8. IRAQ
The 50,000 m3/day wastewater treatment plant in Iraq's southern city of Kufa, in the Najaf governorate, has begun operation. The build, own and transfer (BOT) plant was won by UAE-based Metito in 2013 for $6.8 million and will be handed over to the city of Kufa after a year of operation. The facility will treat sewer and stormwater using a turbo-reactor.
9. MALDIVES
The small Maldivian Island of Guhli will soon start using desalinated water produced from waste heat. Developed by local power company STELCO in a joint venture with the Aquiva Foundation, the tender awarded in 2013 requires desalinated water to be produced across all Maldivian Islands where possible using excess heat. The desalination plant taps into the cooling cycle of local diesel generators to retrieve the thermal heat that is otherwise wasted into the air.
10. ROMANIA
Three major projects for water and wastewater treatment plants in Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Turkey for a combined value of EUR 33.4 million have been awarded to Passavant-Roediger GmbH, a wholly owned German subsidiary of Drake & Scull International (DSI). Passavant-Roediger will undertake the execution of the civil, mechanical, electrical and SCADA works. In Bosnia and Herzegovina the work will involve the rehabilitation of the Sarajevo wastewater treatment plant at Butila to increase its capacity to 170,000 m3/day.
11. CHINA
China plans to spend the equivalent of $330 billion to tackle pollution of its scarce water resources, according to state media. Although details of the plan are being finalised, the spend has already been reported to overtake the budget allocated by the country to clean up its widely-publicised air pollution crisis. Environment minister Zhai Qing told a news conference that "groundwater resources are heavily polluted, threatening access to drinking water".
12. AUSTRALIA
A joint venture will design, construct and commission the East Rockingham Wastewater Treatment Plant near Perth, Australia, worth US$73 million. Jacobs Engineering Group's recently acquired Sinclair Knight Merz and Thiess will work with the Water Corporation of Western Australia to deliver the project. Construction is expected to be complete by December 2015.