7.2.7.3Vertical

Groundwater Remediation

Environmental contractors treating contaminated groundwater.

Market snapshot

These figures describe Remediation & Cleanup Services (7.2.7), the segment that Groundwater Remediation sits within. They are not figures for Groundwater Remediation on its own.

Market size
~$23B
Growth
~7.2%CAGR (2017–22, nominal)
Companies
~4,829 firms
Firms by employee count

81.5% of firms have fewer than 20 employees: 3,938 micro-businesses, below most mandates.

The investable universe891 firms with 20+ employees
20–99
66274%
100–499
14116%
500+
8810%

Demand is created by regulation and litigation rather than by economic activity, which makes this the least cyclical business in the sector. PFAS is the driver worth watching: it is generating a remediation obligation across tens of thousands of sites that has barely started.

NAICS 562910. U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses; U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census.

Business model & economics

Revenue model

Remediation and cleanup project contracts

Key economics

Revenue per firm
$4,708,865
Revenue per employee
$233,701
Employees per firm
19.1
Recurring revenue
Low–Moderate

projects plus ongoing monitoring

EBITDA margin
Specialized, regulation-driven economics
Capex intensity
Moderate

Characteristics

  • Balanced cost base: payroll is 27% of revenue, leaving room to scale margin without cutting staff
  • Moderate strategic-buyer pool: 88 firms exceed 500 employees, so a scaled asset has buyers, but not many
  • Soil/groundwater remediation and brownfield restoration.
  • PFAS a major and growing demand driver.
  • Technically specialized and fragmented.

NAICS 562910. U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses; U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census.

Geographic concentration

AlabamaArizonaFloridaGeorgiaIndianaKansasMaineMassachusettsMinnesotaNew JerseyNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaOklahomaPennsylvaniaSouth DakotaTexasWyomingMissouriWest VirginiaIllinoisNew MexicoArkansasCaliforniaDelawareDistrict of ColumbiaHawaiiIowaKentuckyMarylandMichiganMississippiMontanaNew HampshireNew YorkOhioOregonTennesseeUtahVirginiaWashingtonWisconsinNebraskaSouth CarolinaIdahoNevadaVermontLouisianaRhode IslandAlaskaColoradoConnecticut

Alaska leads at nearly five times the national concentration, with Connecticut and Colorado following. Remote federal sites sit at one end of the spectrum and dense industrial legacy at the other, the two conditions that generate cleanup obligations.

AlaskaConnecticutColorado

U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses (firms by state), NAICS 562910. Concentration shown by location quotient.

M&A deal context

Deal activityModerate

Who’s acquiring

  • Environmental-services strategics
  • PE-backed remediation platforms
  • Industrial-services consolidators

What’s driving deals

  • PFAS and emerging-contaminant remediation.
  • Brownfield redevelopment and regulation.
  • Consolidation of specialized contractors.

Find Groundwater Remediation acquisition targets

Search Acquisera’s index for companies classified under Groundwater Remediation (7.2.7.3) and build a targeted deal pipeline.

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