Water Lawyers | AKD Partners

Helping essential water and sanitation projects to succeed

Water is an increasingly scarce resource and demand is rising. We are involved in some of the world’s biggest and most complex water-related projects, helping our clients to achieve their project goals, ensure water security, and enable more sustainable management of resources.

We’ve worked on water projects around the world, driving efficient and innovative approaches to water production and management. This includes incorporating sustainable solutions such as renewable technology into world class water production and waste treatment solutions.

We act for developers, sponsors, lenders, contractors, operators, technology providers, consortia and governments on all aspects of water and wastewater. Our experience extends across project development, finance, and risks.

Our legal services cover due diligence, water-related transactions, mergers and acquisitions, financing, project bids, procurement, sovereign immunity, contracting authority, environmental issues, regulatory matters, commercial agreements, intellectual property, litigation, and dispute resolution.

In the US, we represent two of the largest water management companies in the world, American Water and Veolia.

In the Middle East, we’ve led the strategic transformation of the water sector, including procurement for the desalination requirements of Saudi Arabia, Oman and the UAE in line with their national visions.

We ve worked on water projects around the world, driving efficient and innovative approaches to water production and management.

In the UK, we’ve advised on PFI projects and design, build and operate (DBO) projects for utilities and developers, working with clients including United Utilities, Yorkshire Water, OFWAT, Scottish Water, Thames Water, and Market Operator Services Limited.

In Australia, we’ve advised Sydney Water and Melbourne Water, including collaborative delivery agreements and maintenance services agreements for their water networks. We’ve also been involved in the structuring, procurement, tendering, negotiation, and delivery of the Sydney Desalination Plant.

Our experience includes projects that aim to improve access to water supplies, identify alternative water supplies to meet rising demand, and deal with pollution. We’ve worked on deals that involve new technology such as reverse osmosis and desalination, in using reclaimed and treated sewage effluent, retrofitting wastewater systems, and building new capacity in water management and wastewater treatment.

Awards and recognition

Experience

Advising Kelda Water Services on a GBP42 million financing secured against the cashflow of three operational water/waste public-private partnerships.
Advising the Saudi Water Partnership Company, the entity authorized as the sole purchaser of desalinated, purified, treated and untreated water in Saudi Arabia on 13 different independent water, wastewater, storage and transmission projects, including in relation to 3.2 billion cubic meters per day of desalination capacity and 340,000 cubic meters per day of water treatment capacity.
Advising London Thames Gateway Development Corporation on the development of Beckton sewage works by Thames Water and on proposals for a desalination plant.
Advising American Water on their contract and implementation as the operator of the West Point Military Campus. Also representing them on the revitalization of all the wastewater facilities at that garrison.
Advising Veolia in the siting and permitting of a desalination water supply plant in the US.
Advising Veolia Water Australia regarding the potential expansion of the AUD1.8 billion Sydney Desalination Plant including the procurement process, and potential bidding strategies, negotiation of bid and delivery phase joint venture arrangements.
Advising Kelda Water Services Limited on their bid for Cardiff Waste Project. As part of this process, we advised on the direct wire long-term PPA planned to be put in place with Welsh Water.
Advising the lenders, Standard Bank and Nedbank, in connection with the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency-backed (MIGA) project financing of a reverse osmosis desalination plant in Ghana.
Advising the Omani government with four plants as a part of their independent water project program with a combined capacity of 930,000 cubic meters per day of desalination capacity.
Advising ENGIE International Power S.A. as lenders’ international and local counsel on the ADNOC procured Project Wave, two desalination plants with a combined capacity of 954,000 cubic meters per day with associated transmission pipelines in Abu Dhabi.