Frost & Sullivan Provides Regulatory Analysis

Eric Meliton, industry analyst from Frost & Sullivan, talks about the implementation of regulations and their impact on the water and wastewater industry – both in general terms, and with regard to specific mandates.

The following is an excerpt from a Q&A with Water Online Radio. Click on the Radio Player above to hear the full interview.

Water Online Radio: I always look at the economy as an external factor that has an influence on the water/wastewater treatment industry. And another external factor that is always significant is regulation. Can you talk a little be about the regulations in the U.S. and Canada, and in different pieces of the world?

Eric: Most of the coverage from my side is primarily focused on the U.S., even though I live in Canada. When I look at it from the U.S. side – what I tell clients when they talk to us about regulations all the time – is that regulation in itself is a major factor in terms of influencing investments, influencing selection of technology, changing some of the operations that are required. There are a lot of the restrictions and limitations in terms of discharge and operation requirements.

But at the same time, the regulations themselves only represent a part of what needs to be done. So, on the industrial side, a lot of the regulations have more to do with discharging, in terms of wastewater, and they don't really influence what types of technologies are to be used.

On the municipal side, regulations are put in place and, in many cases, they take five or seven years, or even longer, to have an implementation impact or impact on the water/wastewater industry overall.

So there are all these concessions put in place…