The Stormwater Sector’s Digital Downpour

StormTrap and AQUALIS lead a new wave of mergers linking infrastructure and data in stormwater management

15 Oct 2025

America’s stormwater sector, long dominated by concrete and culverts, is going digital. On July 8th StormTrap, a maker of stormwater retention and treatment systems, bought Faircloth Skimmer, whose floating devices help remove sediment-rich surface water from ponds and basins. The deal signals a new phase in an industry once defined by heavy engineering, now being reshaped by data.

Faircloth’s technology adds precision to StormTrap’s product line. “Their innovative products are a natural complement to our portfolio,” said Nate Olds, StormTrap’s boss. “Together, we can offer engineers and municipalities a more complete suite of stormwater solutions.” The company aims to pair physical infrastructure with sensors and software that monitor and manage flow in real time.

Such ambition stands out in a year when water-sector mergers have slowed. Firms are becoming more selective as market conditions tighten. Yet StormTrap’s acquisition highlights how traditional infrastructure companies are adapting to growing demands for transparency, performance tracking and regulatory compliance.

AQUALIS, a maintenance and compliance firm, is taking a similar approach. On April 1st it bought Stormwater Compliance Solutions (SCS), which specialises in inspection and reporting. “SCS brings deep regulatory expertise that strengthens our national service network,” said Erin Grenz, AQUALIS’s chief development officer. The purchase expands AQUALIS’s reach and bolsters its digital recordkeeping, useful as oversight in many jurisdictions moves online.

These moves reveal a broader shift: manufacturers and service providers are merging hardware, analytics and automation into integrated platforms. For cities and developers, that means easier procurement and smarter systems that can self-diagnose blockages or predict flooding. For firms, it means the challenge of knitting together engineering culture with data science.

As regulators push for digital monitoring, the firms that thrive will be those bridging the physical and virtual worlds. In stormwater, intelligence may soon flow as freely as the rain.