As Congress has seemingly crawled across the finish line for a momentous infrastructure bill, executives in the water sector have expressed some frustration that the total amount of the bill is not enough to take on the myriad of challenges. Bluefield’s Greg Goodwin and Reese Tisdale take a more optimistic and expansive view of the bill and share thoughts on the basics, where the dollars are going, and who might be the winners.

Recent news headlines and what they could mean for the water sector.

• Gradiant, an onsite, industrial water treatment solutions provider and project developer announced US$100 million in Series C funding. The round was led by Warburg Pincus and Schlumberger New Energy. The round brings Gradiant’s total funding to date to over US$200 million since inception. In recent years the company has built out its Asia footprint via acquisitions of Sigma Water (Malaysia) and CRS Water (Australia).

• AECOM has launched Digital AECOM to help clients accelerate their digital positions. The strategy will follow two paths: Digital Consulting Services and Digital Products. The latter will include its PlanEngage product that focuses on stakeholder engagement and planning process and PlanSpend that is a capital planning platform. Given the role of EPCs as gatekeepers of sorts to capital and operating investment decisions, this represents another important player moving into digital solutions and products.