ADB plans to double water sector investments
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) plans to double water sector investments in the next decade, according to plans announced at the 4th World Water Forum. The move recognizes the clear link between clean water and reducing poverty and is intended to make a significant contribution to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
This new Water Financing Program will greatly increase ADB water investments for 2006-2010, which could grow to well over US$ 2 billion annually. This would make water a core business area of ADB operations.
"In addition to meeting MDG target 10 of halving the proportion of people without safe drinking water and adequate sanitation by 2015, investments in water are also crucial in meeting other targets such as those relating to the incidence of poverty, the proportion of the world's poor who suffer from hunger, reducing child and maternal mortality, the incidence of major diseases, and environmental sustainability," says Geert van der Linden, ADB's vice-president for Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development.
ADB's stepped-up efforts flow directly from the report of the World Panel for Financing Water Infrastructure in 2003 (the Camdessus Report) and its successor, the Gurria Task Force on Water Financing in 2006.
Despite good progress made, the Asia and Pacific region is still falling short of targets due to rapid population growth and greatly increased urbanization, as well as low performance in delivering water services. In 2002, about 700 million people in the region lacked access to safe water supply and some two billion lacked access to adequate sanitation - about 75% of the world's total.
Infrastructure project to reduce flooding in Vietnam
In February 2006 Black & Veatch (B&V) begun working on a US$ 5 million contract with the Government of Vietnam to provide consulting services for The Central Region Urban Environmental Improvement Project, which will improve infrastructure and reduce flooding in the country’s growing central region. The project, financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Agence Française de Développement (AFD), will benefit approximately 660,000 people living in six central provinces in Vietnam.
Rapid urbanization, coupled with a lack of investment in urban infrastructure, has increased flooding in the area. In addition, inadequate sewerage and sanitation infrastructure have increased residents’ exposure to environmental and health risks as flood waters become severely polluted with sewage. The lack of access to good urban services has constrained investment and growth in the towns, which has impacted the quality of life and accentuated poverty of the urban residents.
The project will upgrade and extend 374 km of drainage and 49 km of sewer network, add a combined wastewater treatment capacity of 18,250 m3/day, and result in construction of seven pumping stations, five landfills and 37 km of access roads. “These investments will promote balanced regional development, improve environmental and health conditions, provide sustainability and efficiency of urban services, and increase environmental and health awareness among urban residents,” said B&V Water President and CEO Dan McCarthy.
Black & Veatch is fielding a multidisciplinary team of professionals to assist the Ministry of Construction with project implementation and provide technical and managerial support and training to participating agencies. The project is scheduled to be completed in 2010.
Booming Asian market drives sedimentation and centrifugation growth
The US-based McIlvaine Company reports that the world market for sedimentation and centrifugation equipment will rise from US$ 5 billion/yr in 2005 to $6 billion/yr by 2010. Its continually updated online report “Sedimentation & Centrif-ugation World Markets” attributes this growth primarily to the increased demand in the water and energy sectors.
In the water sector, equipment such as clarifiers, dissolved air flotation, centrifuges, and hydrocyclones are used for preliminary treatment of drinking water, wastewater purification, and sludge dewatering.
The booming market in Asia, where most of the citizens still lack clean water, will account for significant growth. Hundreds of millions of Asians are moving into the cities from rural areas thereby increasing the need for filtered surface water instead of untreated well water. This migration also increases the need for dewatered sewage sludge instead of applying night soil in agricultural fields in rural areas.
Decanter centrifuges are used in preference to belt filters for larger sewage sludge dewatering plants. European suppliers of centrifuges have successfully expanded into this Asian market through direct sales or licensees. Clarifiers and dissolved air flotation units are employed at many new municipal water treatment facilities. Desalination plants need clarifiers and hydrocyclones to pre-treat seawater.
China will be the leading purchaser of sedimentation and centrifugation equipment over the next decade. Activity in municipal water and wastewater will be high as will expansion of mining and heavy manufacturing. China will be building more coal-fired power plants than any other country.
For more information, visit www.mcilvainecompany.com.
Field Notes
Regional: The Asia Water Watch 2015 study commissioned by ADB, WHO, UNDP, and UNESCAP estimates that annual investments of US$ 8 billion will be needed over the next decade to meet Millennium Development Goals targets for safe drinking water and sanitation. Investments are also needed in irrigation services, river basin management, flood management and mitigation, and wastewater management.
ADB’s new investment program will focus on the delivery of substantial investment, reform, and capacity development in three key areas - rural water services, urban water services, and river basin water management.
ADB plans to increase water investments in People's Republic of China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Viet Nam, and to mobilize co-financing and investments from government clients (through counterpart financing), the private sector, and multilateral and bilateral partners.
Australia: The public water company South East Water implemented Intergraph’s F/Technology, in line with corporate strategies of knowledge management and data organization, to support a corporate-wide GIS system that is expected to streamline operations and provide a model of best practice for geospatial technology in a water utility.
South East Water provides water and sewerage services to 1.3 million people in the southeast region of Melbourne, Victoria. One of Melbourne's three metropolitan water businesses, water is sourced almost exclusively from protected mountain catchments and distributed from dams via a network of pipelines to service reservoirs and numerous major water tanks. “The water configuration of this advanced location-aware technology is a first in the Australian water industry and represents the future of the utilities community,” said Kevin Hutchings, general manager of infrastructure for South East Water. Intergraph is based in Huntsville, Alabama, USA .
Australia: The US company Bridge-Soft®, LLC, and Simmonds and Bristow (S&B) of Rocklea, Queensland, Australia, agreed to form an international partnership to deliver advanced information management software to Australia’s water and wastewater utilities, private laboratories, and related industries.
S&B will implement Bridge-Soft’s Quality Management System (QMS) to manage their own internal laboratory information, which is made available in real time to clients through Bridge-Soft’s Virtual Delivery Platform (VDP), an advanced web portal hosted by S&B. The partnership will deliver virtual engineering and scientific support service department for regional water enterprises.
China: The Swedish company Emotron AB of Helsingborg opened an office in Shanghai to reinforce its growing market presence in China and other countries in Asia. Emotron contracted two people for the new office: Senior Technical Supervisor Li Xiaohai and Sales and Office Manager Liu Dong Bo. Both have many years of experience working with European companies and drive systems. Emotron AB specializes in finding solutions that reduce installation and operational costs in addition to making electrical motors run smoother in water management and industrial applications.
