Manufacturers & Meters
Badger Meter: flat sales, fatter margins
Q3 sales held at $235.9M and utility water was flat, but gross margin rose to 41.9%. Management expects revenue to improve into 2027 as awarded utility projects ramp.
Read the full story →Mueller adds $300M to its buyback
The valve and hydrant maker lifted its quarterly dividend 14.3% to $0.08, with a new CFO, Michael Morgan, taking over in November.
Read the full story →Funding & Utility Capital
New York puts ~$500M into 106 water projects
The first tranche of a $3.75B state plan part-funds $1.4B of drinking water and sewer work, including $64M for lead service lines.
Read the full story →Lead & PFAS
Wisconsin funds 15,000 lead line swaps
Over $102M of federally backed money, much of it principal forgiveness, goes to 12 municipalities including Wausau, Neenah and Oshkosh.
Read the full story →PFAS may be double what EPA data shows
A TCU study of 1.8M UCMR 5 records says counting low readings as zero captures only 44% of average PFAS levels, as EPA weighs looser limits.
Read the full story →Talent Insight
Waterworks hiring is going local
- State-led funding is local by nature. We think the people who win are territory managers and reps with existing utility and contractor relationships in that state, not just strong generalist sellers.
- Lead line work arrives as thousands of small jobs. That shifts hiring weight towards branch managers, inside sales and counter teams who can turn orders round fast.
- For 2027 plans: Suppliers are selling software alongside hardware. Budget for solutions and customer success people who can talk utility operations and data in the same meeting.
Building a team in Waterworks?
Alex Parsons specialises in Waterworks hiring at QP Group. Talk to Alex about the market, salaries or a search.
alex.parsons@qpexec.com