Sometimes you choose your purpose, and sometimes it makes itself known to you in unexpected ways.
Simon Olivier’s purpose became clear to him several years ago after he experienced skin irritations and difficulty breathing following a swim in Lake Memphremagog.
“When I went to the doctor, I was told, ‘Simon, you're 100 per cent fine. The problem is with the water that you swam in,’” he recounts.
He was already passionate about water, being an avid sailor and scuba diver, but this incident set Olivier on a totally new path.
He knew there were solutions available to address water pollution, but implementing them was less simple. Conversations with entrepreneurs revealed they often lacked growth capital because banks didn’t understand water or how to assess the risks. Financial institutions saw water as free and abundant, and therefore unprofitable.
“At the time, I thought, ‘I've got time and I've got a bit of money. I'm going to launch an investment fund to invest in those companies,’” he says.
Today, Olivier is the head of the H2O Water Fund at Cycle Capital Management and is an instructor at Concordia’s John Molson Executive Centre, teaching the Water Stewardship and Market Mechanisms micro-certificate.
Water stewardship itself refers to the responsible oversight of water resources to ensure their sustainable use for both people and the environment, all while balancing economic needs. It requires collaboration among industries, communities, and policymakers to protect water quality and availability for future generations.
Water stewardship is at the core of Olivier’s work, which focuses on advancing technologies and strategies that address water scarcity and promote sustainable initiatives critical to industries and communities alike.
The first step, Olivier emphasizes, is recognizing why water is a finite resource.
“The water you drink today might have been consumed by dinosaurs millions of years ago,” he says. “But as of this decade, we’ve hit ‘peak water,’ meaning we consume more than the planet can sustainably replenish. We’re living in a deficit.”
Traditional sources such as lakes, rivers, and aquifers are strained by overuse and pollution. Olivier highlights two newer sources: desalination and water reuse.
Desalination transforms seawater into freshwater, providing drought-prone regions with a critical alternative. Water reuse involves recycling wastewater, extending its usefulness in industries and communities alike.
He points to H2O Innovation’s recent project at a Texas car manufacturing plant, where a water recycling system was successfully implemented to meet the high demand of the car painting shop.
Another H2O Innovation is Revival beer, which is brewed using recycled Los Angeles wastewater and creatively showcases the vast potential of water reuse.
Olivier emphasizes that leaders and humanity at large must shift mindsets to understand and embrace these possibilities.
With 20 per cent of the world’s freshwater reserves, Canada is uniquely positioned to contribute to global water stewardship. However, much of this water flows north, while most of the population — and agricultural activity — is concentrated near the U.S. border.
This geographic mismatch creates both challenges and opportunities. Olivier points to the agricultural concept of "virtual water," which refers to the water required throughout the process of growing, processing, and transporting food.
By exporting water-intensive crops, Canada is effectively redistributing its water resources, easing pressure on drought-prone regions like California, for example, where recent wildfires drove water costs up roughly 150 per cent, threatening the viability of farming.
Olivier says Canada’s role in the global food supply can assist in sustaining agricultural production in water-scarce regions.
Closer to home, Canadian communities also face their own inefficiencies.
Simon Olivier, head of the H2O Water Fund at Cycle Capital Management
In Montreal, Olivier says, 20 per cent of the city’s water is lost through leaks in the aqueduct system.
“That means utilities must supply 120 per cent of the water needed, just to deliver 100 per cent,” Olivier says.
Addressing these inefficiencies would conserve water and reduce costs for municipalities and residents alike.
Olivier believes effective water stewardship starts with leadership. He identifies four key pillars: understanding water’s role and impact, recognizing challenges like droughts and contamination, exploring innovative technologies, and leveraging financial mechanisms to accelerate solutions.
“It’s not just about responding to challenges; it’s about positioning water as a strategic priority,” he explains.
Industries that rely heavily on water, such as agriculture, mining, and energy, are already feeling the pressure. For example, lithium mining in Chile is shifting to desalination under community regulations, while an electric car factory in Berlin faced delays due to a lack of water permits.
“Water fuels more industries than oil and gas,” Olivier says.
For companies to succeed, they must embed water stewardship into their long-term strategies.
From recycled wastewater beer to large-scale desalination plants, the solutions are out there but scaling them requires leadership and commitment.
For both individuals and organizations, Olivier stresses the importance of adaptability and foresight.
“The most valuable opportunities often lie in unfamiliar territory,” he says.
By fostering innovation, leaders can tackle today’s challenges and create a more sustainable future.
Olivier believes water is a human right. The choices industry and world leaders make today, he explains, will determine whether we treat it as such.
“To solve or address those issues, we need to better understand what water is all about and our relationship with water,” he says. “As Einstein said, we can only solve something that we understand.”
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