Water, Sanitation Professionals Discuss Millennium Development Goals
Over 400 delegates from 60 countries discussed water and sanitation solutions in developing countries at the first IWA Development Congress, organized by the International Water Association (IWA) and National Autonomous University of Mexico. Held in Mexico City, the congress covered a wide range of topics from technical and management aspects to innovation and finance.
"Three years of work have culminated in this wonderful congress that has brought together financiers, practitioners, NGOs, utilities and industry to demonstrate solutions applied around the world to strengthen the exchange of knowledge and practice in advancing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)," said Dr David Garman, President of the International Water Association.
The next IWA Development Congress will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in November 2011.
Company Honored for Metering Services
Exceptional service in supporting its AMP4 water meter replacement program has led Anglian Water to present its annual "Supplier Contribution to Service Excellence Award" for 2009 to the Utilities Division of Multipart Supply Chain Solutions.
The Lancashire based company has been supporting the Anglian Water program since 2005. Multipart came to the task with a range of capabilities that included state-of-the-art warehousing and logistics services and, most significantly, its Msys.MRM mobile resource management package, which it had developed in-house.
This fully integrated system enables every aspect of the meter exchange and installation process to be controlled from bar-coded inventory management at Multipart's distribution center, through to deployment of the mobile workforce, installation of meters and return of old units. As each meter is uniquely coded there is total traceability throughout and even meters, ancillary parts and fittings carried in an engineer's van can be accounted for.
Msys.MRM is web-based, which gives Anglian Water access to performance data on the project at all times and from anywhere. This is available in real time and comprehensive reporting can be shown in a simple to use "dashboard" that presents an overall picture of performance against targets that can be drilled down to granular level, including a range of KPIs and other key measurements.
Louise Mitcham, metering manager at Anglian Water, said: "Multipart's customer service and innovative approach to our metering requirements has been superb and has significantly improved the efficiency and robustness of our replacement program."
Flow Monitoring Helps Cut Water Leaks in UK
Electromagnetic flowmeters are playing a key role in cutting water leakage for the Ministry of Defense (MoD) in England, with reductions of 60% achieved at some sites. Leakage has already dropped by about 528 million (US) gallons per year across more than 1,500 MoD sites where C2C Services manages water and waste utility assets.
C2C Services is a consortium of Severn Trent Services and Costain. C2C provides water services to MoD sites in the North, East and Southeast of England, known as ‘Package C'. The 25-year, £1 billion ($1.66 billion US) contract is part of Project Aquatrine, which transferred responsibility for MoD's water services to three different contractors.
Mark Amor, C2C's water resources manager, says that the AquaMaster magmeters from ABB have been central to the success of C2C's leak reduction program. "We've used a targeted approach based on the availability of high quality data," he said.
About 900 magmeters have been installed, with more meters planned. One set of meters measures the overall consumption at each site by monitoring the total incoming water. These also find use for continuously validating custody revenue meters used by local water companies to generate bills. Another set of magmeters, called "Night line meters," provide a critical indication of leakage levels during periods when legitimate consumption is at its lowest.
To meet its contractual and business needs, C2C monitors the water supply across its region to a high standard of accuracy. The information serves for both leakage cost reduction and billing. C2C must also be able to verify that the meters continue to provide accurate readings throughout their lives. For each managed site, C2C has identified a point at which further leakage reduction will be uneconomical and the aim is to reach that level in each case.
"Once we have reached the economic point of leakage repair, continued monitoring will enable us to spot any new leaks as they occur," said Robin Phillips, Deputy General Manager for C2C.
"As for all organizations with private distribution systems, our economic point of repair is significantly lower than a typical water utility's because our cost of leakage is based on the price paid for water as opposed to the much lower cost of water production," Phillips said.
Amiad Acquires Majority Share in Indian Distributor
Amiad has acquired a majority stake in JSK Engineering Co., an India-based supplier and manufacturer of products for the water filtration industry for an initial cash payment of USD $192,000, and further performance based payments of between USD $75,000 and USD $165,000.
As part of the agreement, the parties have incorporated in India two private limited companies:
– Amiad Filtration Systems (India) Private Limited ("Amiad India") – which will engage in developing a filtration business in India, including marketing, distribution, sales and support of filtration products and solutions.
– JSK Engg. Private Limited ("JSK Engg") – which will engage in the development of the other business streams, such as the provision of equipment for the power and oil & gas industries. Amiad holds 40% of JSK and Mr. Mehta holds 60% of JSK.
Sudhir Mehta, former owner of JSK Engg, has been appointed as CEO of Amiad India and JSK Engg.
Amiad has been making inroads in India since 2008 and has increased its penetration further in 2009. As stated at the time of the interim results on 21 September 2009, Amiad had targeted India as its main growth area in 2009. It secured its first large project in the municipal segment for its automatic self cleaning filters and AMF technology for drinking water, and has previously supplied products to power plants and steel mills.
GLV Acquires Majority Stake in Christ Water Technology
GLV has acquired more than 83 percent of Austria-based Christ Water Technology AG ("CWT"'). The acquisition fits ideally with GLV's long-term vision of securing a global platform and leadership role as a provider of industrial and municipal water treatment solutions.
The acquisition will complete GLV's technological portfolio in several of its targeted niches. For instance, in addition to its water intake screening technologies, GLV will be able to offer thermal power stations and seawater desalination plants comprehensive solutions, including process water microfiltration, ultrafiltration, demineralization and recycling technologies.
The technological fit between GLV and CWT will enhance GLV's position in its primary end markets including the energy sector, the municipal market and the petrochemicals industry. Furthermore, it will provide the company with access to additional industrial markets, such as the microelectronics and solar energy industries.
The acquisition will further enhance GLV's presence in emerging markets, notably in Asia and Europe where CWT records a significant proportion of its revenues, while also contributing to expand GLV's range of products and services and to increase its revenues and market share in its existing markets in North America, Western Europe, the Pacific region and the Middle East.
Other recent water industry news items at www.wwinternational.com
Company Names New Managing Director for South Asia Pacific
Eamonn Kelly is joining Black & Veatch as the new Managing Director for South Asia Pacific. Kelly will be responsible for growing the engineering firm's water business throughout the region and will be based in Melbourne.
Kelly has more than 20 years' experience in the water industry with a majority of the time spent in Australia, China and other parts of Asia. His experience prior to joining Black & Veatch includes seven years with a state-owned water corporation in Victoria, Australia, where he served most recently as General Manager for the Planning and Infrastructure Groups.
"Black & Veatch has a strong reputation in advanced technology and project execution plus a history of working in the region that dates back many decades," Kelly said. "I'm looking forward to establishing a stronger foothold in the Australia and Singapore markets and developing opportunities to serve clients in other parts of the region."
Desalination Association Elects New President
The International Desalination Association has announced that Imad Makhzoumi has been elected its new President for 2009-2011. In addition, Khoo Teng Chye has been named the new 1st Vice President and Michel Canet, 2nd Vice President, for the 2009-2011 term.
Mr. Makhzoumi is the Chief Operating Officer of Future Pipe Industries Group. During the past decade, Mr. Makhzoumi has participated in many international and regional committees responsible for the development for safe use of fiberglass non-corrosive pipe systems in high temperatures and pressures within desalination plants.
He has been an IDA member for more than 14 years and has served as a Director for the last eight years. Immediately prior to being elected President, he served as 2nd Vice President and was a member of the Organizing Committee for the IDA World Congress in Dubai as well as the Operations and Strategic Planning Committees. Previously, he was Chairman of the IDA Membership and Elections Committee.
Mr. Khoo Teng Chye has been the Chief Executive and a Board Member of the Public Utilities Board (PUB) in Singapore since December 2003. As Chief Executive, he has led PUB to embark on major corporate changes and has promoted Singapore's extensive water management programs and water-related educational initiatives. Michel Canet is Executive Vice-President of Major Projects Group within Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies, a subsidiary of Veolia Water. He has been directly involved in the development of large desalination projects and water reuse projects in Australia, Middle East and Asia.
Ultrafiltration, Ultrasound set to give Textile Effluents a Thorough Clean
As part of the PURIFAST project, the EU commission has provided 2.2 million euros to help fund the development of an innovative and efficient method of treating problematic effluents such as those produced in the textile industry.
In addition to input from Germany – comprising the ultrafiltration specialists inge watertechnologies and the Rhine-Westphalian Institute of Water Research (IWW Water Centre) – other partners in the project include GIDA, Next Technology Tecnotessile and the companies LAVO and Tintoria King Colour from Italy, as well as the University of Florence and the French company Polymem.
Ultrafiltration treats water using purely physical means in order to remove suspended solids, particles and bacteria. Textile effluents feature a high degree of contamination, which poses a particular challenge to the ultrafiltration membrane. inge watertechnologies has been conducting research as part of the PURIFAST project in order to optimally tailor both its patented Multibore membrane and process control system to the project's requirements. The aspects being addressed include pore size and geometry, membrane hydrophilicity, determining the best flux and the optimum backflush flow rate, deploying cleaning chemicals and minimizing their use, etc.
In order to put the new technique to the test, a facility has been set up in the textile town of Prato in Tuscany to treat the municipal wastewater, which is heavily contaminated by the textile industry. This test project involved the simultaneous installation of three, independently controlled membrane lines to enable the optimum adjustments to be identified as quickly as possible. The acid test comes next year with the installation of the process at the textile dyeing facilities of the Italian company Tintoria King Colour.
Peter Berg, Chief Technology Officer of inge watertechnologies, explains further: "If we succeed in cleaning up textile effluents at a reasonable cost using ultrafiltration and ultrasound, this should lead to a boom in the recycling of industrial effluents. The treatment of organic substances such as dyes in ultrafiltered water is currently tackled by reverse osmosis. However, this is an expensive method, especially when you consider the amount of energy it requires. If ultrafiltration and ultrasound can provide a better return on investment, then nothing will stand in the way of deploying this new system on a global scale."
ITT Inks $2.6 Million Deal for Mexican Offshore Platform Equipment
ITT C'treat Offshore has announced a $2.6 million deal with Dragados Offshore to supply the entire potable and process water treatment systems for an offshore oil platform in the Bay of Campeche, off the eastern coast of Mexico. The project includes ITT Goulds pumps and ITT C'treat water process systems necessary for maintaining life support systems on-board, including drinking water and process water.
"The main focus on a platform is oil production, but if critical support systems fail, production stops," said Dragados Offshore Mexico Project Director Jose A. Garcia-Figueras. "The water systems we install must be made of reliable equipment to ensure that freshwater availability does not become a concern for platform managers."
ITT C'treat has 30 years of experience in providing freshwater systems to the offshore petroleum industry. The company's desalination products and complete water systems are installed on hundreds of offshore platforms around the world. Dragados Offshore Mexico selected ITT C'treat for this project as a single-source OEM to provide the entire water treatment process.
Company to Provide Underground Storage Tank Services
Panton McLeod, which provides repairs, cleaning and inspection services for facilities used in the storage of drinking water in the United Kingdom, has signed an agreement to provide its services on more than 400 underground water storage tanks across Scotland over the next six months.
The deal is the latest high-profile work that Panton McLeod has provided for Scottish Water. For the past 15 years, the firm has provided expertise in cleaning, inspecting and repairing water structures across Scotland – which has included major work as part of some of the biggest water projects Scottish Water has undertaken, such as the £120 million Loch Katrine scheme.
The latest projects, which have been arranged as part of an ongoing Price and Supply Agreement, will see Panton McLeod clean and disinfect more than 400 service reservoirs and water tanks across the Ness, Don, Tayside and Ayrshire regions, to help further improve water purity for Scottish Water customers.
Under the agreement Panton McLeod will be providing a range of services for Scottish Water, including traditional drain-down cleaning, inspection and repair work. The firm will also be using its environmentally friendly robots – the VR600 and ROV units – to inspect and clean some service reservoirs while they are still on-line, ensuring that customers do not face any service disruptions.
The machines are remotely operated and fitted with cameras and lighting equipment, which allows staff controlling the sub to assess the interior of the tanks without having to drain the facilities first. They are also used solely within clean potable water environments and are cleaned and disinfected prior to every use to ensure they can be safely used in the public water supply.
Company to Provide Underground Storage Tank Services
Panton McLeod, which provides repairs, cleaning and inspection services for facilities used in the storage of drinking water in the United Kingdom, has signed an agreement to provide its services on more than 400 underground water storage tanks across Scotland over the next six months.
The deal is the latest high-profile work that Panton McLeod has provided for Scottish Water. For the past 15 years, the firm has provided expertise in cleaning, inspecting and repairing water structures across Scotland – which has included major work as part of some of the biggest water projects Scottish Water has undertaken, such as the £120 million Loch Katrine scheme.
The latest projects, which have been arranged as part of an ongoing Price and Supply Agreement, will see Panton McLeod clean and disinfect more than 400 service reservoirs and water tanks across the Ness, Don, Tayside and Ayrshire regions, to help further improve water purity for Scottish Water customers.
Under the agreement Panton McLeod will be providing a range of services for Scottish Water, including traditional drain-down cleaning, inspection and repair work. The firm will also be using its environmentally friendly robots – the VR600 and ROV units – to inspect and clean some service reservoirs while they are still on-line, ensuring that customers do not face any service disruptions.
The machines are remotely operated and fitted with cameras and lighting equipment, which allows staff controlling the sub to assess the interior of the tanks without having to drain the facilities first. They are also used solely within clean potable water environments and are cleaned and disinfected prior to every use to ensure they can be safely used in the public water supply.
Brazilian City Conducts Large-Scale Pipe Bursting
Campinas, also known as the Brazilian Silicon Valley, is one of the largest cities in Brazil with more than 1 million inhabitants in its metropolitan area. In some districts the city's water authority SANASA was facing ongoing drinking water loss caused by leaks in the 30 year old pipeline network. For economic, ecologic and time reasons, it was decided to completely renew the damaged drinking water pipelines instead of repeatedly repairing them. For this reason Sanasa purchased a Grundoburst 400 G3 (Manufacturer: Tracto-Technik GmbH & Co. KG, Germany) as the first water authority in Brazil to do so.
The actual replacement works are carried out by SANASA, having started in the district of Sousas with about 2.4 km of defective drinking water pipes to be exchanged trenchlessly. On June 16th the Grundoburst 400 G3, equipped with Ø 35 mm Quick Lock bursting rods, started to replace the old asbestos cement pipes ID 50 mm with PE pipes OD 63 mm in the calm residential area "Colinas do Ermitage". The total replacement length of 400 m was burst in sections of 50 m - 100 m due to several sewer, gas and telecommunication lines along the bursting path and a large drain pipe running parallel to the old drinking water pipeline.
As the exact position of this existing underground service line was not known, this was the perfect task for applying the static pipe bursting technique. Despite many repair clamps fixing the old asbestos cement drinking water pipeline, the complete replacement project in Sousas was completed within 20 days including disassembly of the construction and intermediate pits and re-establishing of the water supply, which had to be by-passed during the bursting process.
SANASA will extend its pipe rehabilitation program using the pipe bursting technique to further districts of Campinas. In the near future 1600 m of the old asbestos cement pipeline will be replaced with new PE pipes OD 63 mm and 400 m with new PE pipes ND 90 mm.
Cruzan Rum Selects Evaporation Technology for Water Treatment
Cruzan Rum of St. Croix, the Virgin Islands, has selected HPD evaporation technology for its new, state-of-the-art wastewater treatment plant which will be built in conjunction with the expansion of the company's existing rum distillery. The new treatment plant will not only assist in the capacity expansion plans for the distillery, but will also achieve conservation of the island's water resources and enhance environmental sustainability.
Using proprietary evaporation process technology, the HPD system will treat vinasse effluent from the fermentation of molasses in the distillation process. The vinasse will be processed in a treatment train consisting of falling film and enhanced forced circulation evaporation technology such that effluent discharged from the plant will have minimal environmental impact. Clean water recovered from the process will be recycled for reuse in the facility. HPD's unique evaporation technology is both more cost-efficient and allows for complete volume reduction of vinasse, in comparison to conventional evaporation equipment.
Chopper Pumps Help cut Costs at Sewage Facility
Reducing costs associated with unplanned maintenance and achieving significant savings on energy consumption were the important benefits achieved at a Severn Trent Water facility, following the installation of Vaughan Chopper Pumps, supplied by P&M Pumps.
The Sewage Treatment works at Netheridge in Gloucester had experienced problems with existing pumps which were continuously blocking and also suffered from leaking glands. The application was pumping raw sewage from 20 meters below ground from wet wells to the inlet works. To complicate matters the pumps were housed in a dry well which was subsequently classified as a confined space and this required operators to have breathing apparatus and escape sets to meet health and safety requirements. Therefore, when contractors were called in to regularly unblock the original pumps, maintenance costs escalated further, in the region of £100,000 for one year.
Initially, Severn Trent Water operated one Vaughan Chopper pump on a trial basis for an extended period to see if it would meet the challenges of the demanding application. This pump is still used as a stand-by on VSD Drive. Following the successful trial, additional pumps were installed and the process now involves a total of four Vaughan Chopper pumps operating continuously at a fixed speed. The pumps are 12" discharge PE12U's with 90 Kw, 970 rpm motors.
Jeff Beddall, a Work Flow Technician at Netheridge Treatment Works comments, "We have achieved significant savings on labor and electricity consumption, the problems we were experiencing of blockages and leaking glands with the original pumps have been eliminated."
Water For People wins International Recognition
Water For People, a nonprofit international development organization, was recognized by the African Ministers' Council on Water (AMCOW) recently for its commitment to programs in Malawi that have supported and mobilized communities to improve water and sanitation conditions.
Water For People was selected as the runner-up for the AMCOW AfricaSan Award for NGO/Civil Society at the second African Water Week in Johannesburg, South Africa. AMCOW is the driving force behind the AfricaSan movement, a regional initiative that seeks to place sanitation and hygiene at the top of the development agenda in Africa. The AMCOW AfricaSan Awards are dedicated to recognizing outstanding efforts and achievements in sanitation and hygiene in Africa that result in large-scale, sustainable behavior changes and tangible impacts.
Water For People has been working in Malawi since 2000 helping to provide more than 200,000 beneficiaries with safe drinking water and/or improved sanitation. Malawi ranks among one of the world's poorest and least developed nations in which water-related diseases such as cholera and typhoid fever are common throughout the country due to the lack of clean water and proper sanitation.
Water For People–Malawi works with communities and schools not only to provide clean drinking water and sanitation systems but also to train community leaders to build, maintain, and sustain their own systems. One such program is known as "Sanitation as a Business" and allows for people to be trained as engineers and then be paid a fee for sustaining sanitation systems in their community. This gives money back to the community while ensuring that water systems are intact long after Water For People leaves.
Over the next five years, Water For People–Malawi will concentrate most of its resources in the same three regions it is working in now: the Chikwawa District in the south, the peri-urban areas surrounding Blantyre, and the Rumphi District in the north. The long-term goal is to serve 40,000 people per year by 2011 with water, sanitation, and hygiene education.
Guide Offers Tips for Adapting to Climate Change
The Guidance on Water and Adaptation to Climate Change was released and adopted by the fifth session of the Meeting of the Parties to the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe's Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes (Water Convention) which took place recently in Geneva.
The guidance explains how to develop and implement an adaptation strategy, with a special focus on the transboundary context. Based on the concept of integrated water resources management, the guidance provides advice to decision makers and water managers on how to assess impacts of climate change on water quantity and quality, how to perform risk assessment, including health risks, how to gauge vulnerability, and how to design and implement appropriate adaptation strategies.
More than 80 different authors from many countries and disciplines contributed to this truly cooperative effort which contains nearly 40 case studies.
The full Guidance is available at: http://www.unece.org/env/documents/2009/Wat/mp_wat/ECE_MP.WAT_30_E.pdf
BECC-NADB Board Approves New Projects
The Board of Directors of the Border Environment Cooperation Commission (BECC) and the North American Development Bank (NADB) have announced the certification and financing of four wastewater treatment projects that will benefit over 1.8 million residents of the United States-Mexico border region.
The projects certified and approved for financing include:
Expansion and Upgrade of the South Wastewater Treatment Plant in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua. The plant's treatment capacity will be doubled from 22.8 to 45.6 million gallons a day (mgd) and the treatment process will be upgraded from advanced primary to secondary. The project, which will benefit 360,000 residents, will cost an estimated US$35.7 million to build and will receive a US$8 million grant from NADB through its Border Environment Infrastructure Fund (BEIF), which operates with funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
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