Canada: The US city of Jackson, Mississippi, will be expanding the O. B. Curtis water treatment plant using ZeeWeed immersed membranes from Zenon, based in Oakville, Ontario. The US$ 15-million contract is expected to protect city drinking water supplies against pathogenic organisms and remove manganese. Construction on the project will begin in early 2004 and end by December 2005.
Zenon won the prestigious 2003 Stockholm Industry Water Award last August for its innovative approaches to the development of water and wastewater process technologies and its contributions to environmental improvement through improved performance in production processes (www.siwi.com).
USA: George E. Failing (GEFCO) will hold its "Eighth Annual Resource Drilling Fundamentals Training Seminar" from 25 - 30 April 2004 at its headquarters in Enid, Oklahoma, USA. For more information, contact: International Sales Department at Tel: +1 580 234 4141, Ext. 214; Fax: +1 580 548 2716 or Email: [email protected].
USA: The Florida Governmental Utility Authority (FGUA) awarded two five-year contracts, worth US$ 4 million per year, to the US company Severn Trent Services to operate their newly acquired utility systems in Citrus County and Lee County, Florida.
The contracts are scheduled to begin on 5 December 2003 upon closure of the FGUA acquisitions. According to the contract, Severn Trent will operate and maintain each county's water supply, wastewater collection, treatment and disposal systems; provide treatment and distribution services, and offer customer service from meter reading through utility billing.
The Citrus County system includes 11 water and 5 wastewater treatment systems serving approximately 8,000 water and 4,000 wastewater customers. The Lehigh Acres system in Lee County serves 9,000 water and 7,300 wastewater customers. Facilities include a 3-mgd lime softening water treatment plant and a 2.5-mgd activated sludge wastewater treatment plant. Severn Trent Services is based in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, USA.
USA: A consortium of private equity firms comprised of The Blackstone Group, Apollo Management, L.P., and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners signed an agreement on 4 September to acquire Ondeo Nalco from Suez S.A. for US$ 4.2 billion.
Nalco is a leading provider of water treatment and process chemicals and services to companies in the general industrial, institutional, pulp and paper and energy sectors, and is based in Naperville, Illinois.
USA: The Water Partnership Council released its "blueprint" for public-private partnerships to mayors and other municipal officials attending the US Conference of Mayors' Urban Water Summit in Chicago, Illinois on 12 September. The handbook, "Establishing Public-Private Partnerships for Water and Wastewater Systems: A Blueprint for Success," offers guidance to communities considering whether to partner with the private sector, and how to manage these partnerships to meet their water and wastewater needs.
