WorldwideNews - Europe/Middle East

Southern Water awards £66M contract

Southern Water awarded a £66-million contract for the Margate & Broadstairs Wastewater Treatment Scheme to the joint venture formed by Black & Veatch (B&V) and Costain.

The scheme is expected to improve the environment, resulting in benefits to tourism and the local economy, and enable Southern Water to comply with environmental legislation. Within the integrated joint venture, B&V will handle the design, supply and installation of the plant. Costain is responsible for civil construction.

"This project builds on our recent success at Reading Wastewater Treatment Works and the many projects carried out with Costain for Southern Water as part of their K3 programme," Martin Ellis, B&V design project manager, said.

The scheme involves the upgrade of pumping stations at Broadstairs and Margate, a sea outfall, and 24 kilometers of new pipelines. A new 120,000-pe wastewater treatment plant will be built next to the existing plant at Weatherlees, which already treats wastewater from Ramsgate, Deal and Sandwich. The new plant will process the 20 million liters of wastewater per day coming from Margate and Broadstairs in order to meet the standards of the European Union Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive.

Wastewater is pumped 11 kilometers to Weatherlees where the activated sludge process is followed by final settlement and disinfection using ultraviolet light before being pumped back to Margate wastewater treatment works for discharge through the existing long sea outfall. Sludge handling at both the new and existing works will be upgraded and a new 1.8-m-diameter storm outfall will be tunneled 600 meters out to sea from Margate. Scheme compliance is scheduled for October 2007 with takeover in January 2008.

Biwater wins Libyan contracts

Biwater Construction Limited won three contracts worth e40 million for the turnkey design, supply, installation and commissioning, training of clients staff, and operation and maintenance (O&M) supervision of thirteen wastewater treatment plants.

The Municipality of Green Mountain and the Public Works Authority of Shahat, Massa, Gernada-Faydiah awarded the contracts to Biwater Construction to refurbish and expand the plants as part of the new National Infrastructure Development Prog-ramme. These contracts are some of the first to be let in the wastewater sector under this program and will be funded by the National Planning Committee of Libya.

All three projects are situated in the Green Mountain Region of Libya, an area of tourist and archaeological importance. One of the contracts for the refurbishment and expansion of wastewater treatment plant in Beida, the capital of this region, will serve the entire city and the expansion will enable it to serve a population of 100,000.

The second contract is for the design, construction and two years operation and maintenance of nine new compact wastewater treatment plants serving populations of 5,000 to 10,000. All nine plants will be based on Biwater's biCOM range of sewage treatment plants. Construction will be completed in 24 months followed by two years O&M supervision.

The additional contract for the Shahat, Massa and Gernada-Faydiah wastewater treatment plants will be completed within 16 months and consists of two biCOM plants, each serving 10,000 and 30,000 people, and the refurbishment of an existing plant in Massa, near Beida.

CIWEM highlights water reuse in website

The Chartered Institution of Water Environment Management’s (CIWEM) water reuse webpages (www.ciwem. org/water) provide an in-depth look at water reuse and other alternative water supplies associated with sustainable water management. Each of the seven sub-sections focuses on a different topic and contains background information, illustrated case studies and references.

CIWEM Director of Policy Justin Taberham said: “While reducing water consumption at point of use is an effective way to keep demand in check, millions of liters could be saved every year if we took a serious and systemic approach to reusing wastewater.”

More than 3,300 water reuse projects are in progress internationally with approximately 700 in Europe. Water reuse describes the process whereby wastewater is treated to an appropriate standard and reused.

CIWEM’s website shows the potential that such innovations have to deliver multiple benefits, from increasing water resource availability and reducing effluent loads to sewers, to flood prevention and reducing the amount of water abstracted from our natural environment.

For example, the German company Berliner Wasserbetriebe treats 248,000 m3 of wastewater the water and wastewater company receives each day and uses it to recharge surface water lakes. UK companies have reduced water consumption and bills by 25 percent to 98 percent by adopting a combination of water reuse and conservation strategies. Case studies on the website also cover industrial applications, rainwater harvesting and desalination, along with sustainable drainage systems (SUDS).

Other water reuse benefits include: reduced nutrient discharge to water bodies; less drought-sensitive water source; and biodiversity benefits through the restoration and creation of wetlands.

Field Notes

Latvia:The Ministry of the Environment and Riga Water appointed an international consortium headed by Hyder Consulting to provide technical assistance for an e88 million program of upgrading works over the next three years. Other firms in the consortium are Barry International of Ireland and the Latvian firms LaKalme and Firma L4.

The Baltic Republic of Latvia became a member of the European Union last year, and this project is believed to be its largest water sector consultancy contract to date as it aims to bring water supply and sewerage facilities in the capital city, Riga, up to the levels required by the European Union water-related directives by 2008.

The contract includes for the development of a computer-based hydraulic model of the water distribution network (more than 1,000 km of water mains), the supervision of a major sewer cleaning and CCTV inspection contract, the detailed design and preparation of tender documents for various water supply and sewerage rehabilitation and extension works contracts, the preparation of terms of reference for the associated construction supervision contract, and undertaking a feasibility study for the provision of first-time main water and sewerage services.

Riga, with a population of more than 700,000, is the largest city in the Baltic States and plans to maintain its reputation as the “blue green city” with this program.

Saudi Arabia:Amiantit won strategic contracts for projects worth US$ 50 million to supply four-meter-diameter fiberglass pipes (GRP) for oil and petrochemical plants at Sharq and Yansab in he Royal Commission of Jubail and Yanbu with seawater for their cooling systems.

Amiantit also won contracts for Saudi Aramco worth US$ 18 million for supplying fiberglass reinforced epoxy (GRE) pipe systems used in fire fighting systems and for transporting petrochemicals and potable water. Based in Dammam, Amiantit is a major manufacturer of GRP pipes in addition to pipes made with GRP, epoxy, ductile iron, concrete, polymer concrete and thermoplastic.

Turkey:The Danish company Grundfos invested t4 million in new facilities in Turkey, and inaugurated its new assembly plant and a new sales office on the outskirts of Istanbul. In 1998, the Grundfos Group, based in Bjerringbro, established a sales company in Turkey, which experienced annual growth rates of approximately 50 percent. Last year the turnover amounted to t22 million.

“We consider Turkey an important market. The country already has a large and rapidly growing home market, and if we look ahead, Turkey will no doubt become an important pierhead for Europe to the Central Asian area,” said Executive Vice President of Grundfos Søren Ø. Sørensen. The Group expects high growth rates to continue and a doubling of the turnover in Turkey during the next three years. Grundfos currently maintains a staff of 45 in Turkey, and expects to increase this number to 100 employees within three years.