It is an irrefutable fact that water is one of the most important gifts that nature has bestowed on us. Its uses are unlimited! From drinking to cooking to cleaning to probably about 50% of our activities revolve around or involve water. Can you imagine your life without this necessity? Just give yourself a minute and imagine your life without this blessing. You couldn’t go through 15 minutes of your day, can you?
Apart from helping humans go about their daily lives, this majestic liquid has a ton of health benefits. Water helps create saliva which is essential for breaking down foods as it goes through your system. It is also necessary to regulate body temperature. It improves your circulation while simultaneously fighting off a host of bacteria! So many benefits but our world is on the verge of a massive water crisis. Did you know that less than 1% of the available water on earth is fresh? The supply of this essential element is not meeting the demand. This is due to many factors, climate change being one of them. Unequal distribution of water around the world, mostly due to geographic locations results in some very wet and others very dry regions. This added by the surge in demand for fresh water across the globe has exacerbated the problem, which is why the World Economic Forum listed the Water Crisis as a global risk in 2019, with potential impact within the next decade!
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To get a better idea, here’s a rundown of the problem:
More than half a billion people around the globe face a shortage of water the whole year. (American Association for the Advancement of Science). Meanwhile, at least 4 billion people, which makes up about two thirds of the world population, face severe water shortage at least a month in a year according to Huffington Post and the World Economic Forum. Approximately, half of the biggest cities in the world don’t have enough water to meet their inhabitant’s needs as per the World Economic Forum.
There are a whole host of reasons why we are running out of water but most of them are economic. It is due to the lack of investments in infrastructure development and poor health care as well as lack of updated technology to draw out fresh water. Almost one quarter of the world faces water scarcity due to economic problems. These problems also lead to waterborne diseases. These diseases are caused by a lack of sanitation and hygiene which is the problem of third world countries. These diseases are a leading cause of death for children under five years of age. Water borne diseases are noted to be caused by unclean drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene at least 88 percent of the time, according to studies conducted by the World Bank. According to a United Nations report in 2006, the major reason for these issues, including the economic problems is poor governance. They site that it is due to poor management of the available resources that the population is facing these issues and that if managed correctly, the water resources are enough and should cater to the needs of everyone.
A big part of the problem is wastewater management. Poor disposal of chemicals and mismanagement of wastewater is extremely detrimental to the growing problem of Water pollution. It is a company’s social responsibility to minimize their adverse effects on the planet as much as possible. Especially since larger companies use large amounts of chemicals and leave large by products and wastewater, they cause frightening damage to the environment. Due to these ignorant antics, large companies saw fines of £440,000 on average in 2017, with risks of imprisonment.
There are efforts being made from all over the world to tackle this issue but we are still getting closer and closer to worldwide drought. The availability of clean and pure drinking water is no. 6 in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. The official words of the goal are “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.” Water treatment companies are doing their part and are slowly but surely tackling this problem. Many developed countries mandate that tap water should be safe enough to drink, a though that most developing countries can’t even envision. You can learn further if you visit the countries with the cleanest tap water in the world. By introducing state of the art solutions designed from the latest technologies, these companies are helping find people all over the world safe and healthy drinking water. These companies have also made it their mission to rid the world of wastewater and use it in an effective and safe way. Here we have a list of the biggest water treatment companies in the world. The rankings and listings have been compiled from Meticulousblog, Pulp and Paper Technology, and the daily records.
15. Gravity Flows System Inc.
Starting off with number 15 we have Gravity Flows. It is a privately owned corporation and is headquartered in Dripping Springs, Texas. The company has been offering wedge water filter merchandise for over four decades. It was originally called Hendricks Fluid systems but changed in early 1970. It uses stainless steel wedge wire for sludge drying and dewatering.
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14. 3M
3M (NYSE:MMM)is an American multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Saint Paul, Minnesota in the United States. They specialize in industry, worker safety, health care and of course, water treatment solutions. The company was founded in June 13 of 1902 in Two Harbors, Minnesota. It additionally deals in water infrastructure like protective water pipes, shielding wastewater pipes and tanks, protective water tanks and potable water rehabilitation products. It has operations in North America, Asia Pacific, Africa, the Middle East and Europe.
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13. BASF SE
With headquarters in Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Germany, BASF SE is involved in the manufacture and supply of different products. BASF Corporation is its largest affiliate. Originally an acronym for Badische Anilin- und Soda-Fabrik, the letters BASF are now a registered trademark. The company is listed in the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Zurich Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange. It was founded in 1865 and provides products for oil and gas production, water treatment, the paper industry and health care.
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12. Evoqua Water Technologies
Evoqua Water Technologies (NYSE: AQUA) was founded in 2013 and has its headquarters in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania in the United States. It has operations in Europe, the Asia Pacific, Latin America, North America, Middle East and Africa. It is dedicated to the designing, development and manufacturing of water and wastewater treatment systems. It offers its services through mining, food and beverage, drinking water, municipal wastewater treatment and aquatics. It was called Siemens before it was acquired by AEA and changed its name in early 2014.
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11. Dow Water and Process Solutions
Founded in 1985, Dow Water and Process Solutions (NYSE: DOW) is a filtration, purification and separation technology expert for businesses, consumers, industries and municipalities around the globe. It is established in Edina, U.S. According to its website, it offers a broad range of services in ion exchange resins, reverse osmosis membranes, ultrafiltration membranes, particle filters and electrode ionization products. DuPont is its parent Organization. It has operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and North and Latin America.
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10. United Utilities
Headquartered in Warrington, United Kingdom, United Utilities Group was founded in 1995. It is one of UK’s largest provider or water and wastewater services in the North West of England including Greater Manchester, Cumbria, Lancashire, Merseyside, Derbyshire and Cheshire. It supplies water to a population of 7.3 million people across the regions. It has an impressive portfolio of serving 3 million households and about 200,000 businesses. It was the result of a merger between North West Water and North Western Electricity Board (NORWEB). It also operates renewable energy facilities.
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9. Kingspan Environmental Ltd.
With its headquarters in Galway, Ireland, Kingspan Environmental Ltd. is one of Ireland’s biggest water treatment company. It started off as a small engineering business in Kingscourt, Ireland in 1965. It now operates in about 70 countries. Kingspan offers its services in architectural façade systems, insulation, insulated panel systems, ductwork and wastewater management amongst others. It also offers products for harvesting rainwater, and fuel storage. The company provides waste oil tanks and single skin heating and grit bits, agricultural water troughs, outdoor recycling bins, road barriers and pipe insulation products.
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8. Xylem Inc.
One of America’s largest water technology provider, Xylem Inc. (NYSE: XYL) was founded in 2011. It operates in public utility, commercial, residential, industrial and agricultural settings. Its services are spread across more than 150 countries. Its headquarters are in Rye Brook, U.S. and it operates through three business segments; Applied Water, Sensus and Water Infrastructure.
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7. Severn Trent
Based in the United Kingdom and part of the Severn Trent plc. group, the company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a member of FTSE 100 Index. It was founded in 1989 and has its headquarters in Coventry United Kingdom. Amongst its services is providing residential places water hygiene systems to keep away bacterial attacks. It also provides cooling tower systems, steam boiler systems, industrial and domestic water systems etc.
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6. Veolia Water
The Water division of the French company Veolia Environment, Veolia Water was founded in 1853. It is one of the largest suppliers of water services. It designs and builds drinking water production, and wastewater treatment plans and produces filtration and media equipment for its municipal and industrial clients. Veolia provides solutions geared in technology to science, research and industrial companies.
5. Kurita Water Industries
Kurita Water Industries is based in Japan and was founded in late 1949. The company has an impressive profile of 14 subsidiaries and affiliates. Their portfolio of services include ultrapure water production systems, water treatment systems, wastewater treatment systems, and waste water reclamation systems. It started off as just a boiler water treatment company but expanded into the water treatment facility business in 1951 and established its first Research & Development center. In 1961, it became listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the Osaka Securities Exchange.
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4. Nalco Water
Nalco Water is the Daughter Company of Ecolab (NYSE: ECL). It is based in Illinois and is a supplier of water, energy and air improvement solutions and services for the industrial and the institutional markets. Founded in 1928, Nalco Water is headquartered in Naperville, Illinois, United States. It was formed from the merger of Chicago Chemical Company and the Aluminum Sales Corporation and was originally named the National Aluminate Corporation. Ecolab acquired it in the December of 2011. It serves approximately 70,000 customers over 130 countries.
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3. American Water Works Co.
Founded in 1886, American Water Works (NYSE: AWK) is a public utility company with its operations in the United States and Canada. It changed its name from American Water Works and Guarantee Company to American Water Works and Electric Company. It has its headquarters in Camden, New Jersey, USA. Its services include water line protection, sewer line protection, in home emergency program, electric line protection and water heater protection amongst others. The AWWC operates in 16 states and serves approximately 1600 communities.
2. GE Water and Process Technologies
For our runner up we have GE Water and Process Technologies. Headquartered in Feasterville-Trevose, Pennsylvania, United States, the company has been acquired by the French company SUEZ. It provides services to industrial and municipal clients. They also tackle water related issues for energy and environment.
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1. Thames Water Utilities
Thames Water Utilities is our top company for our list of 15 biggest water treatment companies in the world. It mainly serves as the primary water supplier and the waste water treatment facility in the major parts of England. It was founded in 1989 as a private utility company. It is owned by Kemble Water Holdings Ltd. Thames Water Utilities supply approximately 2.6 gig liters of water per day. They mainly offer drinking water systems, recycled wastewater systems and bio-solid fertilizing systems.
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This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.