Feasibility of Novel Leak Detection Technology in the Water Industry
Abstract
Demand for water is expected to increase along with global population, putting pressure
on industries that provide and consume the resource to do so more efficiently. One
solution is to limit the water loss from leaking infrastructure. Water loss due to
leaks exceeds 50 percent worldwide, and 15 percent in the U.S. As the price of water
increases, the value of this leaking water will as well, financially incentivizing
the employment of water loss solutions. This analysis explores the leak detection
market opportunities for PFT Technology LLC and BaseTrace within the water industry.
PFT Technology LLC and BaseTrace currently produce leak detection technology targeting
the electric utility and hydro- fracturing industries respectively. The primary goal
of this project was to identify water-related markets for these two companies to enter.
This feasibility analysis is broken down into four sections: 1) Industry Evaluation
2) Expert Interviews 3) Regulatory Analysis and 4) Financial Modeling.
After review of a number of markets within the water industry, the Water Supply and
Distribution market proved to be an economically viable market for PFT to enter, while
BaseTrace’s technology would be more competitive in the Petroleum Brownfield Market.
We projected future water prices and geographic variations in US markets. PFT’s ability
to trace leaks underground could generate large value in the Northeast, where leaked
water currently incurs the highest costs. However, we believe their technology could
potentially spread throughout the U.S as the value of water increases in different
geographic regions according to our price projection data.
Type
Master's projectPermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/8531Citation
Howard, Drew; & Sharma, Sidharth (2014). Feasibility of Novel Leak Detection Technology in the Water Industry. Master's project, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/8531.Collections
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