What WMD does

WMD (N.V. Waterbedrijf Drenthe) is a publicly-owned Dutch drinking water utility founded in 1937 and headquartered in Assen, Netherlands. It is the sole provider of piped drinking water to nearly 500,000 inhabitants across 11 municipalities in Drenthe province, and is owned jointly by those municipalities and the Province of Drenthe. The company operates a vertically integrated asset base of 14 groundwater extraction areas, 12 drinking water production stations, and approximately 10,000 kilometers of distribution pipeline, producing more than 30 billion liters of drinking water annually from 100% local groundwater sources.

The underlying technology centers on groundwater-based purification with on-site softening to approximately 8° dH (German hardness), continuous water-quality monitoring from source to tap, and nanogram-per-liter detection capability for emerging substances including PFAS, with results demonstrated well below European and proposed RIVM reference values. Quality assurance is delivered through the WLN joint laboratory with Waterbedrijf Groningen. WMD supplements its core distribution service with the MijnWMD self-service customer portal, business connection services via mijnaansluiting.nl, drought damage compensation for affected farmers, free curriculum-aligned educational programs for primary schools, and external water-quality advisory work through WLN.

The business model is a regulated monopoly subscription: residential, business, and institutional customers in Drenthe are billed quarterly at tariffs set under Dutch drinking water regulation, with additional revenue from connection services, payment arrangements, and laboratory advisory. As a public utility with no private shareholders, WMD does not pursue profit maximization; cash flow is reinvested into pipeline renewal, quality assurance, community programs, and stakeholder compensation schemes.

Name

WMD

Legal name

N.V. Waterbedrijf Drenthe

Website

https://wmd.nl

Company type

Private

Founded year

1937

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

WMD (N.V. Waterbedrijf Drenthe) is a publicly-owned Dutch drinking water utility serving nearly 500,000 residents across 11 Drenthe municipalities via 14 extraction areas, 12 production stations, and 10,000 km of pipeline.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Assen

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Infrastructure, Operations, Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Drinking Water Supply: WMD generates revenue through the supply of drinking water to nearly half a million inhabitants across 11 municipalities in Drenthe province. Customers are billed quarterly (4 times per year). As a public utility, WMD operates as a regulated monopoly with tariffs subject to regulatory oversight.
2. Connection and Ancillary Services: Revenue is also derived from water connection services for businesses (via mijnaansluiting.nl), connection conditions, and related professional services. Late payment and installment payment options are available to customers.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

WMD is a regulated drinking water utility that produces and distributes drinking water directly to residential and business customers across Drenthe province. It serves nearly half a million inhabitants in 11 municipalities through its production and pipeline network, with customer services for billing, meter readings, relocations, and outages.

Product overview

WMD (N.V. Waterbedrijf Drenthe) is a drinking water utility serving approximately 500,000 residents across 11 municipalities in Drenthe, Netherlands. The company operates a single unified offering centered on producing and distributing reliable drinking water, supported by a portfolio of service modules including the MijnWMD customer portal, WLN laboratory services (jointly operated with Waterbedrijf Groningen), water quality monitoring and testing, business water connection services, and educational programs. The infrastructure consists of 14 water extraction areas, 12 drinking water production stations, and 10,000 kilometers of pipeline. WMD is not a technology platform with software products—it is a traditional water utility with no public API or third-party integrations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Drinking Water Supply and Distribution
• Business Water Connections
• WLN Laboratory Services

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Waterbedrijf GroningencoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWMD and Waterbedrijf Groningen jointly operate WLN (Waterkwaliteit en Laboratorium Nederland), the center for water quality and water technology. The joint laboratory ensures optimal alignment of water quality research and water treatment advisory services. WLN also serves as house advisor for various companies and institutions where water plays an important role.
• Province of Drenthe (Provincie Drenthe)coreOthersThe province of Drenthe is one of the two categories of shareholders of WMD (along with 11 municipalities). As a shareholder, the province has governance oversight of the drinking water utility. The province also administers drought damage research requests for areas not covered by WMD's established drought damage schemes.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Evides Waterbedrijf: Drinking water utility serving Zeeland, Zuid-Holland, and parts of Noord-Brabant. Comparable Dutch regulated water utility with analogous production, distribution and customer service operations, similar in size and ownership structure to WMD.
• Waternet: Water utility for Amsterdam and surrounding municipalities, combining drinking water supply with wastewater and waterways management. Comparable regulated Dutch water utility, though Waternet adds wastewater and waterway scope not present at WMD.
• Brabant Water: Drinking water provider for the North Brabant province. Directly comparable provincial-scale Dutch water utility with similar regulatory framework, customer base characteristics, and infrastructure-heavy operating model.
• Oasen: Drinking water utility for the Gouda and surrounding region in South Holland. Comparable Dutch regulated water utility of similar scale and operating model, focused on production and distribution of drinking water from local sources.
• PWN Waterbedrijf Noord-Holland: Drinking water utility for the North Holland province, including dune infiltration water supply. Closely comparable to WMD as a Dutch regulated provincial water company with infrastructure, quality-monitoring, and customer-portal offerings of similar scope.
• Dunea: Drinking water company for South Holland using dune infiltration. Comparable Dutch regulated utility producing and distributing potable water from natural sources, with similar regulatory oversight, public ownership, and customer-service focus.
• Waterbedrijf Groningen: Sole drinking water utility of Groningen province and WMD's direct regional neighbour. Co-owns the WLN joint water quality laboratory with WMD, operates an identical groundwater-based regulated utility model, and shares customer scale and shareholder structure, making it the closest comparable peer.

Others

• Rijkswaterstaat: Dutch national agency under the Ministry of Infrastructure responsible for main water systems, waterways and groundwater policy. Adjacent to WMD rather than competing, but it sets the regulatory and policy context for Dutch drinking water utilities and oversees national water quality frameworks.

Broad incumbents

• Thames Water: UK-regulated water and wastewater utility serving London and the Thames Valley. Comparable as a large regulated water utility facing similar challenges of aging infrastructure, regulatory tariff caps, and quality compliance, though it operates at much larger scale and includes wastewater.
• Vitens: Largest drinking water utility in the Netherlands, serving ~5.7 million customers across multiple provinces. Operates the same regulated groundwater/surface-water utility model as WMD, but at much greater scale and geographic breadth, making it the dominant Dutch sector benchmark.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/wmdwater

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about WMD