed platforms are racing to consolidate water tech expertise. Meanwhile, hyperscalers spending $50 billion a year on infrastructure have made zero water acquisitions... for how long?
🌶️ KEY SPICES 🌶️
💵 A $660M recurring-revenue pocket nobody priced as SaaS - 60% of data center water spend is OPEX, not capex (Sustainability at its best)
🏗️ AEA Investors' CRB Water playbook: a $13.2M Missouri distributor turned national data center water platform in 24 months through five add-on acquisitions
📈 Evoqua's 17x EBITDA exit to Xylem in 2023 as the template - and AEA ran that play too
🌐 Microsoft's water use efficiency (WUE, liters per kWh of compute) sits at 0.2, roughly 5x better than Google's 0.96 and 6.5x better than Apple's 1.3
🏢 Amazon's Kiva Systems DNA applied to water: write the blueprint internally, then acquire the builder when the capability becomes competitively load-bearing
⏱️ A 2027 zero-water pledge deadline creating a hard two-year window for Microsoft 🎯 The short list of acquisition targets: Gradiant, CRB Water, Infinite Cooling, Uravu Labs
🥜 IN A NUTSHELL 🥜
Why is data center water treatment the fastest-growing industrial water vertical? At $1.1B in 2024 and above 13% annual growth (roughly double any other industrial water segment) demand tracks the $50B/year hyperscaler capex directly.
Who's actually buying so far? Ecolab (~$7B combined on CoolIT Systems and Ovivo's electronics division), Xylem (Vacom Systems at $42M), Kemira (Water Engineering Inc. at $150M, 2.5x revenue), EQT Infrastructure (Seven Seas Water at roughly $1B), and AEA Investors (Chemtron RiverBend plus five add-ons, now CRB Water).
What makes the hyperscalers different? They spend $50B/year on data centers and run extensive water partnerships and VC positions, but have not acquired a single water company. Yet?
Why does this matter for investors? When the first hyperscaler moves, water companies with data center exposure reprice from the 7.5x EBITDA sector median to 15-20x+ strategic-platform multiples.
Who are the likely targets? Gradiant ($330M raised, 23 products, nine acquisitions, Counter-Flow RO at 99% recovery), CRB Water (PE exit setup), Aquatech or Saltworks Technologies (in the "right brain" approach), Infinite Cooling, Uravu Labs or AirJoule Technologies in the "left brain" one.
#️⃣ Mentioned Links #️⃣
- The PE Water Platforms Nobody's Talking About Yet - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1o78cgd5Hs
- AEA Investors - aeainvestors.com
- CRB Water - https://www.crbwater.com/
- My conversation with Prakash Govindan (Gradiant) - https://youtu.be/Hpk_gPjm_1s?si=d_I3gYuYLYudBmQK
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Data Center Consumption DOESN'T Matter... But Discharge Does! (AI Water Footprint)
What Is the Real Water Problem Behind AI Data Centers - and Where Is the $1.3 Billion Opportunity? AI Water seems to concern everybody, while data center water treatment is the fastest-growing industrial water …
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What Is the Real Water Problem Behind AI Data Centers - and Where Is the $1.3 Billion Opportunity?
AI Water seems to concern everybody, while data center water treatment is the fastest-growing industrial water vertical in the world - $1.35 billion in 2025, growing at 13.3% per year. But the media is chasing the wrong story. The real problem isn’t consumption volume — it’s the concentrated industrial wastewater that cooling towers produce. This episode maps the opportunity most investors are missing. A
🌶️ KEY SPICES 🌶️
💧 American lawns consume 49 times more water than every AI data center in the US combined - so why is the media only alarmed about servers?
🏭 Cooling towers evaporate pure water and discharge “blowdown” - industrial wastewater concentrated at 3-5x intake levels that almost nobody covers
💰 Ecolab acquired CoolIT Systems for $4.75 billion at 25x revenue, assembling a $10.5 billion integrated stack from resin to chip to managed service
📉 Zero hyperscalers (Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta) have acquired a single water treatment company despite spending $50B/year on data center construction
📊 The EU has capped data center water usage at 0.4 L/kWh in water-stressed areas — the installed base runs at 2.3-3.8, creating a 6-10x compliance gap
🥜 IN A NUTSHELL 🥜
Why do American lawns matter in a video about AI water? Turfgrass consumes roughly 12 billion cubic meters per year, 49 times more than all US data centers combined — context that reframes the media’s breathless AI-water coverage.
What is “blowdown” and why should investors care? Evaporative cooling towers discharge concentrated wastewater at 3-5x intake levels containing salts, silica, and treatment chemicals — this industrial waste stream scales linearly with every hyperscale facility under construction, creating a $1.35 billion treatment market growing at 13.3% per year.
Why did Ecolab pay $4.75 billion for CoolIT at 25x revenue? Liquid cooling eliminates evaporation but creates a new treatment market for closed-loop fluid chemistry, and Ecolab has spent $10.5 billion since 2021 assembling the only complete stack from ion exchange resin to GPU cold plate to managed service contract for AI Water
Why haven’t hyperscalers acquired a water company? Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta have vertically integrated into chips, power, and fiber — but zero water acquisitions appear in the global M&A record, even as institutional capital poured $13.5 billion into water deals in 2025 alone.
#️⃣ Mentioned Links #️⃣
📌 Arthur D. Little: “AI’s Hidden Dependencies” report: https://www.adlittle.com/sites/default/files/2026-01/BLUE_SHIFT_AI_hidden_dependencies.pdf
📌 GWI's data center rubric: https://www.globalwaterintel.com/industries/data-centres
📌 Ecolab CoolIT acquisition announcement: https://tinyurl.com/fa34yeht
📌 The Ecolab/Ovivo deal, decoded: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1o78cgd5Hs
📌 My deep dive on H2O Innovation (and what we learn about platform building): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOvJK8BnOJo
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Why a Broke Football Club Spent Millions on Water (Gucci's Water Reuse Strategy)
Why Did a Broke Football Club Owned by Gucci's Family Invest Millions in Water Reuse? Stade Rennais, the French football club owned by the Pinault family behind Kering (Gucci, Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta...) …
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Why Did a Broke Football Club Owned by Gucci's Family Invest Millions in Water Reuse?
Stade Rennais, the French football club owned by the Pinault family behind Kering (Gucci, Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta...), buried a €1.5 million closed-loop water system under its renovated La Piverdière training complex in February 2025. This investment, during French football's worst financial crisis, reveals a widening gap between what water costs and what water is truly worth - using water reuse as its vehicle.
🌶️ KEY SPICES 🌶️
⚽ How French football's TV rights collapsed from €1.1B to €142M — a 90% decline that's forcing clubs to cancel flights and lay off staff
💧 Why a closed-loop water system with a 20-year payback was approved during an existential financial crisis (and what water reuse enables)
🏗️ The three hidden "currencies" — drought insurance, brand equity, and regulatory preemption — that never show up on a utility invoice
📉 Why a €14M goalkeeper depreciates 43% in a year while the pipes beneath him appreciate for decades
💰 How BCG projects $7 trillion in returns from $1 trillion in water infrastructure investment, yet less than 1% of climate tech VC flows to water
📊 The 10-100x gap between what water costs (€4.70/m³) and what water is actually worth
🥜 IN A NUTSHELL 🥜
Why did Rennes invest in water during a financial crisis? The Pinault family signed off on a €1.5-2M closed-loop water system not for the €100K/year savings, but for drought insurance, brand alignment with Kering's sustainability thesis, and regulatory positioning ahead of France's Plan Eau.
How bad is French football's financial situation? TV rights revenues collapsed from €1.1 billion to roughly €142 million per year after the Mediapro deal fell apart, and the financial watchdog projects combined Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 losses of €1.2 billion for 2025 alone.
What's the connection between Gucci and water infrastructure? Kering's tanneries must cut absolute water consumption 35% by 2035, making the football club's water loop a visible demonstration that the Pinault ecosystem practices what the luxury division preaches.
Why is water so underpriced? France charges €4.70 per cubic meter regardless of the customer's actual value at stake, creating a 10-100x gap between price and worth — a structural underpricing that BCG's 7:1 return ratio confirms across global water infrastructure.
Is water a good investment opportunity? Despite a projected 7:1 return ratio, less than 1% of climate tech venture capital goes to water while energy captures 25% with only a 6:1 ratio — a structural imbalance that early-stage reuse deals are starting to correct.
#️⃣ Mentioned Links #️⃣
🔗 Podcast Episode: Water's Place in the Global Economy with Nicolas Lei Ravello https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5Ayc94bNf0
🔗 Podcast Episode: Amazon and Water https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN6sHC45DRo
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By 2050, Clean Water Will Cost You $3'700 a Year (I Recalculated the US EPA Numbers)
How Much Does The USA Really Need to Fix Its Water Infrastructure? And Why Is Nobody Talking About the Real Number? (Hint: the US EPA has it wrong!)I built a bottom-up predictive model spanning 32 federal …
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How Much Does The USA Really Need to Fix Its Water Infrastructure? And Why Is Nobody Talking About the Real Number? (Hint: the US EPA has it wrong!)
I built a bottom-up predictive model spanning 32 federal datasets, 433,000 water systems, and 15.1 million regulatory violations to determine the true cost of bringing US water infrastructure back to shape. The answer: $3.9 trillion over twenty years (that's three times the EPA's official estimate of $1.25 trillion)
🌶️ KEY SPICES 🌶️
📊 A model reproducing the US EPA's own $625B drinking water estimate with 0.00% deviation - then extending it to domains the surveys structurally omit
🔧 $1.63 trillion in physical pipe failures that no federal survey captures - cast iron mains break 10x more than modern plastic
🏚️ 5,112 wastewater plants "rotting in place" serving 22 million Americans - the US EPA says $8.5B, the real number is $80B
💰 Full cost-recovery requires a $26/m³ tariff - roughly $310/month per household, which is 4.4x today's rate (will anyone pay for that?)
🧪 $139 billion for PFAS compliance, absent from all current federal estimates (no scandal, makes sense!)
📈 PE-backed platforms (CSWR, Nexus Water Group, Inframark) are silently consolidating the fragmented utility tail (and it's a good thing!)
🥜 IN A NUTSHELL 🥜
**How big is the real infrastructure gap?** The combined water and wastewater need is $3.9 trillion over twenty years, three times the EPA's $1.25 trillion official estimate.
**Why is the EPA's number so low?** The surveys ask utilities what they plan to spend, not what aging infrastructure physically demands - and they cover only 891 of approximately 39,500 small water systems.
**What about pipes?** One-third of America's 2.2 million miles of water mains are over 50 years old, and 860,000 miles need replacement at roughly $1 million per mile - a $1.6 trillion bill the surveys entirely miss.
**Is the gap closing?** No - drinking water coverage stays locked at 28 cents per dollar across every twenty-year window, and wastewater coverage actually deteriorates from 16 to 14 cents per dollar by the 2040s.
**Where does this leave investors?** Consolidation is accelerating - American Water Works and Essential Utilities are merging into a $63 billion entity, PE platforms are rolling up rural systems, and water tariffs grow at 4.77% annually, well above inflation.
#️⃣ Mentioned Links #️⃣
Water Finance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sd2tCuwMKfk
PFAS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sd2tCuwMKfk
Utah State University 2023 Break Rate Study: https://engineering.usu.edu/news/main-feed/2024/new-report-says-lack-of-funding-for-critical-water-mains-is-452-billion-over-260000-breaks-annually
ASCE 2025 Infrastructure Report Card: https://infrastructurereportcard.org/
Global Water Intelligence's tariff survey: https://www.globalwaterintel.com/documents/tariff-survey-2025Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.
Forget Russia & Qatar: Europe has a New Gas Source (spoiler: it's wastewater biogas)
Can Europe's Sewage Plants Replace Russian Gas? (aka: the €1.9 Billion Biomethane Opportunity) Europe's wastewater treatment plants are sitting on a massive untapped energy reserve. With the right upgrades …
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Can Europe's Sewage Plants Replace Russian Gas? (aka: the €1.9 Billion Biomethane Opportunity)
Europe's wastewater treatment plants are sitting on a massive untapped energy reserve. With the right upgrades, roughly 1,900 facilities across Europe could produce 13.4 billion cubic meters of biomethane per year — matching Russia's remaining pipeline gas deliveries in 2024. Let me break down the economics, the technology, and the investment landscape driving this shift.
🌶️ KEY SPICES 🌶️
⛽ One oil price spike dropped profitable plant thresholds by 15-47% and made ~600 additional facilities viable for biomethane grid injection overnight
📊 Only 30% of cost-competitive plants have installed grid injection equipment — Denmark leads at 88%, Poland trails at 6.7% ⚖️ The EU's recast Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive mandates energy neutrality by 2045, creating a regulatory demand floor independent of gas prices
🏭 Cambi's thermal hydrolysis revenue trajectory points to their first €100M year, with EBITDA jumping from near-zero to €20M in two years
💰 NextGen biogas companies are funded by energy infrastructure capital (ENGIE, Pennybacker, Hitachi), not water-focused VCs
🥜 IN A NUTSHELL 🥜
Why did 600 European wastewater plants suddenly become profitable gas producers? The Iran-triggered gas crisis pushed TTF prices from €32 to €60 per MWh, dropping minimum viable plant sizes by 15-47% and making biomethane grid injection economically attractive across most of Europe.
How much gas could European wastewater produce? Europe's ~1,900 unequipped wastewater plants could produce 13.4 billion cubic meters of biomethane per year, equivalent to Russia's 2024 pipeline gas to Europe, worth €1.9 billion annually.
What is the regulatory driver behind this shift? The EU's November 2024 recast of the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive mandates energy neutrality for all European wastewater utilities by 2045, making biogas production a compliance requirement regardless of gas prices.
Who is winning in the biogas technology space? Cambi leads thermal hydrolysis with revenue potentially reaching €100M, while Veolia and SKion Water pursue platform approaches. Anaergia's bankruptcy serves as a cautionary tale that timing matters as much as thesis.
Where is the investment capital coming from? Energy infrastructure funds and corporate venture arms (ENGIE New Ventures, Pennybacker Capital, Hitachi) dominate NextGen biogas funding, while traditional water VCs remain largely absent from the space.
***
Europe faces a significant energy challenge, highlighted by a potential natural gas shortage following recent events. This situation underscores the broader global energy crisis and its impact on energy markets. We also touch upon the unusual idea of Europe's sewage as a potential gas source, a concept that could impact oil and gas discussions moving forward. The discussion includes analysis from the International Energy Agency regarding supply disruptions and an update on the iran war.
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His First Two Inventions Made Billions - Number Three Just Went Live
How Did Pierre Côté Build Two Unicorn Water Technologies - and Why Is He Now Betting on Algae? Pierre Côté is arguably the most successful water technology inventor alive. With over 100 patents across four …
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How Did Pierre Côté Build Two Unicorn Water Technologies - and Why Is He Now Betting on Algae?
Pierre Côté is arguably the most successful water technology inventor alive. With over 100 patents across four decades, he created ZeeWeed (the membrane that launched the $3.63 billion MBR market) and co-invented ZeeLung (anchoring the ~$500 million MABR market). Now in his seventies, he's co-founded AlgaFilm Technologies to tackle nutrient removal with algae biofilm.
🌶️ KEY SPICES 🌶️
🧬 Two unicorn technologies from one inventor — ZeeWeed created the MBR category ($3.63B market), ZeeLung anchors MABR (~$500M and growing)
💰 $689 million exit — GE Water acquired Zenon in 2006 at 3.29x revenue, despite Zenon being loss-making
🌿 AlgaFilm's Algae Forest — patented inverted-cone photobioreactors with 12:1 surface-area-to-footprint ratio, claiming 80% energy reduction
📊 Forced regulatory demand — San Francisco Bay faces $10.8B in nutrient removal costs; Netherlands spending €2.8B in two years; 8,000+ US lagoons need upgrades
🏭 Competitive validation — Gross-Wen Technologies at TRL 9 with 30+ installations and $15M annual revenue proves the algae biofilm category
❄️ The winter test — Kingsville, Ontario demonstration (started March 10, 2026) will face a full Canadian winter, the single biggest unknown
🥜 IN A NUTSHELL 🥜
Who is Pierre Côté? A civil engineer from École Polytechnique de Montréal with a PhD from McMaster, who joined Zenon Environmental in 1989 and invented ZeeWeed — the immersed hollow-fiber membrane technology that created the commercially viable MBR market.
What is AlgaFilm Technologies? A BC-based startup co-founded in November 2023 by Côté and Ahren Britton (former Ostara CTO) that grows algae as a fixed biofilm on engineered carriers to remove nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater, replacing chemical dosing.
Why does this matter now? Regulatory pressure is forcing massive non-discretionary spending on nutrient removal — $10.8 billion in San Francisco Bay alone — while the resource recovery market has inflected from $1.5 billion to $2.88 billion since 2020.
What are the risks? AlgaFilm sits at approximately TRL 8, has just kicked off its first plant, and must prove winter uptime through Canadian conditions during its 12-month Kingsville demonstration.
Who validates the category? Gross-Wen Technologies (Iowa, 2014) operates 30+ algae biofilm installations at TRL 9, with $15M annual revenue and operational profitability, proving the commercial viability of the approach.
#️⃣ Mentioned Links #️⃣
- AlgaFilm Technologies: https://algafilm.com/
- Burnt Island Ventures blog entry: https://www.burntislandventures.com/blog/fsu1j27imhhsfnbyxi2k2udd30m57e
- DWW — The Algae Revolution with Martin Gross (GWT): https://dww.show/the-algae-revolution-how-gross-wen-technologies-is-cleaning-our-water-through-natures-filter/
- My conversation with Andrew Benedek: https://smartlink.ausha.co/dont-waste-water/s5e12-how-to-be-alone-early-crazy-but-actually-right-the-history-of-zenon
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This French Lab Wants to Replace Every Pump in Desalination (ilion Water Technologies)
Can 4 Volts of Electricity Replace 60 Bars of Pressure in Seawater Desalination? ilion Water Technologies is a 2025 spinout from the Physics Laboratory of the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. Their VIRO …
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Can 4 Volts of Electricity Replace 60 Bars of Pressure in Seawater Desalination?
ilion Water Technologies is a 2025 spinout from the Physics Laboratory of the École Normale Supérieure in Paris.
Their VIRO (Voltage-Induced Reverse Osmosis) technology claims to replace the high-pressure pump train in seawater desalination with an alternating electric field applied to engineered composite membranes, operating at atmospheric pressure.
🌶️ KEY SPICES 🌶️
⚡ VIRO generates ~15 equivalent bars of pressure per applied volt, targeting the 60-bar threshold used in industrial seawater RO
💰 ilion closed a €3.8M ($4.46M) pre-seed co-led by Demea Sustainable Investment and Critical Path Ventures, plus €1.3M non-dilutive from Bpifrance, CNRS Innovation, PSL, and the ERC
🔬 The underlying research is peer-reviewed in Nature Materials with a scientific lineage tracing back to a 2013 Physical Review Letters paper
👨🔬 Scientific advisor Lydéric Bocquet (CNRS Innovation Medal 2024) previously took nanofluidics from lab to industrial pilot with Sweetch Energy (€40M raised, Rhône river deployment in 2024)
📊 The global RO + nanofiltration market reaches $6.14B TOTEX by 2030 at 6.1% CAGR, with RO commanding ~90% of dissolved solids removal
🪦 The graveyard of RO alternatives is pretty full with the recent addition of Aquaporin (21 years → collapse), to the existing Oasys Water ($31M fire sale), or memsys ($3M)
🥜 IN A NUTSHELL 🥜
How does VIRO actually work? Instead of mechanically forcing saltwater through a membrane at 60 bars, VIRO uses an alternating electric field on a composite membrane with nanoscale charge properties, creating an "osmotic diode" that rectifies water flow while blocking salt.
What is ilion's current maturity level? TRL 4 (lab-validated), with no published specific energy consumption in kWh/m³, no salt rejection at scale, no membrane lifetime data, and zero physical deployments. Why has every RO alternative failed before? Forward osmosis, membrane distillation, and biomimetic membranes all failed to cross the gap between lab performance and industrial reliability, while RO kept improving toward its thermodynamic floor of ~1.0 kWh/m³.
What makes ilion different from previous attempts? Bocquet's track record with Sweetch Energy, the Nature Materials peer review, a deep-science investor stack, and positioning as an RO enhancer (retrofit-compatible) rather than an RO replacement.
What should investors watch over the next 2 years Three milestones: real-water performance at the Île-de-France pilot, XPRIZE Water Scarcity semifinal testing in Q4 2026, and membrane fabrication scalability beyond handcrafted lab specimens.
#️⃣ Mentioned Links #️⃣
🔗 ilion Water Technologies — https://ilion-watertech.com/
🔗 Sweetch Energy — https://www.sweetch.energy/
🔗 NALA Membranes on the podcast — https://smartlink.ausha.co/dont-waste-water/s13e9-nala-membranes
🔗 the Active Membranes episode — https://smartlink.ausha.co/dont-waste-water/s13e6-this-200-hack-makes-desalination-50-cheaper
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Why Water Testing Methods Are Dangerously Outdated (w. Lorenzo Falzarano - Orb)
Why Are Water Testing Methods Dangerously Outdated - And What's the Fix?Tired of stitching together Crunchbase, overpriced reports, and "a guy who knows a guy"? I built the fix. 50 Founder Seats. Join the …
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Why Are Water Testing Methods Dangerously Outdated - And What's the Fix?
Tired of stitching together Crunchbase, overpriced reports, and "a guy who knows a guy"? I built the fix. 50 Founder Seats. Join the waitlist: leviathandata.io
🙌 Supporters 🙌
A big thank you to my partner SimpleLab: https://link.dww.show/simplelab
ORB is a water tech company revolutionizing water testing through real-time microbial detection. Using inline deep UV spectroscopy sensors, ORB delivers continuous monitoring that's 1,700 times faster than traditional plate count methods (thus replacing the century-old three-day lab test) with instant insights that protect public health.
Lorenzo Falzarano is a serial entrepreneur and the founder and Chief Scientist of ORB, bringing over two decades of experience building impact-driven technology companies, including a successful solar venture that sold through Apple stores worldwide, and has partnered with NASA on space station water monitoring systems.
🌶️ KEY SPICES 🌶️
🔬 Rapid Microbiology at Light Speed — Water testing results in one second versus three days, using photon-counting detectors that measure microbial fluorescence at the molecular level without reagents or consumables.
🎯 Cold Case Solver — 70% of water quality failures go unexplained; ORB's intelligence platform uses pattern matching and fingerprint signatures to identify root causes that traditional water testing misses.
⚡ Non-Invasive Innovation — Unlike enzymatic or flow cytometry methods, ORB's water tech requires no chemicals, no sample preparation, and no maintenance—just plug-and-play deployment in drinking water networks.
💧 Real-Time Risk Prevention — Catches failing ozone dosing, chlorine systems, and contamination events before they become regulatory violations—helping UK utilities avoid millions in bacteriological fines.
🥜 IN A NUTSHELL 🥜
Why is traditional water testing fundamentally broken? The plate count method takes three days, captures less than 1% of microbes, and forces utilities to run on "maximum everything" because they're operating blind.
How does ORB's rapid microbiology approach work? Deep UV light causes microbial cells to fluoresce; photon-counting detectors measure this at the molecular level, delivering instant counts without destroying the sample.
What separates ORB from other water tech solutions? ORB used deep neural networks to identify minimum wavelengths needed, then hyper-optimized hardware for drinking water—achieving 400x more sensitivity than lab spectrometers.
Can this water testing method distinguish live from dead bacteria? Yes—dying and dead cells produce different spectral signatures, addressing concerns about counting chlorine-killed cells.
What's the business model? ORB sells insights through CapEx, OpEx, or hybrid models—deployed across UK and European utilities with NASA validation and third-party certifications.
#️⃣ Mentioned Links #️⃣
ORB Monitor: orbmonitor.com
Lorenzo's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorenzo-falzarano/
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25 Years of Acquisitions Built This Water Tech Powerhouse [M&A]
How Did H2O Innovation Build a Water Empire Through 18+ Acquisitions (M&A)?Tired of stitching together Crunchbase, overpriced reports, and "a guy who knows a guy"? I built the fix. 50 Founder Seats. Join the …
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How Did H2O Innovation Build a Water Empire Through 18+ Acquisitions (M&A)?
Tired of stitching together Crunchbase, overpriced reports, and "a guy who knows a guy"? I built the fix. 50 Founder Seats. Join the waitlist: leviathandata.io🙌 Supporters 🙌
A big thank you to my partner SimpleLab: https://link.dww.show/simplelab
H2O Innovation is a Quebec-based water solutions company founded in 2000. Through strategic M&A, it evolved from a membrane filtration startup into a diversified platform with four pillars: systems, specialty chemicals, operations & maintenance, and water infrastructure development—with the mission to Simplify Water.
Guillaume Clairet is COO at H2O Innovation and GP at the Cycle H2O fund, with 20 years steering the company's M&A-driven transformation from startup through 18+ acquisitions to a private equity-backed platform targeting $1 billion by 2030.
🌶️ KEY SPICES 🌶️
🔧 Four integrated pillars—systems, chemicals, O&M, and water infrastructure development—enable full lifecycle customer relationships from CapEx through recurring revenue
📈 Proven M&A machine with 90%+ acquisition success rate versus the industry standard where two-thirds of deals fail
🌍 Global distribution network serving OEMs across Turkey, Peru, Chile, and Australia with specialty chemicals and components
💧 Water reuse leadership through the Water Infrastructure Development division offering turnkey solutions with no upfront capital under long-term contracts
🤝 Patient private equity partnership with Ember Capital allowing accelerated growth while preserving management continuity and institutional investor alignment
🥜 IN A NUTSHELL 🥜
How did H2O Innovation transform from a startup to a platform company? Starting as a membrane filtration technology company in 2000, H2O Innovation strategically shifted focus from pure CapEx sales to recurring revenue streams by acquiring specialty chemicals companies PWT and Genesis, then rolling up five O&M contractors across North America.
What makes their acquisition strategy different? Rather than relying on investment banking processes, H2O Innovation sources most deals directly through trade shows, customer networks, and industry relationships—prioritizing cultural fit, synergy validation, and fair valuations over competing in auctions.
What changed after Ember Capital's take-private transaction? The 2023 privatization brought renewed appetite for bigger swings and faster decision-making while preserving continuity through existing institutional investors CDPQ and IQ rolling over their stakes alongside management remaining invested.
What is the Water Infrastructure Development pillar? Acquired through NextEra Distributed Water, this fourth pillar offers industrial and institutional clients turnkey water reuse solutions where H2O Innovation finances, builds, owns, and operates decentralized treatment systems under 30-35 year contracts.
Where is H2O Innovation heading by 2030? The company targets over $1 billion in revenue through continued tuck-in M&A, exponential growth in water processing agreements, and geographic expansion.
#️⃣ Mentioned Links #️⃣
H2O Innovation: https://www.h2oinnovation.com
Ember Capital Management https://ember-infra.com/
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The Future of Water Tech VC: Why Specialists Are Finally Emerging.
How is Cycle H2O (a new Water VC) De-Risking Early Stage Water Tech Investment?🤫 Tired of stitching together Crunchbase, overpriced reports, and "a guy who knows a guy"? I built the fix. 50 Founder Seats. Join …
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How is Cycle H2O (a new Water VC) De-Risking Early Stage Water Tech Investment?
🤫 Tired of stitching together Crunchbase, overpriced reports, and "a guy who knows a guy"? I built the fix. 50 Founder Seats. Join the waitlist: leviathandata.io
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A big thank you to my partner SimpleLab: https://link.dww.show/simplelab
Cycle H2O is a Canadian water-focused venture capital fund investing $500K-$2M checks in early-stage water technology companies. The fund targets 12 portfolio companies across industrial, municipal, and agricultural water sectors with $30 million ready to deploy.
Simon Olivier is a senior partner at Cycle Capital and head of the Cycle H2O Water Fund, bringing 30 years of corporate experience, including building GE's renewable energy business from the ground up, and now applying energy sector investment lessons to water tech & the water VC field.
🌶️ KEY SPICES 🌶️
🔬 Three-headed de-risking structure: Cycle Capital brings VC management expertise, H2O Innovation provides market intelligence across 75 countries, and the fund team delivers strategic guidance as a "copilot investor"
⚡ Energy-to-water playbook: 30 years of renewable energy experience reveals water tech is following the same arc—but with higher stakes since water has no substitute
💼 Business continuity focus: Invests in B2B solutions where industrial users pay for water efficiency because it directly impacts their bottom line, not just compliance
🎯 Exit-first valuation: Maps potential exits before cutting checks to avoid down rounds—seeking the "Goldilocks valuation" where both founder and investor stretch
🌍 Impact without compromise: Treats environmental and financial returns as inseparable, positioning water as a strategic business asset rather than a feel-good cause
🥜 IN A NUTSHELL 🥜
Why focus on early-stage water tech? The greatest impact and value creation happens early, but the risk is high—hence the unique fund structure with strategic partners who provide due diligence support and accelerate time-to-market for portfolio companies.
How do you compress the industry's notorious 12-16 year adoption cycle? By investing in companies addressing urgent market fundamentals like the Legionella detection company Bio Alert, and leveraging H2O Innovation's global network to fast-track pilots and distribution partnerships.
What makes a quick "no" for investment? Missing barriers to entry like IP, undifferentiated "me-too" products, no clear roadmap to monetization, or incomplete founding teams—though exceptional strength in one area can offset weakness in another.
Why avoid policy-dependent business models? Regulations change overnight; instead, the water VC targets industrial users where water efficiency drives business survival, making adoption a financial imperative rather than a compliance checkbox.
What returns can water tech deliver? The fund targets 10x returns as achievable across the portfolio, expects two to three zeros from twelve investments.
#️⃣ All the Links Mentioned in this Video #️⃣
https://cyclecapital.com/en/cycleh2o/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-olivier-p-eng-mba-3560b04/
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Would You Gift Sewage for Christmas?
What Wastewater Products Can You Actually Buy for Christmas?🤫 Tired of stitching together Crunchbase, overpriced reports, and "a guy who knows a guy"? I built the fix. 50 Founder Seats. Join the waitlist …
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What Wastewater Products Can You Actually Buy for Christmas?
🤫 Tired of stitching together Crunchbase, overpriced reports, and "a guy who knows a guy"? I built the fix. 50 Founder Seats. Join the waitlist: leviathandata.io
🙌 Supporters 🙌
A big thank you to my partner SimpleLab: https://link.dww.show/simplelab
My best water tech analysis straight to your inbox: https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=6884833968848474112
⬇️ IN THIS VIDEO ⬇️
This special episode showcases 17 commercially available products made from recycled wastewater, desalination brine, and industrial water byproducts. From ski resort snow to table salt, beer to bourbon, cosmetics to clothing, these items prove that circular water economy isn't just theory—it's hitting store shelves as legitimate luxury goods and everyday essentials.
🌶️ KEY SPICES 🌶️
🎿 Big Sky Resort now makes artificial snow from recycled village wastewater using Montana's largest zero liquid discharge system
🧂 Desalination brine transforms into gourmet table salts and superfood ingredients instead of marine discharge
🍺 Reused wastewater beer, rainwater whisky, and coffee-waste vodka prove beverage innovation is real
👖 Jeans from Everlane and Triarchy achieve 95-98% water recycling through closed-loop finishing
🧴 L'Oreal's Burgos "waterloop factory" reuses 100% of process water for Kerastase production
🧪 Hungarian startup Cycle ferments sewage sludge into bio-acid cleaners shipped worldwide
🥜 IN A NUTSHELL 🥜
Can you really eat products from desalination waste? Aqualia's Alma de Mar table salts and UAE-grown Salicornia demonstrate that brine valorization creates food-safe, even gourmet products through controlled crystallization and aquaponic farming.
How are beverage companies using wastewater? H2O Innovation, Epic Cleantec, and Singapore's NEWBrew produce beers from purified wastewater, while Good Vodka upcycles 15 million tons of annual coffee cherry waste and Old Humble proofs whisky with collected Texas rainwater.
What makes water-smart clothing different? Everlane's Saitex partnership recycles 98% of process water, Triarchy replaces chemical bleaching with ozone, and Girlfriend Collective turns plastic bottles into sportswear while capturing microplastics.
Which home products close the water loop? Porcelanosa ceramics operates zero liquid discharge, EnviroCopy paper circulates water 30 times per production cycle, and Vuna's Aurin turns urine into nitrogen fertilizer now scaling across Europe.
⏰ TIME STAMPS ⏰
00:00 17 Wastewater Products
00:17 Big Sky Montana
04:31 Alma de Mar
06:12 Salicornia
07:49 Tasting
09:34 They almost made it...
10:31 H2O Innovation Pale Ale
12:43 Good Vodka
14:24 Old Humble Special Reserve
16:16 Naif Face Scrub
18:27 Kerastase by l'Oreal
20:09 Everlane Jeans
22:29 Triarchy Jeans
23:38 Girlfriend Collective Tank Top
25:07 Himba Fish Cuff
25:32 Innorecycling Water Can
25:59 Aurin by Vuna
27:31 Porcelanosa Tiles
28:56 Sustana Enviro Copy
30:15 Cycle Biocleaners
32:02 Test Results
33:03 An Epic Surprise...
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Ovivo's Bold Vision: Back to Full Size in One Decade!
How Will Ovivo Rebuild to Full Size in 10 Years After the Ecolab Deal?🤫 Tired of stitching together Crunchbase, overpriced reports, and "a guy who knows a guy"? I built the fix. 50 Founder Seats. Join the …
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How Will Ovivo Rebuild to Full Size in 10 Years After the Ecolab Deal?
🤫 Tired of stitching together Crunchbase, overpriced reports, and "a guy who knows a guy"? I built the fix. 50 Founder Seats. Join the waitlist: leviathandata.io
🙌 Supporters 🙌A big thank you to my partner SimpleLab: https://link.dww.show/simplelab
⬇️ IN THIS EPISODE ⬇️
Ovivo is a global water treatment technology provider entering a transformative new chapter after spinning off its electronics division to Ecolab for $1.8 billion. Under Ski on Water's ownership, Ovivo is now positioning itself for aggressive growth through industrial expansion, silicon carbide membrane innovation, and PFAS destruction capabilities across North America and Europe.
This episode features Reinhard Hubner, CEO of SKion Water with years of water industry M&A experience; Elena Bailey, Director at Ovivo North America with decades of experience in water technology who joined through an acquisition in 2006; Mike Snodgrass, membrane technology specialist with 25+ years experience; and Sebastian Andreassen, co-founder and leader of Ovivo's Cembrane silicon carbide membrane manufacturing.
🌶️ KEY SPICES 🌶️
🔬 Silicon carbide membranes deliver breakthrough flux rates at low pressure with hydrophilic, chemically inert properties that outperform polymeric alternatives
💧 Double-digit percentage R&D investment funds innovation without a centralized research department—product managers drive patented solutions
🏭 European industrial expertise from a decade of experience in operations transfers directly to North American expansion through people-first integration
⚗️ PFAS destruction technology from E2Metrix leverages existing municipal customer relationships for rapid market entry
🤝 Long-term ownership culture keeps acquired company founders engaged for 7-9+ years post-acquisition
🥜 IN A NUTSHELL 🥜
What is the 10-year vision for Ovivo? SKion Water plans to rebuild Ovivo to its pre-transaction size through industrial platform acquisitions in North America, silicon carbide membrane scaling, and PFAS treatment commercialization.
Why focus on industrial water treatment? Municipal operations run independently with proven teams, while industrial requires European expertise transfer and platform acquisitions to replicate the 350 million euro success achieved through EnviroChemie.
How does Cembrane's silicon carbide differentiate? Unlike polymeric membranes, silicon carbide is hydrophilic, extremely porous, and chemically inert—enabling applications in drinking water, sand filter replacement, and backwash recovery that competitors cannot match.
What are the capacity expansion plans? Cembrane's manufacturing will increase 50% in 2026 and double by 2027, with Texas production providing tariff protection and BABA compliance for North American municipal projects.
Where does PFAS fit the strategy? E2Metrix destruction technology pairs with existing SSE membrane installations at water plants, creating bundled solutions that leverage Ovivo's installed base relationships with municipal customers.
#️⃣ Mentioned Links #️⃣
Ovivo's website: https://www.ovivowater.com/en/
My WEFTEC coverage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAb9bDjpOsE
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What Happens When You Build a Water Membranes Factory Just to Prove a Point?
How Is Aqua Membranes Scaling 3D-Printed Water Membranes Spacers from Garage Startup to 200,000 Square Foot Manufacturing Facility? Let's find out!🤫 Tired of stitching together Crunchbase, overpriced reports …
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How Is Aqua Membranes Scaling 3D-Printed Water Membranes Spacers from Garage Startup to 200,000 Square Foot Manufacturing Facility? Let's find out!
🤫 Tired of stitching together Crunchbase, overpriced reports, and "a guy who knows a guy"? I built the fix. 50 Founder Seats. Join the waitlist: leviathandata.io
🙌 Supporters 🙌
A big thank you to my partner SimpleLab: https://link.dww.show/simplelab
⬇️ IN THIS VIDEO ⬇️
Aqua Membranes manufactures reverse osmosis membrane elements with 3D-printed spacers that reduce energy consumption and pressure drops in industrial water treatment across mining, semiconductor, and beverage sectors. Founded 15 years ago by Rodney Herrington in his garage, the water membranes company now operates from Albuquerque and a new 200,000-square-foot Knoxville facility led by CEO Craig Beckman and CTO CJ Kurth.
🌶️ KEY SPICES 🌶️
🖨️ Proprietary 3D printing technology creates Fibonacci spiral-patterned spacers that optimize fluid flow and reduce fouling compared to traditional mesh spacers found in water membranes
⚡ Energy efficiency gains through reduced pressure drops enable customers to lower operating costs and extend cleaning cycles in reverse osmosis systems
🏭 Vertical integration strategy from material science through full element manufacturing de-risks technology adoption for major water membranes manufacturers
🎯 Strategic customer validation from Fortune 500 companies including Coca-Cola, Micron Technology, and exclusive distribution partnership with Osmo Flow in Australia
📈 Scalable manufacturing platform with capacity for 25,000 elements annually in current configuration and 9x expansion potential in the Knoxville facility
🥜 IN A NUTSHELL 🥜
Why can't Aqua Membranes just license their spacer technology to major water tech manufacturers? The membrane industry requires extensive real-world validation before adopting new materials, forcing innovators to manufacture complete elements at a commercial scale before established players will consider licensing.
What makes 3D-printed spacers superior to traditional mesh? The Fibonacci spiral pattern eliminates straight-line flow channels that cause fouling, while UV-cured polyacrylate provides precise control over channel geometry for customized applications.
How did Aqua Membranes choose Knoxville for manufacturing expansion? After evaluating 20 U.S. and Mexican locations, they selected Knoxville for its business environment, educational resources, and capacity to support 95 jobs with multi-shift expansion potential.
What role does Albuquerque play now that Knoxville is operational? Albuquerque transitions to R&D, focusing on co-creation with customers, testing new patterns and applications, including gas separation, while maintaining identical equipment to troubleshoot production issues.
When will the new printing technology become available? The second-generation process moves to Knoxville in March 2025, with commercial launch targeted for late 2026, offering faster speeds, improved tolerance, and lower costs.
#️⃣ Mentioned Links #️⃣
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The Most Ridiculous Water Technology I've Ever Analyzed (it was worth it!)
Can Cloud Harvesting Revolutionize Water Production? A Deep Dive into AirHES Technology🤫 Tired of stitching together Crunchbase, overpriced reports, and "a guy who knows a guy"? I built the fix. 50 Founder …
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Can Cloud Harvesting Revolutionize Water Production? A Deep Dive into AirHES Technology
🤫 Tired of stitching together Crunchbase, overpriced reports, and "a guy who knows a guy"? I built the fix. 50 Founder Seats. Join the waitlist: leviathandata.io
🙌 Supporters 🙌
A big thank you to my partner SimpleLab: https://link.dww.show/simplelab
⬇️ IN THIS EPISODE ⬇️
AirHES is a proposed atmospheric water harvesting technology that uses aerial collection systems (kites or balloons) with specialized mesh to capture cloud droplets. The collected water flows down through hoses, generating both pressurized freshwater and hydropower from the natural pressure head, claiming to potentially deliver the cheapest water and electricity on Earth.
This episode features my rigorous "10th man doctrine" analysis—applying contrarian due diligence to unconventional water technologies.
🌶️ KEY SPICES 🌶️
☁️ Cloud-level water capture using proven fog collection mesh technology with documented efficiencies from existing literature
💧 Dual revenue streams from both freshwater production (modeled at $0.10-0.21/m³) and hydropower generation from vertical pressure head
🎯 Potential niche applications for remote, cloudy, inland communities needing 10-200 m³/day where traditional desalination faces infrastructure challenges
🔬 Rigorous physics-based analysis revealing realistic costs of $0.30-0.60/m³ after accounting for downtime, maintenance, and operational constraints
⚖️ Technology requires overcoming complex engineering trade-offs between pipe weight, friction losses, buoyancy, wind loading, and airspace regulatory hurdles
🥜 IN A NUTSHELL 🥜
Does the technology actually work? The mesh physics and fog collection principles are sound and well-documented, but cloud-level capture efficiency, uptime, and real-world performance remain unproven until multi-month instrumented pilots are conducted.
What are the biggest technical challenges? Running kilometers of pressure hoses vertically requires solving complex trade-offs between pipe weight, friction losses, buoyancy, wind loading, and material costs—issues that significantly impact economic viability.
Where could AirHES actually succeed? The technology shows promise for remote, persistently cloudy inland communities far from coastlines, mining camps at elevation, and island interiors where traditional reverse osmosis faces permitting barriers or extreme infrastructure costs.
Is the electricity generation worthwhile? Power output represents only ~8% of revenue in AirHES's own models, with typical systems generating just 2-3 kW—barely enough to power a hair dryer—making it more of a distraction than a selling point.
Why pursue weird ideas like this? Taking unconventional technologies seriously, even when flawed, expands the "adjacent possible" in water innovation, generates valuable insights, and prevents the sector from getting trapped optimizing only conventional solutions like reverse osmosis.
#️⃣ Mentioned Links #️⃣
AirHES Technology
Packy McCormick's "Not Boring" newsletter
Send me your ideas: [email protected]
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What Does a Billion-Dollar Company Exit Really Look Like?
How Does Water-as-a-Service Drive Billion-Dollar Exits in Infrastructure Investment?🤫 Tired of stitching together Crunchbase, overpriced reports, and "a guy who knows a guy"? I built the fix. 50 Founder Seats …
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How Does Water-as-a-Service Drive Billion-Dollar Exits in Infrastructure Investment?
🤫 Tired of stitching together Crunchbase, overpriced reports, and "a guy who knows a guy"? I built the fix. 50 Founder Seats. Join the waitlist: leviathandata.io
🙌 Supporters 🙌
A big thank you to my partner SimpleLab: https://link.dww.show/simplelab
⬇️ IN THIS VIDEO ⬇️
Seven Seas Water Group is a vertically integrated water infrastructure platform that designs, builds, finances, operates, and maintains water and wastewater treatment facilities under long-term service agreements. The company recently completed a successful company exit from Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners to EQT Infrastructure, operating over 210 water-as-a-service contracts across the Caribbean and United States with particular expertise in brackish water desalination and decentralized treatment systems.
Henry Charrabe is the CEO of Seven Seas Water Group, who led the company through a successful four-year transformation and company exit, previously serving in executive roles at Fluence Corporation, and is recognized for pioneering the application of water-as-a-service business models in US municipal and industrial markets.
🌶️ KEY SPICES 🌶️
💰 Vertically integrated platform - Seven Seas handles design, engineering, financing, construction, and operations in-house, eliminating margin stacking for lower costs and faster execution than multi-partner water tech competitors
⚡ Proven track record at scale - 210+ active water purchase agreements with 15-30 year terms demonstrate repeatable success new entrants cannot easily replicate
🔄 Patient capital meets expertise - The company exit proves infrastructure investors holding 4+ years combined with deep water knowledge generate exceptional returns in underinvested US infrastructure
📊 Public vs private dynamics - Public water equities offer lower risk and liquidity; private funds deliver superior returns for patient capital—both forming a necessary growth ecosystem
🥜 IN A NUTSHELL 🥜
Why is water-as-a-service winning? Performance-based contracts align incentives—investors only get paid when delivering contracted water quality and quantity.
What makes the US market attractive? Massive infrastructure underinvestment, creditworthy municipal off-takers, and decentralized systems create exceptional deployment opportunities.
How do private and public returns differ? Private water investments achieve 10x returns with patient capital, while public equities deliver 14-15% annually with lower risk and immediate liquidity.
Why fewer IPOs today? Cyclical markets favor private-to-private exits when strategic buyers offer better valuations than public market multiples.
What's the biggest opportunity? Reducing waste beats new supply—California loses 32% to inefficiencies, making conservation more economically attractive than desalination.
#️⃣ Mentioned Links #️⃣
Seven Seas' website
Robin Castelli's book
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Company Failure: How SOURCE Lost Everything in Just 12 Months
🤔 What Happened to Source Global's Water-from-Air Technology?🤫 Tired of stitching together Crunchbase, overpriced reports, and "a guy who knows a guy"? I built the fix. 50 Founder Seats. Join the waitlist …
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🤔 What Happened to Source Global's Water-from-Air Technology?
🤫 Tired of stitching together Crunchbase, overpriced reports, and "a guy who knows a guy"? I built the fix. 50 Founder Seats. Join the waitlist: leviathandata.io
🙌 Supporters 🙌
A big thank you to my partner SimpleLab: https://link.dww.show/simplelab
My best water tech analysis straight to your inbox
SOURCE (formerly Zero Mass Water) produced drinking water from air using solar-powered Hydropanels.
Founded in 2015 by Cody Friesen, it raised $270 million, becoming one of water tech's most-funded companies - before turning into a Company Failure
🥜 IN A NUTSHELL 🥜
What was Source Global's core technology? Solar-powered Hydropanels that extract drinking water from atmospheric humidity, requiring no electrical or water infrastructure.
Why did the company fail despite massive funding? Ran out of cash after failing to raise funds, faced major quality issues from Malaysian manufacturing, and had unsustainable costs versus traditional water delivery, leading to company failure
What were the main product problems? High failure rates within 2-3 years, frequent fan and battery breakages, and warranty quietly reduced from 10 to 5 years.
Did Source attempt a business pivot? Acquired Proud Source Water and launched Sky Water, building Hydropanel farms to produce canned atmospheric water at scale.
What remains of Source Global today? The founder and executives left in early 2025. Hydropanels and Sky Water are out of stock, but the acquired Proud Source Water business continues operating despite the mother company failure
#️⃣ Mentioned Links #️⃣
SOURCE's SEC filings (over the years):
Source on Glassdoor
Source's troubles in Allensworth
My own interview with Source, four years ago
Source's website (still active)
Cody Friesen's LinkedIn profile
Proud Source Water's website
Thunderf00t's original video
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