Industries · Infrastructure
Water, waste and utilities
How water is found, cleaned, piped, billed and cleaned again; why desalination matters so much in the Gulf; how waste is collected, recycled, burned for energy or buried; how regulators set allowed returns and tariffs; and what non-revenue water, gate fees and circular economy rules mean for a case.
Key takeaways
- Water is heavy, cheap per litre and must reach every home through one set of pipes, so a water network is a local monopoly that is regulated or run by the state.
- A regulated water company does not choose its prices.
- Water and waste cases usually ask how to fund and deliver more investment without huge bill rises, how to fix a loss-making or leaking utility, whether to build a plant, or how to meet recycling targets.
- Explain the water and waste value chains and who earns money at each step
- Calculate non-revenue water, a regulated allowed revenue, the cost of desalinated water and the cost of a waste collection route
- Explain how a regulator sets tariffs from an asset base, an allowed return and cost allowances
- Describe how water and waste are run in the UK and Europe, the Gulf, India, Southeast Asia and the United States
- Crack typical water and waste cases, starting with the right driver
Lessons
How water and waste services work, and who pays for them
The water cycle from source to sewer, the waste chain from bin to landfill, how each is run in different regions, and the measures the industry watches.
Water and waste economics: regulated returns, tariffs, desalination and routes
How a regulator builds a water bill, what desalinated water really costs, why leaks and route density matter, and how landfill taxes push waste toward recycling.
Water and waste players, trends 2024 to 2026, and how to crack the cases
Who the players are by region, what changed from 2024 to 2026, circular economy rules, typical prompts, traps and drills.
Worked cases in this module
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Key terms