Antoine Frérot, the head of the water division of Veolia Environnement, a French firm, promotes recycling, whereby city wastewater is treated until it can be used in industry or agriculture.
Already, the firm boasts of serving 100m customers; Gérard Payen, the boss of its water division, sees revenue from water increasing from euro8 billion ($7.7 billion) to euro13 billion within five years.Such ambition fuels the suspicions of those who fear that the poor will be the first victims.
"Our big bet is on water scarcity," says George Oliver, 45, who took over as head of the water division in 2002 after running GE's $5 billion-a-year aircraft service business.
Jacques Petry, chief executive of Ondeo, the water division of Suez, explained in Paris that Suez's original investment plan foresaw the installation of sewers.
Richard Girardot, chairman of the French mineral water division of Nestlé, told Agence France-Presse, that the company was considering other options as well and that a decision would be made in September.
Luis Castilla, president of Acciona's water division, tried ERI pressure exchangers in Peru in 2002 and now designs all of his big plants around them.
Alexis Strauss, the director of the E.P.A.'s water division for the Western states, said the governor's approval of $5 million for additional manpower for the water quality boards would probably help resolve the defense council's concerns in Los Angeles.
Nestlé, the bottler of Perrier mineral water, said yesterday that it had bought the Powwow bottled water division of Hutchison Whampoa for 560 million euros ($604 million) in cash and debt to become Europe's largest seller of bottled water for home and office delivery.
In Florida, the water division of the Orlando Utilities Commission is using IIoT technology to remind employees of protocol procedures when dangerous chlorine leaks are detected.
Mr. Quagliano, 26, works in Stamford, Conn., as a sales manager for the North American bottled water division of Nestlé, the Swiss food products company.
