World News

1) US: CALIFORNIA

Poseidon Water is drafting an agreement with state permitting agencies in a bid to streamline the approval process for the proposed Huntington Beach Desalination Project. The Coastal Commission originally planned to consider the Project’s Coastal Development Permit on September 9; however, Poseidon and Commission staff agreed to defer consideration of the Project’s CDP in order for an interagency agreement clearly defining the remaining permitting process to be finalised. When finalised, the Huntington Beach project will produce 189,000 m3/day, which is hoped to reduce Orange County’s need to import water from Northern California and the Colorado River.

2) US: DENVER

CH2M and Parsons, as part of a joint venture team, have been selected by the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (DC Water) to perform program management services for the development and implementation of DC Water’s capital improvement program (CIP). This comprises a $1.3 billion water and wastewater infrastructure program focused on repair and replacement of mostly underground infrastructure in Washington, D.C., and neighboring jurisdictions. The three-year contract combines two separate program management contracts into one large program.

3) CHILE

Chilean water utility Esval-Aguas del Valle has selected British company i2O to help measure and monitor the performance of its water supply network in the regions of Valparaiso and Coquimbo. i2O, along with Glemans, its partner in Chile, will deploy the dNet solution in a wide extension across the network.

The aim of the project is to give Esval-Aguas del Valle more visibility on network performance to deliver an improved level of customer service. As part of the agreement, service level reports will be produced for the Chilean regulator, SISS.

4) UK

The cross-party Parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee has demanded that cosmetic companies should be banned from using plastic microbeads in bathroom products such as exfoliating scrubs.

Estimates suggest as much a 86 tonnes of microplastics are released into the environment per year in the UK from facial exfoliants alone. Earlier this year a report from Loyola University Chicago found that microplastics were passing through wastewater treatment plants. Following the release of a report, the committee called for a national ban on microbeads by the end of 2017.

5) GERMANY

Chemical company Lanxess will double the capacity of its reverse osmosis (RO) manufacturing site in Bitterfeld, Germany to cope with increasing demand. The company has now been active in the RO market for five years, overall investing 40 million euros. Since opening the Bitterfeld site, Lanxess has cooperated with technical universities and other research facilities in the region, including the Fraunhofer Institutes for Factory Operation and Automation in Magdeburg. The expansion falls in line with a 10% annual projected growth rate for the RO market between 2015-2020.

6) ISRAEL

IDE Technologies has responded to reports suggesting a Chinese company has put in an acquisition bid. ENR reported that China Communication and Construction Company had put in a $650 million non-binding offer for the company. Responding to the speculation, Avshalom Felber, CEO of IDE Technologies, said: “The shareholders are examining strategic options, but we cannot comment on the rumours around these options.” In 2015 IDE’s two joint owners, Israel Chemical Ltd and the Delek Group partnered with investment bank UBS to help with the sale of the company.

7) DUBAI

Utility Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has awarded an advisory services contract to develop a seawater reverse osmosis desalination plant at the Jebel Ali Power Station. The AED16.3 million ($4.4m) contract to develop the 182,000 m3/day project has been awarded to an “international company” but DEWA did not stipulate any further details. Set to be operational by April 2020, the plant is expected to help the Emirate state meet its Dubai Plan 2021 objectives. Dubai’s water production capacity is 2.1 million m3/day with the majority of the plants using thermal, multi-stage flash (MSF) technology.

8) ETHIOPIA

Israeli wastewater treatment company Emefcy has signed a contract for its Membrane Aerated Biofilm Reactor (MABR) to be used at the Ayder Hospital at Mekele University in Tigray, Ethiopia. Once installed, the 320 m3/day MABR system will treat wastewater from the hospital. The contract will generate revenue of approximately US$321,400 and is scheduled to be commissioned by the end of this year. The installation represents Emefcy’s first deal outside of Israel and is double the size of the company’s wastewater treatment installation at Ha-Yogev, Israel.

9) SINGAPORE

US consultancy CH2M has won a contract to provide consultancy services for Singapore’s fifth desalination plant. The anticipated 137,000 m3/day project will be co-located with an industrial plant as a result of limited space on the petrochemical hub, Jurong Island. CH2M competed against Parsons Brinckerhoff, AECOM, Arup and Black & Veatch (B&V) for the project. Singapore has set out the target for five desalination plants, providing up to 85% of the nation’s water needs by 2060.

10) CHINA

Water and energy project developer China Everbright Water has secured the Nanjing Pukou Industrial Wastewater Treatment Project Phase I. A joint venture company will be established, with partner Jiangsu Zhongbo taking a 40% stake, to deliver the contract. To be delivered on a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) basis, wastewater will be treated from the integrated circuit industry zone in the Pukou Economic Development Zone, Nanjing. Total investment of Phase I is approximately RMB62 million (US$9.3m) with a treatment capacity of 10,000 m3/day. Operation is set to start in June 2017.