The Water Council, a nonprofit membership organization dedicated to advancing freshwater technology and water stewardship, signed memoranda of action (MOA) recently with water technology clusters in France and Spain, highlighting its growing international reach.
These agreements aim to facilitate collaboration and exchange of ideas, enable access to new markets for member organizations and support sustainable water technology advancement. The signings happened in Chicago during and just before WEFTEC, the world’s largest conference for water and wastewater professionals.
Karen Frost, The Water Council executive director, signed an MOA with Eric Servat, representing French water clusters Aqua-Valley and Aquanova, known jointly as Pôles EAU. The agreement pledges to promote each other’s programs, facilitate business relationships, and represent each other as key resources for companies entering the U.S. and French markets. The Water Council and Pôles EAU were MOU partners in 2014 when The Water Council began its cluster activities.
The MOA was signed at the French American Chamber of Commerce’s “Water4Future: The Great Lakes Example” in Chicago on Sept. 26. The event brought together students from French schools based in the U.S. along with their teachers, UNESCO representatives, and French diplomats and economic development specialists.
“If we’ve learned anything the last few years, it’s that water struggles can happen anywhere at any time,” Frost said. “That’s why it’s vital for The Water Council to work with clusters around the world in pursuit of a common goal: advancing water technology to solve global water challenges.”
On Sept. 29, Frost signed a similar MOA with Xavier Amores Bravo, director of the Catalan Water Partnership in Spain. This agreement renews an original agreement dating to 2018.
The partnership has borne significant results, including virtual and in-person exchanges between U.S. and Catalan companies. A Catalan company, SIGMADAF, was introduced to Clearwater Industries of Brown Deer, Wis., through this collaboration, and the businesses formed a joint venture to sell SIGMADAF’s wastewater treatment equipment in the U.S. So far, the venture has deployed four of SIGMADAF’s systems in the U.S., with more expected by the end of the year.
BGEO, another Catalan company, recently joined The Water Council and is looking to enter the U.S. market. BGEO uses open-source technology to provide utilities with digital twin solutions for water supply, urban drainage and sewerage networks, alongside services in urban infrastructure, environmental management and engineering projects.
“We treasure our relationship with the Catalan Water Partnership, one of our long-standing international collaborators, and we are excited to deepen our relationship with Aqua-Valley and Aquanova in France,” Frost said.