I was listening to a speech by Bill Bertera from Water Environment Federation who was speaking in New Orleans which was still rebuilding from the ravages of Hurricane Katrina. The talk was about water and how it affects our lives. I was thinking about how we assume we’ll have clean water when we open a tap and the whole industrial process behind the collection and purification of it. That leads to thoughts about the economics of water provision and the business processes around it.

One important process is ensuring the quality of the water is up to scratch. The website where I found the speech is by PerkinElmer, a company that specialises in water, soil and air analysis which is so crucial in ensure the highest standards are maintained. If you want to think about how important quality is here, just think about how many people can be affected if there’s some problem in the water we drink every day.