Australia: The international consultancy Black & Veatch, in consortium with Leighton Contractors and GHD (operating as Beenyup Water Solutions), remain on schedule with the upgrade of the Beenyup wastewater treatment plant for the Water Corporation in Western Australia. The US$ 30-m project is expected to reduce odours by 75% and upgrade the 90-million liter per day (Mld) plant, serving the northern suburbs of Perth, to meet future forecast flows and regulatory requirements.
Black & Veatch conducted a hydraulic review of the plant that will enable the flow capacity to be increased to 120 Mld, with options to increase to 150 Mld in the future. The team is addressing operating problems and carrying out upgrade works, which will include: main inlets and bypass penstocks; replacement screens, grit handling and removal; secondary treatment process and capacity upgrade; new sludge treatment facilities; digesters upgraded and increased in capacity; new digester gas flare; and odour control.
China: The Institute of Hydropower and Water Resources of China (IWHR), a national organisation specialising in water resources and flood control, purchased software and modelling packages FloodWorks and InfoWorks RS from the UK company Wallingford Software for use in flood warning and decision-support projects.
FloodWorks and InfoWorks are real time water distribution and flood forecasting software and river modelling software packages. IWHR will also work alongside Wallingford Software to promote the application of advanced modelling technologies in China.
The Ministry of Water Resources in China supports the cooperation agreement, especially given that seeking mature advanced software for flood management and warning systems was the priority in this project. Flooding is a major natural disaster for many areas in China every year. Many river basin authorities are establishing flood warning and decision-support systems for flood management and risk minimisation.
Thailand: The Swedish government has granted US$ 1m to help the municipality of Chiang Ma solve water pollution problems. Approximately US$ 384,000 will be spent to improve the municipality's 10-year-old wastewater treatment facility. The rest will be spent on expanding capacity, sewer pipes and improving the system of fee collection. The municipality plans to collect wastewater treatment fees for the first time in 2004.
The fee was set at US$ .05 per m3, but households that generate less than 20 m3 of wastewater a month would be exempt. The municipal pollution control department will conduct a feasibility study on micro wastewater treatment facilities for communities along the Ping river and Klong Mae Kha, a tributary of the Ping, located outside the treatment area.
Currently, the municipal wastewater treatment facility can handle only 25% of a total discharge of 90,000 m3/day. All wastewater, treated and untreated, flows into the Ping river, Chiang Mai's lifeline.
