Germany: Veolia Water Germany set up a high-performance two-phase aerobic biological system, new cooling system and modernised the automation system in an effluent treatment plant in Plattling, Lower Bavaria. Veolia Water Germany signed a 12-year contract with MD Papier GmbH & Co. KG in early 2004, which is managed by Oewa, a subsidiary owned 100% by Veolia Water in Germany, to extend and modernise treatment facilities, and manage process water production and wastewater cleaning units. Construction work has now been completed. At the Plattling site, two large paper machines produce up to 350,000 metric tons of paper each year and generate four million m3/yr of effluent.
Libya: The Great Man-Made River (GMMR) Authority ordered €2.7 million worth of control valves from the Finnish company Metso Automation of Helsinki. Once completed, the GMMR project will transfer water through an underground pipeline network from huge aquifers in the deserts of southern Libya to cities and provide water for agriculture.
Metso Automation's total delivery for phase III of the GMMR project comprises eight 36-inch control valves. From these, five Q-ball valves (class 150) will be delivered to the Al Gardabiya pumping station and three Q-ball values (class 300) to the Assdada pumping station by January 2005. Project phase III will improve water supply to the cities of Tripoli, Benghazi, Tobruk and Gadames.
Huge water resources were found from underground basins in the early 1950s during oil prospecting. The Kufra basin, lying in the southeast near the Egyptian border, covers an area of 350,000 km2, forming an aquifer layer more than 2,000-m-deep with an estimated capacity of 20,000 km2 in the Libyan sector. The 600-m-deep aquifer in the Sirt basin is estimated to hold more than 10,000 km2 of water, while the 450,000 km2 Murzak basin, south of Jabal Fezzan, holds an estimated 4,800 km2.
Sweden: ABS Pompen BV delivered agitators, pumps and submersible mixers to the new Industriewater Lichtenvoorde C.V. purification plant in the Netherlands for use in digesting and dewatering processes. The contractor Pacques BV won an environmental award, the DOW Energy Prize 2003, for this innovative purification plant that treats wastewater from the largest tannery in the country.
Before the plant was built, purified water from the tannery was discharged in the Baakse Beek, a sensitive ecological environment, so concentrations of chloride and sulphates had to be reduced. Currently, wastewater is transported 2.2 km to the plant and treated by a combination of purification technologies. Project Leader Richard Haarhuis of Waterstromen BV, the company that owns the plant, said that ABS' broad product range and expertise in energy-efficient sludge agitation explains the reasons for purchasing ABS equipment. For more information, visit the website www.abspumps.com.
UK: Dwr Cymru Welsh Water selected Black & Veatch as Preferred Tenderer for its extensive AMP4 programme and beyond, the company announced on 14 October 2004. This 10-year engagement will include delivery of water and wastewater schemes throughout the Welsh Water region. In AMP4 alone, the anticipated value is in excess of US$ 108 million. Black & Veatch worked with Welsh Water in the past five years during AMP3. The consultancy worked in close conjunction with the strategic partnering team made up of mainly specialist engineering and construction companies, formed to deliver around 60% of Dwr Cymru Welsh Water's US$ 2.2-billion capital investment programme during 2000-2005.
