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Global Water Crisis: Surge In APAC Engineering Jobs

Posted on March 2019

Water dam

โ€‹Tapping into career opportunities in water sustainability in the Asia-Pacific region

Climate change, population growth, and poor management of water resources have pushed the global water crisis to a tipping point. The Asia-Pacific region will be hard hit unless the crisis is averted with better management and new technologies. The United Nations World Water Development Report 2019 notes that 1.9 billion peopleโ€”or one-quarter of all humanityโ€”live in Asia, where water is potentially severely scarce

Singapore Leads Water Preservation Solutions

The imminent threat of water scarcity is being addressed. Some Asian countries - Singapore in particular - areย centresย of research and development (R&D) excellence when it comes to environmentally sustainable water and wastewater solutions. For example, Singaporeans drink NEWaterโ€” the reclaimed wastewater treated with advanced membrane technologies and ultra-violet disinfection that is produced by The Public Utilities Board (PUB). They also opened their third desalination plant in June 2018.

Preserving water resources is deeply entrenched in Singapore. The PUB recently launched an awareness campaign called โ€œMake Every Drop Count.โ€ The awareness campaign coincides with PUBโ€™s awarding of a major contract for the Tuas Water Reclamation Plant. According to the PUB, theย advanced Tuas WRP will receive used water flows from the western part of Singapore by gravity through two separate deep tunnels: a tunnel to convey domestic (municipal) used water and another to convey high-strength industrial used water. The two sources of wastewater will be treated separately.

Crisis Drives Demand for APAC Water Solutions Professionals

Not surprisingly, LVI Associatesโ€™ consultants have observed a major uptake in demand forย chartered or professional engineers with experience with wastewater treatment plants or water reclamation plants.

Research and Markets reported that the Southeast Asian industrial water solutions market, which includes water and wastewater treatment solutions for industries such as design & engineering, operations and maintenance, and spare parts, will experience steady growth.ย Research and Markets forecasted that the market is likely to grow at a compound annualย growth rate of 8.8 percent until 2022.ย Singapore and Malaysia are currently the hotspots, but activity is expected to increase in Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines, as both the government sector and industrial sectors in these countries are realizing the immediate need for better water and wastewater management.

With increasingly strict environmental regulations in place,ย consultants at LVI Associates have noted a trend of international companies that are trying to break into the water industries have found a niche market inย the treatment of water discharged from power/chemical plants beforeย itsย released back into water systems.

Innovation In Water-Treatment Technologies

Water companies continually strive to invent innovative, efficientย water-treatment technologies, and improve on existing ones. Thereโ€™s an increase collaborative work in R&D labs and on water treatment plants and breakthroughs in patented water-treatment products are purchased as soon as they hit the market.

There are alsoย myriadย opportunities in research and development in the areas of plant upgrades to realize more efficiency, decentralized water treatment,ย riverapplication, and water treatment along highways.

Job Opportunities For Experienced Engineers

Are you a Business Development/Sales and Technical engineer with experience in:

  • Product development

  • Water management

  • Water/wastewater treatment plants

  • Desalination plants

Or an engineer with experience in:

  • Water management

  • Water cycle

Submit your CVย today so our specialist LVI Associates consultants can connect you with career opportunities to work on cutting-edge, environmentally sustainable projects.

If you are looking to grow your team,ย share your hiring briefย with us, we are happy to assist.

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About Us

LVI Associates is the leading specialist recruitment agency for the infrastructure sector. We were born from the fusion of two existing companiesโ€”Laking Group and Viridium Associates who recruited for the oil and gas and renewable energy markets. While working for some of the largest energy companies in the world, we realised that we could transform more careers and support greater projects and companies by opening our services to the wider infrastructure market. More than the sum of our parts, today LVI Associates provides permanent, contract and multi-hire recruitment from our global hubs in Boston, London and Singapore. Contact us to find out more.