In other news below:
-- Sionix DAF system helps Serrano Water District use drinking water
-- Aqua America promotes four veterans to senior officers
-- NanoSensors completes preliminary marketing assessment of first product
-- Army Corps of Engineers again picks Parsons for remediation services
-- Calif. DWR marks one year since Governor's call-to-action on flooding
-- NJDEP issues statewide water quality report
-- TCEQ issues January, February fines totaling $1,154,663 against 276 entities
-- ADS Winchester plant expands with full ARC stormwater control line
-- PureTech chosen for ESRI Business Partner Program
-- Jury awards Calgon Carbon $10.0 million
• 278 cities do not have sewage treatment plants in China -- DUBLIN, Ireland, Feb. 23, 2007 -- Research and Markets has announced the addition of "China Sewage Treatment Industry Report 2006" to its offering.
The large amount of living and industrial sewage produced by the increasingly expanding cities and towns is one of the main causes of a growing water pollution problem. Data from the Ministry of Construction indicates that, among Chinas over 600 organic cities, 278 cities do not have sewage treatment plants, and at least more than 50 plants in 30 cities operate at a load rate of less than 30% or simply without any operations. In the past ten years, sewage treatment plants nationally have increased by 5.6 times, the total sewage treatment capacity has increased by 8 times; yet, the total treated sewage only has grown by 2.7 times. The problem is that there is no matching collecting system. Statistics shows that, the sewage treatment rate of China is currently about 50%, and the operating load rate of sewage treatment plants is estimated to be less than 50%. It is clear that the sewage treatment facilities haven't been made use of effectively.
Urbanization will be faster than ever during China's "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" period (2006-2010), consequently, the pressure on sewage treatment also will be bigger. So, newly added investment that's expected in sewage treatment should reach RMB 330 billion [US$42.6 billion] or more within the year of 2006-2010. In addition to building-up new sewage treatment plants, 63% of the investment will be used to further improve the pipe networks, so as to give full play to the capacity of existing plants. Meanwhile, along with the development of urban construction and the rebuild of old city zones, RMB 50 billion [US$6.46 billion] or more will be invested to replace the old pipe networks. By the end of 2010, the average sewage treatment rate of cities and towns is expected to be over 60%, and the rate in provincial capitals, prefecture-level cities, county-level cities, and water shortage city will be 80%, 60%, 50%, and 20% respectively. The total urban sewage centralized treatment capacity will reach 100 million m3 / d, the treatment volume will be 30 billion m3/ year, and the annual decline of pollutants will amount to COD 6 million tons or more.
During the Eleventh Five-Year Plan period, China plans to enlarge the spending on facilities for urban sewage treatment and speed up its development, and meanwhile, it will spare no efforts to improve efficiency and raise funds for the operation of sewage treatment plants. The government has currently charged fee for sewage treatment only in some cities, but once related laws or policies are implemented, the charge will cover all of cities and towns by the end of 2006 or early 2007.
Chinas huge sewage treatment market will create considerable investment opportunities for related enterprises both at home and abroad. However, up to now, the investment percentage of foreign capital is still less than 10%.
This report is aimed at sewage treatment enterprises, investors and decision-makers in banks. Through a deep analysis of the status quo and development trends of Chinas sewage treatment industry, it summarizes the latest industry trends and brings forwards some suggestions...
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Among other recent headlines:
• Sionix DAF system helps Serrano Water District use drinking water -- IRVINE, CA, Feb. 23, 2007 -- James J. Houtz, president of Sionix Corp. today announced that the Orange County Register ran front page coverage of the installation of their Premier "ELIXIR" DAF-225 Water Treatment System at the Villa Park Dam, in Orange, CA. The article stresses the equipment's role in reducing manganese, iron and organic matter from water for the Serrano Water District via a dissolved air flotation and membrane package water treatment system. The complete story, "Company Makes Dirty Water Drinkable," and pictures may be found by clicking here...
Also see: "Sionix opens Irvine, CA, corporate office"
• Aqua America promotes four veterans to senior officers -- BRYN MAWR, PA, Feb. 23, 2007 -- The Aqua America Inc. Board of Directors yesterday approved the promotion of four veteran company officers, Christopher Franklin, Mark Kropilak, Karl Kyriss, and Kathy Pape, to the level of senior officer. Franklin, who has been with Aqua America since December 1992, has been promoted to regional president, Aqua America southern operations and senior vice president, public affairs and customer operations. Kropilak has been promoted to senior vice president, corporate development and corporate counsel from the position of vice president, corporate development, the position he's held since October 2002. Kyriss, regional president of Aqua America's Mid-Atlantic operation, has been promoted to recognize the expansion of his responsibilities beyond Pennsylvania to include New Jersey and New York. Pape, who joined the company in August 1999, has been promoted to senior vice president, treasurer and rate counsel from vice president treasurer and rate counsel...
• NanoSensors completes preliminary marketing assessment of first product -- SANTA CLARA, CA, Feb 22, 2007 -- NanoSensors Inc., a nanotechnology development company that develops instruments and sensors to detect malicious agents in food and water, announced today that it has completed a preliminary market assessment of the company's biosensensor that detects e-coli in food and water. As the company has previously discussed, its biosensor product consists of two core functional parts. First, the product design incorporates a disposable housing unit in which the actual sensor device is mounted on a secured and sealed platform, and a separate, external data acquisition unit. The throwaway housing unit, which holds the "test strips" that will detect the targeted bacterium, functions as a disposable razor blade while the data acquisition unit, which can be either a desktop computer or a portable PDA-sized unit, is equivalent to the razor...
• Parsons re-selected by Army Corps of Engineers to participate in a $200 million environmental remediation services contract -- PASADENA, CA, Feb. 22, 2007 -- Parsons was re-selected by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Sacramento District to participate in a $200 million shared-capacity Environmental Remediation Services (ERS) contract. This 5-year Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract will be firm-fixed-price or cost-plus-fixed-fee to ensure the USACE receives the best value. Under the contract, Parsons will provide program management; subcontractor management and procurement; Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste (HTRW) investigations, studies and design; Munitions and Explosives of Concern (MEC) investigations and avoidance recommendations; engineering; remedial action; construction management; operations and maintenance; health and safety; and quality control services. The contract covers sites within the United States and its outlying territories...
Also see: "Parsons, Jacobs Associates picked to manage construction of South Cobb Tunnel"
• Calif. DWR marks one year since Governor's call-to-action on flooding -- On eve of first anniversary, 100 year flood protection for Pocket and Meadowview Neighborhoods -- SACRAMENTO, CA, Feb. 21, 2007 -- On the eve of Governor Schwarzenegger's first anniversary call-to-action, state and federal officials today announced 100-year flood protection for Sacramento's Pocket and Meadowview neighborhoods. The Department of Water Resources (DWR) joined with local and federal flood agencies to announce that the flood protection has been achieved in keeping with the Governor's directive. The remapping of these heavily populated neighborhoods by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) brings the areas out of the 100-year regulatory floodplain and eliminates mandatory flood insurance coverage for about 26,000 property owners. Property owners who wish to maintain flood insurance will have the option to convert to a lower cost, preferred risk insurance policy...
In other state water news:
-- "Sandvik agrees to connect affected Pa. homes to existing water mains"
-- "German-American partnership to promote energy from biomass, waste"
-- "NJDEP issues statewide water quality report"
-- "TCEQ issues January, February fines totaling $1,154,663 against 276 entities"
• ADS Winchester plant expands with full ARC stormwater control line -- Winchester Plant expansion broadens production capabilities and ARC™ product line offering for a complete stormwater leach field solution -- HILLIARD, OH, Feb. 21, 2007 Advanced Drainage Systems Inc., (ADS), announced Feb. 12 that it has expanded its ARC chamber product line with additional production capabilities at its Winchester, KY, facility. The full family of ARC and traditional BioDiffuser® leaching chambers will be manufactured in the Winchester facility by 2008. To date the line has consisted of the ARC 36 -- with the first mold introduced in January 2006, the ARC 36 HC in October 2006 and the second ARC 36 mold in November 2006. In January 2007, the ARC 24 was introduced and it is expected that a new addition, the ARC 18, will soon be added to the line...
• Pure Technologies' Video Analytics subsidiary announces new projects -- CALGARY, Canada, Feb. 21, 2007 -- Pure Technologies announced Feb. 9 the following news from its video analytics subsidiary, PureTech Systems Inc.:
-- On Jan. 16, the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport's Metropolitan Airports Commission approved selection of PureTech to provide the airport with its PureActiv® Intelligent Video solution.
-- PureActiv has also been selected as the video analytics & alarm management solution on a water-side protection project for the Port of Seattle.
-- In addition, PureTech has recently been invited to join the ESRI Business Partner Program. ESRI (www.esri.com), the world's leading supplier of geographic information system (GIS) technologies, has integrated their ArcGIS 9.2 software with PureActiv to provide a seamless wide-area surveillance solution. ESRI recently demonstrated the integrated solution at their Federal User Conference in Washington DC...
• Jury awards Calgon Carbon $10.0 million -- PITTSBURGH, PA, Feb. 21, 2007 -- Calgon Carbon Corp. announced Jan. 29 that a jury awarded the company $10.0 million in a case Calgon Carbon had filed against Progress Capital Holdings, Inc., Florida Progress Corporation, and Potomac Capital Investment Corporation relating to the company's purchase of the common stock of Advanced Separation Technologies Incorporated (AST) on December 31, 1996. Calgon Carbon filed the lawsuit in United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania on January 12, 1998. The jury award was based on Calgon Carbon's claim that the defendants negligently represented the financial and operational condition of AST. The company is seeking to have interest of approximately $5.5 million added to the award...
Also see:
-- "Canadian Court Declares Calgon Carbon Patent Invalid"
-- "U.S. Government Imposes Preliminary Duties on Activated Carbon From China"
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