Water technology innovation doesn’t happen in isolation. It requires a deep understanding of global challenges, strategic vision and the technical expertise to develop solutions that address both immediate needs and long-term sustainability goals.
At Veolia, our dedicated team of growth initiative leaders drives this work forward across some of the industry’s most critical areas. Each initiative was selected through rigorous evaluation of market potential, customer needs and alignment with Veolia’s mission of ecological transformation.
In a new video series, these leaders share their perspectives on the challenges their customers face, the technologies that will define the industry’s future and what drives their passion for water.
Bill Heins leads Veolia’s New Market Development and Growth Initiative team with a clear philosophy of building around a unified vision for the future of water.
“We always try to look at these markets that we develop from our customers’ perspective,” Heins said. “Over the years, we’ve evaluated upwards of 60 potential areas of focus, and we’ve narrowed it down to about a dozen that we’re working on with customers. Each of these initiatives addresses issues that are critical to the success of our customers, as well as solving problems that are core to Veolia’s mission, purpose and our GreenUp program. Specifically, we’re addressing challenges that involve things like micropollutant removal, including PFAS (Per-and PolyFluoroAlkyl Substances), biological wastewater treatment, critical metal mining and recovery, ultrapure water treatment for areas like microelectronics and pharmaceuticals, and helping address climate issues through areas such as carbon capture, clean hydrogen production and alternative fuels. Everything that we do as a team is meant to address both customers’ technical and commercial challenges, while simultaneously addressing issues that are important to Veolia and define Veolia’s purpose.”
Protecting public health and water quality
PFAS contamination is one of the most pressing water quality challenges facing municipalities and industries today. What makes our approach effective is the combination of complex analysis expertise with proven treatment technologies that can remove these persistent contaminants to non-detect levels. John Peichel leads Veolia’s PFAS growth initiative, helping customers understand and address contamination that often goes undetected until testing reveals its presence
“People are amazed that things in water you can’t see, like dissolved salt in seawater, for example, can be removed in a single filtration step, giving clean, potable water that can be used by people or by industry,” Peichel said.
Watch Peichel’s full interview.
Turning wastewater into drinking water
Water scarcity is intensifying worldwide, and communities under pressure need diversified supplies to sustain the resource. Steve Katz leads Veolia’s potable water reuse initiative, applying advanced treatment technologies to turn wastewater into safe drinking water.
“In 2050, what we're going to see is widespread adoption by societies around the world of advanced water treatment and advanced water recycling to create fresh water supplies,” Katz said. “It’s going to be something that society realizes is not just a concept, but it's something that they need.”
Intensifying wastewater treatment
Biological wastewater treatment has been around for decades, but new technologies are making it more efficient, sustainable and adaptable to diverse customer needs. Jeff Peeters leads Veolia’s biological wastewater intensification efforts, bringing advanced aerobic wastewater treatment technologies to facilities that need to expand capacity, improve effluent quality or recover water for reuse.
“The ecological transformation includes elements of decarbonization, depollution, regeneration, and the technologies that we have in the portfolio for biological wastewater intensification absolutely address that,” Peeters said. “An example would be ZeeWeed* MBR to recover water for reuse. Another example is ZeeLung* MABR, which allows us to augment the capacity of a wastewater treatment plant to improve nutrient removal performance. What excites me is the intersection between the problems that customers have and the technology that we’re bringing to market that allow us to solve these challenges in a more cost-effective and sustainable way.”
Watch Peeters’ full interview.
Safeguarding pharmaceutical manufacturing
When pharmaceutical production is interrupted, it can cost manufacturers $100,000 to $500,000 per hour. Tom Perry leads Veolia’s pharmaceutical growth initiative, providing water treatment, analytical tools and services that help manufacturers maintain product quality while minimizing their environmental footprint.
“It’s been a fascination of mine since I was a kid,” Perry said. “Water is one of five substances on Earth that’s less dense when it’s solid than when it’s liquid. So we can only imagine what the world would look like if that wasn’t true. Floating ice sheets and everything that uses them wouldn’t exist. Your ice cream float would be your ice cream sink.”
Treating water at the atomic level
Semiconductor manufacturing demands water of extraordinary purity, and the requirements grow more stringent with every new generation of chips. Alfredo Zepeda leads Veolia’s microelectronics ultrapure water and wastewater reclamation initiatives, treating complex manufacturing waste into a resource that can be reused.
“A perfect example for the speed of innovation is our cell phones,” Zepeda said. “Every two years, we expect smaller, faster devices, and water is a key ingredient for its fabrication.”
Watch Zepeda’s full interview.
Powering the energy transition
The shift toward renewable energy and electric vehicles presents new challenges for water treatment, particularly in the context of lithium production and carbon management. Marty Scanlan leads Veolia’s work in these areas, where water treatment expertise becomes essential to enabling the broader energy transition.
“One of the questions I often get is, ‘Why is Veolia focused on decarbonization and lithium?’ Veolia is the world’s largest water treatment company. We have a carbon footprint that is pretty significant,” Scanlan said. “We also are not just a water treatment company. We’re a power company. We deal with energy. If you combine those, it’s very important that Veolia is in it for ourselves to do this and how we work with these growth initiatives and the technologies we employ, there’s going to be many different solutions for many different opportunities. Whether it’s working for ourselves or helping our customers with decarbonization or energy storage, the water treatment associated with it is critical to what we do.”
Watch Scanlan’s full interview.
Developing tomorrow’s innovations
While many growth initiatives solve urgent problems, others prepare for markets that will define the next several decades. Nelson Fonseca leads Veolia’s work in renewable hydrogen and fuels, building expertise for an energy transition that’s still emerging.
“There’s a lot of goals for 2050, obviously, the net-zero CO2 emissions that many, many countries have signed onto,” Fonseca said. “So that’s a goal in general for much of the globe, and I think hydrogen is going to play a big part in that. We’re going to be seeing a lot of major production, a real shift away from fossil fuels. Hydrogen and its derivative fuels are going to become more and more commonplace in our everyday lives, in our industry, in lots of different applications everywhere.”
Watch Fonseca’s full interview.
These growth initiatives demonstrate Veolia’s commitment to developing solutions that meet both customer needs and broader environmental objectives. Each addresses specific technical challenges while contributing to the company’s strategy to depollute, decarbonize and regenerate resources. Learn more about Veolia’s GreenUp program and follow this series as additional growth leaders share their perspectives on the future of water technology.
