USA: The Board of Directors of the Tampa Bay Water appointed American Water-Pridesa to remedy, operate and manage the Tampa Bay Seawater Desalination Plant, the largest seawater desalination plant in the USA. Tampa Bay Water selected American Water-Pridesa to enter exclusive contract negotiations in September 2004, and both parties have worked together to reach contract agreement within the 60-day negotiation timeline.
American Water-Pridesa will begin immediately to complete the design of the improvements to the 25 million gallon per day plant and will take over operation of the plant on 8 January 2005 with completion expected by October 2006. The unit cost of water from the plant will average US$ 2.54 per thousand gallons once the plant is fully operational.
American Water, part of RWE Thames Water, provides water, wastewater and other services, reaching 18 million customers in 29 US states and three Canadian provinces. Pridesa, also part of RWE Thames Water, has designed and built more than 50 desalination facilities around the world and are currently operating more than 30 plants. For more information, visit www.amwater.com.
USA: The US Agency for International Development awarded a five-year contract, worth up to US$ 2 billion for integrated water and coastal resources management to the Development Alternatives International (DAI)-led consortium, which includes the US consultancy CDM, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The contract supports a key strategic objective of the USAID Office of Natural Resources, Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture, and Trade--improved protection and sustainable use of natural resources, with special emphasis on increased conservation and sustainable use of freshwater and coastal resources.
CDM will provide assistance in municipal and industrial water supply, wastewater treatment and sanitation, non-point source pollution prevention, urban stormwater management, groundwater modelling, river basin modelling, water and wastewater utility management, watershed and river basin management and planning, water quality management and regulation, coastal management, coral reef protection, hydrology, and water-related infrastructure finance.
USA: GE Infrastructure’s Water & Process Technologies will continue to grow with the company’s latest agreement to acquire Ionics, Inc. in an all-cash merger for US$ 44 per share, valuing the deal at $1.1 billion. Based in Watertown, Massachusetts, Ionics is a leading player in desalination, water reuse and recycling, and industrial ultrapure water services.
In February 2004, Ionics acquired the US company Ecolochem, Inc., which provides emergency, short- and long-term mobile water treatment services to the power, petrochemical and other industries. This acquisition increased Ionics’ ability to provide multiple technologies for its outsourced water services. Visit http://www.geinfrastructure.com for more information.
USA: Hach Company’s Homeland Security Technologies signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the US Army to complete testing of its new real-time water security detection and response technology by the end of 2004. Under terms of this three-party agreement, the US Army’s Edgewood Chemical Biological Center, the Corps of Engineer’s Construction Engineering Research Laboratory and Hach will work to conduct live agent testing on the company’s new technology designed to detect terrorist attacks on drinking water distribution systems.
“This is the final stage of verifying that we have the world’s first working, reliable real-time detection technology - capable of detecting for adverse attacks and managing drinking water quality,” commented Dr. Jeff Throckmorton, president of Hach Homeland Security Technology.
