Middle East/Africa

Bids open to construct emergency reservoirs in Muscat

Bids have commenced to help secure Oman's emergency water supply and create a network of 12 emergency storage reservoirs at strategic sites across the capital, designed to be used in an emergency, or in the event of temporary downtime to its desalination capacity.

Sudan water project brings together German and French partnership

German Development Cooperation, GIZ, and French Development Agency, FDA, have signed a six million euro contract for a Water and Sanitation Program in Yei County of Central Equatoria State, to be implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation.

Double victory for ACWA with two membrane contracts in Saudi Arabia

ACWA Emirates of Dubai has secured two contracts for membrane-based water and wastewater projects in Saudi Arabia. The first project involves construction of a reverse osmosis desalination plant to treat saline well water. The second contract comprises a 12,000 m³/day wastewater treatment and reuse plant and will use membrane bioreactor technology.

Samsung appoints Hyder to design Bahrain's Muharraq wastewater facility

Hyder Consulting will provide detailed design services for the Ministry of Works' Muharraq wastewater facility in Bahrain. Construction of the plant is expected to be complete by August 2013 and will be operational for 25 years.

South Korea's Hanwha Engineering & Construction has signed a $1.05 billion deal to build a power station and desalination facility in Saudi Arabia.

Set to be built in the Yanbu industrial complex north of Jeddah, the facility is set to be complete by 2014 under a deal with Saudi Arabian power and water utility, Marafiq.

The Badia Development Project in Hama Governorate has completed the construction of two water desalination plants at a total cost of SYP 16 million (US$337,000 approx.), according to Syrian news agency SANA.

Project director Abdel Hassib al-Ajamy said the al- Khashabiah plant, east of Hama, has been handed over to the General Commission while the second one will be passed over "very soon".

Eng. Hussein Hassano was reported to have said it is a two-stage process, mechanical and chemical, to produce clean water, starting with filtering water through purification units and charcoal and sand filters after which the water is gathered in special tanks with storage capacity of 100 cubic meters.

The facilities hope to provide clean drinking water to al-Badia inhabitants and their livestock, as well as helping to address water shortage challenges in the region.

A feasibility study into the potential of an underground treated water reservoir for Dubai will be carried out between Dubai municipality and construction company Hitachi Plant Technologies, the Khaleej Times has reported.

The pilot project could help to recycle 182.5 million m³/year of generated wastewater to help recharge depleting groundwater supplies and create an emergency reservoir of underground water.

Mohammed Abukaff from the municipality said that 70% of wastewater is already being reused after treatment but the organisation aims to "make 100% use of wastewater". The agreement would see Membrane Bio-Reactor (MBR) technologies developed by HPT and used to biologically remove nutrients in the wastewater to make the water safe for industrial use. Using treated water in aquifer recharge will be investigated in the second phase of the project.

Elsewhere in the Middle East Environmental Agency Abu Dhabi, in cooperation with Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (ADWEA), has decided to implement Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) techniques by using the over capacity of the desalination plants.

Tebodin Middle East will provide engineering for pipeline, piping, mechanical, civil, electrical, instrumentation, control and the SCADA system. The total length of the pipeline system is around 135 kilometers and when the project is finalised the system will have the capacity to inject 10 Million Imperial Gallons a Day (37,854 m³/day approx.) and to recover 100 MIGD.

It is hoped the stored water could last two to five days in the event desalination capacity has to be shut down. Tebodin said the main advantages of the ASR technique compared to conventional storage is a "drastic reduction in cost" as the land area needed is reduced from 250 hectares to 15 hectares. It said the cost of storage is reduced from US$1 to only 2 cents per m³.

A specialised water research centre worth an estimated KD5.7 million ($20.6 million) is to help develop modern seawater desalination techniques in Kuwait.

The Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) has signed a contract with construction company, Al-Fulaij United Group.

As part of the contract, the group will build and maintain a water research centre on KISR's premises, according to the Kuwait Times.

Al-Mutairi, director general, reportedly said that the centre would help to meet one of the national priorities to address water scarcity. He said it would concentrate on developing modern techniques for seawater desalination, including thermal and membrane methods and would include laboratories to test traditional and renewable powered desalination.

It is hoped the work will lead to new commercial seawater desalination units to help increase output, reduce costs and secure sustainability of water resources. The centre will also include "chemical, physical, and bacteriological laboratories for receiving water samples, and preparing them for examination according to an accurate program of quality control".

KISR currently concentrates on five different areas of research and development: environment and urban development; food resources and marine science; petroleum research, techno economics and water resources.

Almost a third of a new wastewater network programme in Oman has been complete which will eventually help to connect 80% of the residents of Muscat governorate with a state of the art of the water re-use system.

Construction work at Darsait Water Treatment Plant has commenced and almost 30% of the wastewater network under construction in Greater Muttrah, namely Darsait al Sahel, al Wadi al Kabir, Al Hamriya and Ruwi, is now complete.

The treatment plant will eventually treat water from Al Wadi al Kabir, Al Hamriya, Ruwi, Bait Al Falaj, Darsait, Darsait al Sahel, Einat, Muttrah areas, where it will be re-used for irrigation purposes. Water will be treated in three phases, namely physical, biological and chemical and will use membrane bioreactor technology to produce high quality water.

Omar Al Wahaibi, CEO of Haya Water, said: "Choosing this area in Darsait was made after many studies. The new plant will replace the existing one, which was built in late 1970s. The location of the plant means that water flows by gravity to the plant, negating the need for pumping facility. The old plant will be removed once the new plant is put in service."

An official from the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) has said that the country possesses one of the highest consumption rates in the world at around 500 litres per capita.

Dr. Khaled Al-Barak, head of the water science department at KISR told Kuwait news agency KUNA that such consumption levels were "irrational" and said a saving of only 5% would equal the production of the Shuwaikh Desalination Plant, which produces 18 million gallons annually (68,137 m³ approx.) Al-Barak reportedly said that citizens have a huge responsibility to low their consumption of water.

Al-Barak said: "People should start reducing their individual consumption of water. Any emergency water plan should be based on self-awareness rather than just the storing of water."

More Water & WasteWater International Current Issue Articles
More Water & WasteWater International Archives Issue Articles