No 143L ‘And that is why communism is so good…’

It has been a week of contrasts. This morning, as I stood in a muddy field, 200 miles west of Shanghai, in a blisteringly cold wind I couldn’t help but think back 4 days to the warm desert sunshine of Las Vegas. This particular field is the site for Sembcorp’s visionary Nanjing International Water Hub and I was there to attend the ground-breaking ceremony. In 18 months’ time a magnificent building, shaped like a water droplet, will play host to a thriving mass of water-related technology companies from around the world. Today it was just cold and windy.

No launch event is complete without dancing girls. In Las Vegas the girls are selected for their youth, beauty and ability to be nubile in public. In Nanjing none of the girls were under 60 and there wasn’t an inch of flesh on display (everyone was robed from head to toe in a spectacular traditional Chinese costume of bright reds and yellows). Rather than an ability to be nubile the dancers had been selected based on their ability to cheerfully beat a drum or clash a cymbal. It is perhaps a mark of my increasing middle-agedness but I found watching a team of elderly ladies joyfully prance about fantastically enjoyable.

After a series of long speeches given by a seemingly endless array of local dignitaries we eventually reached the event climax: the ground breaking itself. Each of the dignitaries stood in a circle with a long golden shovel. A countdown commenced and when it reached zero they dug into the ground with mild frenzy as above them 2 tonnes of ticker-tape exploded into the air. Trumpets blasted, gongs clashed, tickertape blew everywhere. It will be a nightmare to clean up.

Last night at a celebratory pre-event banquet I found myself sitting next to the Chairwoman and MD for the China International Capital Corporation, one of the biggest and most powerful banks in the world. Faced with someone of such seriousness I put on my best behaviour and resisted the urge to simply stab the slippery dim sum with my chopstick (like wot I would at home), or tell inappropriate if mildly amusing anecdotes. Our conversation was staid but safe. That was until I asked how she and her colleagues in Beijing felt about the recent rhetoric from US Presidential hopeful Donald Trump. This was arguably the only time in the meal when she exhibited her real passion and personality. She launched into a compelling and heartfelt essay into how Donald Trump highlighted all that was wrong with democracy. How could someone of such crass insensitivity and such obvious self-interest become a credible candidate to lead a nation? It was, she felt, the ultimate vindication for why communism was the better model. I sharpened my chopstick, reached for the dumplings and decided it was time to tell that amusing story about my vasectomy.

I met her again this morning in the muddy field. She was only wearing a thin dress so I removed my coat and offered it to her. She thanked me politely but declined with a steely sense of dignity. She was from Beijing she said. In Beijing they had proper cold weather. This was nothing.

Like I say, it’s been a week of contrasts.

No 142: My Night with Leona and Natasha

Las Vegas is a soulless city. No culture. No history. And not much water either. As you fly in you can look down on Lake Mead, the reservoir that serves the city, and see a clear white rim around the edge showing how the water level has dropped by a staggering 140 ft since 2000. The water level is now lower than it has ever been, and it continues to fall. It is surely only a matter of time before the city runs dry completely. But give the city credit, Las Vegas knows how to party.

I was in town for a special summit on Digital Water. Convened by the Canadian private equity firm XPV they had invited 30 senior executives from key organisations in both water and digital comms. It is still somewhat a mystery as to how I got on the guest list but there I was, ready to play my part. I knew I was out of my depth when one of the first people I met told me he had been ‘employee no 83 at Apple’ back in the late 1970s. He had even introduced Steve Jobs to his wife. At lunch I found myself sitting next to a delightful man who I subsequently learnt is a Senior Advisor to the Executive Office of the President. Fascinated I queried him on the Oval office and his dealings with his boss. Apparently the way to strike a chord with President Obama is to talk about your kids, or rather his kids. It is good to know that the most powerful man on the planet has a heart.

I learnt many things through the day. There are 25 billion ‘connected devices’ in the world today. That’s almost 4 per person. I only have 3, which makes me feel more inadequate than usual. When 5G is launched in 2019 it will be 4 orders of magnitude faster than the 2G connections we used in 2005. Thank heavens, films will download in just 3 seconds rather than 30. Every minute there are 700,000 internet searches undertaken, 320 new twitter accounts opened and (particularly relevant here) 1500 new blogs posted. About the only thing that isn’t growing in the digital world is email, which has stayed relatively static at a mere 168 million emails per minute. Apparently sending emails just isn’t de rigour for the new generation. Perhaps they have retrograded to writing letters.  

As a group we put our minds to the task of resolving what modern digital technology could do to improve the water sector. Our findings would be fed into a special White House summit next week so it was not a task to be taken lightly. If we can now put microchips in our bloodstream to tell us what to eat/when to exercise/how to sit properly (even just thinking of this makes me feel miserable) then, surely, we can also devise on-line, point-of-use, real-time water quality sensors?

Perhaps not surprisingly our big conclusion was that water quality data should be democratized and made available to all. When looking to name a single action that would propel forward the sector and enable a step change in digitization then this is undoubtedly it. Not very sexy. Not very radical. Nigh on impossible.

 After the debate we gathered for an evening of entertainment courtesy of Cirque du Soleil. Once a year Cirque holds a charity event dedicated to the water-charity One Drop. Before the show commenced there was a silent auction with prizes that included a walk-on part in the forthcoming movie ‘Fifty Shades of Grey 2’, and a McLaren 675LT Sports Car. $6.5million was raised without anyone breaking into a sweat. How very Vegas. Like all Cirque extravaganzas the show involved ridiculously beautiful people doing ridiculous things, usually on a trapezes 30m above the stage and while wearing ridiculously little.

It was at the after-show party that the real spirit of Las Vegas kicked in. Leona Lewis having performed in the show then spent the evening laughing and being beautiful in a smoky side room, while the ever-lovely Natasha Beddingfield belted out some terrific numbers on the stage (despite clearly mislaying her entire wardrobe bar her underwear, brave girl). Leonardo di Caprio and Mark Ruffalo (aka The Hulk) were apparently also present but I didn’t want them nagging me for an autograph so I slipped away shortly before 1am.

As I write this the lights from The Strip glow through my hotel window. It is just coming up to 1.30am locally. It is 830am in London. Another day dawns. Time for a long glorious soak in the shower perhaps?

No 141: Happy 10th Birthday WEX

Last night WEX, the Water and Energy Exchange, celebrated its 10^th anniversary with a Gala Dinner held in Lisbon. For those not familiar with WEX over the last decade it has grown to become one of the foremost networking events, initially for European and Middle Eastern entities but with an increasing geographic reach.

Immediately prior to the dinner I participated as a judge in a technical innovation competition where 5 companies pitched against each other. Control Point told explained how they reduce leakage by ensuring the efficacy of joint repairs (and getting an appropriately decent if childish snigger from the audience when they talked about Butt Fusion). Hawle shared secrets from the sex life of Zebra mussels, noting their mission (rather un-sportingly I felt) is to ruin their amorous intentions. EDI went a step further and gave the judges a sample of their fine bubble aeration membranes, plus a piece of course sandpaper, and challenged us to destroy it. We all failed. It is quite a spectacular piece of material.

It was a close run thing but the winner was Arvia. Arvia have developed an innovative way of removing recalcitrant industrial pollutants from wastewaters. Be it hospital waste, nuclear waste, or pharmaceutical waste they simply chew it up and remove it. However the fact that stuck with me most from their presentation was that ibuprofen passes through conventional wastewater treatment processes completely untouched. This is possibly good if you are a fish with a headache, but it doesn’t seem right somehow.

It was a good night. This year WEX even had some Americans attend. I couldn’t help but wonder what they made of the Portuguese meal start time of almost 10pm. They may have also found it slightly odd when Frank Rogalla (Aqualia, Head of Innovation) sang in German a birthday folk song. This was followed by Pavel Policar, Chairman of the Czech Water Association, on guitar leading the audience in a rousing Happy Birthday chorus. You may find this hard to believe but I confess to being one of the ringleaders behind this slightly quirky turn of events. It felt like we should mark the occasion with something just a little bit different.

Well done Arvia. Happy Birthday WEX!