CDM to provide engineering services in Egypt

April 1, 2007
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) awarded CDM Inc. a three-year, $9.9 million contract for engineering services on design and construction management of water and wastewater infrastructure improvements in Egypt.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) awarded CDM Inc. a three-year, $9.9 million contract for engineering services on design and construction management of water and wastewater infrastructure improvements in Egypt. When complete in 2009, it’s expected to have improved services for an estimated 400,000 people.

As USAID’s program management partner, CDM - in association with Dr. Ahmed Abdel-Warith Consulting Engineers - will develop facility designs, prepare environmental assessments, manage construction and provide quality control on projects in six governorates. The team will provide new treatment facilities and improve performance of existing facilities, eliminate untreated discharges and strengthen infrastructure reliability in Daqahliya; the Middle Egypt Governorates of Fayoum, Beni Suef, and Minia; the oases of Kharga and Dakhla in the New Valley; and in Luxor City.

A watershed management project is planned for Lake Qarun. And a groundwater lowering program in the West Bank of Luxor - site of the ancient city of Thebes - will help preserve some of the world’s most treasured antiquities.

European water sector automation growth expected

European Union (EU) legislation is the most important driver in the automation and control solutions market for the European water and wastewater sector, according to a recent report. At the same time, technological advances and widening provision of open systems will help overcome challenges such as ensuring highly compatible automation solutions, establishing strong systems-integrator networks and providing PC-based systems.

Frost & Sullivan reported the “Automation and Control Solutions Market in the European Water and Wastewater Sector” earned revenues of $540.4 million in 2006, and estimates this to reach $780.9 million in 2013.

“Stringent EU directives aimed at improving water and wastewater infrastructure are the primary driver for the growth of the market across Europe,” said Frost & Sullivan research analyst Karthikeyan Balasubramaniyam. “Investments towards achieving this goal will support installation of new water and wastewater treatment plants in Eastern Europe and in the Iberian region where infrastructure is poor, and will provide fresh impetus to the automation and control solutions market.”

East European accession countries with poorer infrastructure will face the maximum impact of EU regulation owing to the timeframe within which these directives need to be implemented. Frost researchers are already observing large-scale investment in water treatment plants there as well as Iberia and parts of Italy and Benelux, with a resulting increase in the uptake of automation and control solutions.

SWRO aids Spanish drought defense

Director of Andalucía’s regional water authority, Cuenca Mediterránea Andaluza, Antonio Rodríguez Leal said the national seawater desalination programme offers a bulwark against the current drought, reported Spain’s EFE news agency. Speaking in late March at a conference on tourism and sustainability, he said desalination is crucial to maintaining stable water reserves.

Veolia Water and a group of Spanish firms - Sando, Inypsa and Montajes Electricos Crescencio Perez - won a €128 million design-build-operate contract for an 80,000-m3/d seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) plant at Campo de Dalias in Almería province. Set for delivery in summer 2009, it will be Spain’s fourth biggest SWRO.

And a consortium of Grupo ACS, Grupo Cobra and Tedagua, building a 64,000-m3/d SWRO plant for Ente Publico del Agua in Escombreras, chose Nitto Denko unit Hydranautics to supply 3,150 SWC4+ and 1,890 SWC5 membrane elements for the 25-year build-own-operate project, set for delivery this spring.

Field Notes

SAUDI ARABIA: Amiantit’s GRP manufacturing facility Amitech Spain recently won contracts for about €9.82 million. The orders are for Flowtite GRP (glass reinforced polyester) pipes for a variety of applications ranging from an underwater pipeline in Marseille, France, to sewage pipe systems in Spain, and GRP pipes for a power plant cooling system in Mallorca, which led to a similar order for a power plant cooling system in the Canary Islands. The largest of the awards, though, consists of six orders for irrigation projects in Spain, which amount to €7 million.

ENGLAND: Severn Trent Services won three separate contracts to provide TETRA™ Nitrifying Submerged Aerated Filter (NSAF) technology to Reading, England-based Thames Water Utilities, the largest UK water and wastewater treatment company. The systems, the first of their kind for Thames Water, will be installed at existing facilities at Waddesdon, Culworth and Byfield and will provide “add on” tertiary nitrification to enable the works to consistently meet ammonia consents. Expected to be operational by this spring, they’re designed to handle peak flows ranging from 345 to 2,784 m3/day.

IRELAND: Clare County Council today signed a €3 million contract with Ward & Burke Ltd. Co. Galway to provide an improved local water network in Newmarket-on-Fergus. The local authority estimates the entire works will take about a year. The contract involves bringing treated water to Newmarket-on-Fergus from Castlelake Water Treatment Plant, located about 3 km north of Sixmilebridge.

SAUDI ARABIA: Tomoe Japan, a maker of valves and process control systems, won a contract with the Saudi Electric Company in partnership with Rotork Fluid Systems. The Japanese office secured the deal to supply Tomoe butterfly valves to Phase Three of the Shuaibah project that includes construction of a 194-mgd desalination plant and three 917MW thermal power plants on a site 110 km south of Jeddah. Tomoe Japan selected Rotork Fluid Systems (RFS) Japan as their valve actuator partner for this project

SWITZERLAND: ABB strengthened its capabilities in the water utilities sector with the acquisition of the AZTEC analytical instrumentation business of Severn Trent Services (STS), based in Didcot, Oxfordshire, UK. Financial details of the transaction weren’t disclosed. Effective 31 March, the acquisition includes the AZTEC range of water monitors, as well as service support and reagent supply activities associated with a large installed base in the U.K. ABB also concluded an agreement to add a residual chlorine monitoring capability to its expanded portfolio.

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