Southern Africa is a hyper-dry region. This geo-climatic reality combined with high levels of poverty and high dependence on natural resources, particularly within critical catchment areas, has resulted in water over-abstraction and land degradation pressures on already dwindling fresh water resources. Management and optimisation of these scarce water resources is a priority within SADC states. This can be seen in the various regional protocols and agreements ratified and in the proliferation of integrated water resource management programmes. Payments for environmental goods and services, water quality control and monitoring, and wastewater treatment for re-use are now ubiquitous practises in the region. Even water service delivery has been semi-privatised in certain SADC countries allowing specialised companies to manage water use and distribution more efficiently while governments set new policies, monitor policy implementation and regulation.
The South African wastewater chemical treatment markets offer good growth prospects for companies, according to business research group Frost and Sullivan. In South Africa improved legislative enforcement in the water and waste water sector as prescribed by the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry is boosting demand for technology solutions that can cope with the challenges faced by water users in South Africa. It is forecasted that revenues in the local water and wastewater chemical treatment markets will more than double between 2006 and 2013, to US$258-million. Frost and Sullivan’s research findings show that the South African water and wastewater equipment markets alone earned revenues of US$133.50 million in 2005 and estimates this to reach US$228.9 million in 2012
In Namibia, Angola and South Africa, desalination and water treatment technologies have generated substantial project development interest. Owing to current and future water shortages, particularly in coastal areas, desalination technologies are also gaining in significance. In fact, the South African desalination plant market earned revenues of US$23 million in 2006, and Frost and Sullivan estimated that this value would more than triple to reach US$69,7-million in 2013. In the past few months a ZAR3.5 billion desalination plant has been announced for the integrated development zone known as Coega in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. In Namibia, several sites have been earmarked for desalination plants including wave energy and desalination pilot plants scheduled for later this year.
South Africa is set to spend in excess of US$50 billion as the ASGISA programme unfolds in the next decade. While this money will be used to develop a number of social amenities including water and wastewater treatment plants, South African municipalities are also set to increase their water capacities to take care of their aging water management infrastructure. This will act as a catalyst for growth in the region.
In addition, water quality technologies and bottled mineral water brands in particular have proliferated across the southern African markets. Many of these companies have demonstrated substantial growth over the past five years.
Inspired Evolution will make focussed investments in the water quality and water management sector into technologies and services that are proven at scale which have vast potential for scalability across the region.