Updated infrastructure isn’t a pipe dream

As water quality standards grow stricter and infrastructure ages out of service, municipal leaders across the globe are exploring how to deliver safe, compliant water services without overwhelming a limited budget.

From elevated nitrogen and ammonia limits to new PFAS requirements, today’s regulatory landscape demands immediate action. Yet many small towns and utilities are constrained by outdated treatment plants, funding gaps, and staffing shortages. While public works departments might wait years for grant cycles or bond approvals, compliance deadlines keep approaching.

This is a great opportunity to utilize the build-own-operate (BOO) infrastructure delivery model. This performance-based solution is gaining ground among municipalities because it bypasses obstacles that can delay or derail infrastructure upgrades.

What Is the BOO Model?

The BOO model offers a clear and compelling value. Instead of owning and managing a water treatment plant, a municipality partners with a private company that assumes full responsibility for financing, constructing, operating, and maintaining the system. In return, the municipality pays a predictable monthly or volume-based fee for service.

For municipal projects, BOO agreements fall under the umbrella of public-private partnerships (PPPs), an infrastructure delivery model that’s expanding rapidly. Governments worldwide are enacting legal frameworks to regulate and encourage PPPs, recognizing their potential to modernize infrastructure without straining public budgets. The World Bank’s PPP Legal Framework tracks these developments globally.

While BOO arrangements are common in sectors like energy (independent power producers) and transportation (privately operated toll roads), they’re becoming more popular in water and wastewater infrastructures because of their adaptability, financial flexibility, and speed of implementation.

BOO agreements replace the traditional design-bid-build delivery mode, which often requires upfront capital and lengthy procurement and permitting cycles, and it places the operational burden squarely on municipalities. In contrast, BOO agreements shift technical and financial risk to private partners. For the municipality, that means no unexpected repair bills, no capital planning headaches, no keeping up with regulatory frameworks, and no pressure to staff complex, technical operations.

Why BOO Appeals to Small Municipalities

The BOO model is especially advantageous for smaller and underserved communities that struggle with limited financial and operational capacity.

• Investment is protected: Municipal administrations and political moods may change, but BOO agreements last for long contract terms. They provide expert maintenance, so plants never suffer costly failures from neglect, as with the high-profile crisis in Jackson, Mississippi.
• Limited capital budgets: BOO eliminates the need to secure loans, issue municipal bonds, or wait for funding cycles. The private partner generally finances the entire project.
• Urgent compliance deadlines: With streamlined procurement and modular construction, systems can go online quickly.
• Staffing constraints: BOO contracts include operation and maintenance by trained professionals, relieving local governments of the staffing burden at a time when the water workforce is dramatically shrinking because of retirements.
• Future-proofing: BOO contracts include remote monitoring and scheduled upgrades to ensure that the system stays up to date and in compliance, year after year.

These advantages make BOO especially valuable in regions where infrastructure is aging faster than governments can fund replacements. The model provides a lifeline for compliance and builds long-term resiliency.

Beyond long-term appeal for smaller towns, BOO offers immediate, measurable benefits that set it apart from traditional infrastructure approaches.

Key Benefits of the BOO Approach

Municipalities that have delayed replacements and upgrades for financial reasons can benefit from exploring BOO solutions to deliver essential upgrades now.

• Speed: Traditional infrastructure projects can take years from funding to commissioning. With BOO, Fluence can deliver a fully operational system in a fraction of the time, leveraging modular, pre-engineered designs and streamlined permitting. For instance, in the heart of mainland China, Fluence installed a modular municipal wastewater treatment system in a record 10 days.
• Certainty: With fixed pricing models, municipalities can budget with confidence. There are no surprise costs for parts, repairs, or compliance issues; the operator bears the risk.
• Efficiency: BOO agreements allow updated technology, such as Fluence’s advanced, energy-efficient membrane aerated biofilm reactor (MABR). The modular Aspiral™ Flex technology dramatically reduces power consumption and sludge production, translating to lower bills over decades.
• Scalability: BOO agreements facilitate upgrades such as modular design for quick scaling as population or treatment needs change.
• Resilience: One of the upgrades that BOO agreements make possible is remote monitoring, predictive maintenance, professional operations, and better uptime and reliability than older, municipally operated plants.

As water challenges intensify, municipalities need flexible, fast, and future-ready solutions. The BOO model is the smart, low-risk path forward, especially for towns that can’t afford to wait.

Fluence customers around the world regularly renew their BOO contracts, not just for the reliable service but because the model lets them focus on serving their communities rather than managing infrastructure. For many, BOO has become the long-term solution to short-term constraints, a model that works not just today but year after year.

From small rural communities in the United States to remote towns in Latin America to the heart of China, Fluence can deliver performance with a global record of completing projects on time, on budget, and to spec. Fluence continues to help communities of all sizes meet their environmental goals. Contact us to explore how BOO agreements can help your town meet environmental goals with zero upfront investment.