XYLEM WATER SOLUTIONS: Turning the Tide Underground
Whether in deep underground mines or vast open pits, effective water management is fundamental to safe and productive mining across Africa. GM Emerging Markets, Vincent Chirouze explains how new dewatering technology, engineering expertise and an exceptionally broad lifecycle portfolio are positioning Xylem Water Solutions SA as an integrated water-management water partner for the continent’s foremost operators.
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Interview with Vincent Chirouze, GM Emerging Markets
Since emerging as a standalone company in 2011, Xylem Water Solutions SA has evolved into one of the continent’s foremost water technology and solutions businesses, building on more than a century of inherited engineering expertise. Today, it works with utilities, industrial manufacturers, building operators and communities around the globe to manage, protect and optimise one of Africa’s most critical and increasingly scarce resources.
Fittingly, the company takes its name from the vascular tissue in plants responsible for transporting water from the roots to where it is needed to sustain growth and life. “This is the essence of Xylem as a company,” opens GM Emerging Markets, Vincent Chirouze. “We are committed to driving sustainable impact by ensuring our connected technologies and solutions support our customers and the communities they serve, helping to tackle the water challenges that matter most to them.”
Nowhere is effective water management more operationally critical than in mining. Open-pit and underground mines naturally accumulate groundwater, surface water and water generated through production processes, making the rather mundane-sounding practice of dewatering absolutely fundamental: unless that water is effectively managed, it can compromise productivity, equipment, access and worker safety can all be compromised and in severe cases prevent mining activities from continuing.
A leading global water solutions partner, Xylem is poised to supply solutions spanning everything from lowering the water table around an open pit to face, stage and main drainage deep underground.
WATER WHERE IT SHOULD BE
“Across Africa we are active in a number of key industries and verticals,” Chirouze outlines. “Among these, by far the most prominent is mining, which represents a major focus for us across the continent; we are also significant players in industrial water, food and beverage, and municipal infrastructure.
“Traditionally, we have been particularly strong in mine dewatering,” Chirouze continues. “It is a crucial, and arguably unsung, feature of every category of mining, but it acquires a special importance underground. Dewatering is absolutely vital in allowing miners and contractors to operate safely and effectively.”
Increasingly, Xylem is targeting a much more integrated role across mine water management. “We are focused on becoming a more complete water-management solutions provider, supporting customers across the mine water cycle, from water movement and dewatering through treatment, reuse and discharge,” Chirouze explains.
“Our South African offering spans pumping and packaged pump systems, water and wastewater treatment, monitoring and control, digital technologies, rentals, parts, and engineering and service support,” he details. “Within mining specifically, that stretches from source-water supply and dewatering through process water, recycling and reuse, treatment and final discharge.”
The expansion of Xylem’s treatment capability is particularly relevant for mining customers looking beyond water removal towards treatment and reuse. The aim is to help mines consider water according to the quality required for its next use, connecting dewatering and water movement with appropriate treatment, recycling and reuse strategies
This breadth represents a key differentiator for Xylem: in the context of a remote African mining operation, it can mean fewer interfaces between suppliers and, crucially, a partner able to assess the water system more holistically and identify opportunities for improvement across different applications.
FLOWING THROUGH AFRICA
Xylem operates in more than 150 countries globally, with its African regional headquarters in Johannesburg overseeing activity across sub-Saharan Africa and working closely with an extensive network of local partners. “Our strongest operations are in Southern Africa,” Chirouze details, “including Zambia, while we have also experienced considerable growth in West Africa, particularly in Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali and Burkina Faso.
“Essentially, we follow our customers and the major mining developments, supporting them wherever their projects take them,” Chirouze explains. “There are some iconic developments underway in Zambia and Guinea, for instance, and we strive to be present alongside the principal contractors working on those projects.”
Africa’s sheer scale and complexity can present obvious challenges for any business seeking broad continental reach, but Xylem has deliberately built flexibility into its operating model. “We can work directly, through our own Xylem presence, or indirectly,” Chirouze says. “It is simply not practical to maintain a direct presence everywhere across a continent of this size and complexity, so we have adopted a hybrid approach.
“Where it makes sense, we operate directly; elsewhere, we draw on our network of trusted partners to ensure we can still deliver the right solution and solve our customers’ problems efficiently. Crucially, those partners combine a strong local presence with engineering and technical expertise, while maintaining inventory and stock close to the point of need. That enables us to respond quickly and nimbly whenever challenges arise.”
Following its separation from ITT, Xylem has continued to expand its capabilities organically and through acquisitions. The acquisition of Evoqua in 2023 significantly broadened Xylem’s industrial water treatment and services capabilities, strengthening its ability to support customers across more of the water cycle.
“These technologies allow us to deliver far more integrated solutions. Our aim is to provide an ever-more complete offering, while continuing to strengthen our ability to execute projects both locally and further afield,” says Chirouze.
WATER USED WISELY
With Xylem Africa going from strength to strength, and positively impacting more corners of the continent, the strength and scale of the global organisation supporting its work is also apparent. In the third quarter of 2026 the company recorded orders of $2.3 billion, representing 7% reported growth and a 10% organic increase, while earnings per share rose by 34% to $1.25. Adjusted EBITDA margin also expanded by 70 basis points to 23.9%, supported by productivity gains, strong price realisation and continued operational excellence.
The company’s focus now turns to sharpening its portfolio further around the technologies, capabilities and markets offering the strongest long-term growth potential: as such from 2027 Xylem will operate through three focused segments – Treatment and Services, Flow Solutions, and Measurement and Analytics – to bring complementary capabilities around moving, treating, measuring and optimising water together.
“We’re moving with urgency to shape Xylem around the markets where our capabilities can deliver the greatest customer value and strongest long-term growth,” comments President and CEO Matthew Pine. “The resilience we’ve built, evident this quarter, allows us to make those choices deliberately and from a position of strength.”
So much more than a company that sells a mine a pump, Xylem is increasingly able to support mining customers across a much broader range of water challenges, from water movement and treatment to monitoring, reuse and lifecycle services.
“Water is the foundation of every community, and every economy,” Chirouze concludes, “and today we have more opportunity than ever to protect it. We are embracing a new era for water, one powered by smarter systems, modern infrastructure and trusted partnerships.
“By enabling our customers to dramatically improve the way water and wastewater is used, managed, conserved, re-used and returned to nature, we are empowering them and their communities to build a more water-secure world.”