Frost: EU Directives, Tech Advancements Drive Euro Water, Wastewater Sector

March 14, 2007 // Published as a news service by IHS

According to Frost & Sullivan, technological advances and the widening provision of open systems will help overcome challenges such as ensuring highly compatible automation solutions, establishing strong systems-integrator networks and providing personal computer (PC)-based systems.

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Recent analysis from Frost & Sullivan found that the automation and control solutions market in the European water and wastewater sector earned revenues of $540.4M in 2006, with estimates to reach $780.9M in 2013.

"Stringent EU directives aimed at improving water and wastewater infrastructure are the primary driver for the growth of the market across Europe," said Frost & Sullivan research analyst Karthikeyan Balasubramaniyam.

"Investments toward achieving this goal will support the installation of new water and wastewater treatment plants in Eastern Europe - and in the Iberian region where the infrastructure is poor - and will provide fresh impetus to the automation and control solutions market."

Many parts of Eastern Europe and Iberia suffer from poor infrastructure with respect to water distribution and wastewater treatment. Accession countries will face the maximum impact of EU regulation owing to the timeframe within which these directives need to be implemented.

Analysts said there are already large-scale investments in water treatment plants in Eastern Europe and Iberia, as well as those in Italy and Benelux, with a resulting increase in the uptake of automation and control solutions.

One of the key challenges for manufacturers is to provide systems that seamlessly integrate with existing plant infrastructure, as plant personnel are keen to retain its value. Analysts said this explains the need to provide automation and control systems that are compatible with, and easy to integrate into, current systems.

"End-users are conservative about retrofitting existing systems in order to incorporate the latest automation and control solutions," said Balasubramaniyam. "Issues related to integration as well as refit costs are the two major factors underlying end-user reluctance and are either stopping or delaying the implementation of newer automation and control solutions."

To overcome this hurdle, analysts said manufacturers must provide automation systems that are compatible with existing plant installations. Through the efficient use of exploitation of existing instrumentation, manufacturers should continue to benefit from historical capital and resource expenditures. They also need to reassure customers about their products' compatibility and urge them to adopt new systems.

Source: Frost & Sullivan.