Rodney District Council’s newly upgraded Army Bay Sewage Treatment Plant won a Silver Award for lead project delivery firm, Sinclair Knight Merz, at the Association of Consulting Engineers New Zealand (ACENZ) Innovate NZ 2007 Awards of Excellence. The NZ$10 million upgrade includes advanced features to allow for projected population increases over decades, according to SKM project director Duncan Kingsbury.
“With the plant situated at Whangaparoa, environmental considerations were high on the list, with the protection of the Hibiscus Coast’s pristine environment, particularly the beaches and ocean, seen as paramount,” Kingsbury said.
Major components include an additional sequential batch reactor (SBR) with new decanter and aeration system, upgrading existing SBRs, a new grit trap facility and a UV disinfection plant. SKM was responsible for design of the civil, structural mechanical and electrical works; and associated tendering and letting of contracts, construction supervision, contract administration assistance, and commissioning of the plant. The design process chosen formed the basis for design of three new wastewater treatment plants for Thames Coromandel District Council.
Meanwhile, SKM, in association with Tonkin and Taylor and Works Infrastructure, also picked up an Award of Merit for its design of the Blackpoint Irrigation scheme. This is one of the largest pumped irrigation schemes in the Southern Hemisphere, intended to ultimately irrigate 20,000 hectares of North Otago farmland. And, Tim Boyle, formerly SKM’s general manager-infrastructure, was named global COO.
Manila Water taps WaterGEMS for distribution modeling
Manila Water, one of the largest water and wastewater services in the Philippines, has selected WaterGEMS V8 XM Edition, Bentley Systems Inc.’s water distribution modeling solution, to manage the water network serving more than five million people in the East Zone. This area includes eastern Metro Manila and portions of Rizal province.
On the company’s decision to adopt WaterGEMS V8 XM, Abelardo P. Basilio, Manila Water’s network planning manager, said, “We were impressed by WaterGEMS’ ease of use, data management tools, and integration with various platforms. These features will help us minimize duplication of work while allowing the Technical Support Services department, including the GIS group, and the Water Supply department to leverage data from Manila Water’s various existing data sources.” WaterGEMS V8 XM will enable Manila Water’s staff to exchange data among MapInfo, ArcGIS, AutoCAD, and existing water models.
Added Basilio: “With our plan to expand the service area into the northern, southern, and eastern sides of the concession area, our engineers will need to add many new sectors to the water model. WaterGEMS’ modules, such as TRex for automated elevation node assignment and LoadBuilder for automated geospatial demand allocation, will be a big help in this effort, which will require regular updates to our water model.”
Engineers at Manila Water will also use the Watertown, Connecticut, USA, business’ modeling software to create a master plan through the year 2020 for its distribution network. They also plan to eventually link the model to the utility’s live SCADA system for operational purposes.
In other news, Ville de Saguenay, in Quebec, Canada, has joined Bentley’s Municipal License Subscription (MLS) program, as have the Dutch cities of Overbetuwe and Tilburg, the sixth largest city in The Netherlands. And it’s MicroStation V8 XM Edition won a Cadalyst magazine All-Star award.
MWH awarded hydroelectric dam contract on Chinese river
MWH, a global provider of environmental engineering, construction and strategic consulting services, announced today that it has been selected by Ertan Hydropower Development Company Ltd. (EHDC) to provide engineering and construction management consulting services for the Jinping I Hydropower project in China.
On the Yalong River in the Sichuan Province of southwest China, the Jinping I Hydropower project will consist of a double-curvature, thin arch dam that, when finished, will stand at 305 meters. Among all of the dams completed, under construction or in the design process, Jinping I is considered one of the highest in the world. The project will provide a significant reservoir for flood control and will have a generation capacity of 3600 megawatts (MW). The hydropower produced at Jinping I will ultimately pay for the project’s construction costs, which are estimated at RMB 24.6 billion (US $3.3 billion), with MWH’s revenue over the next five years forecasted at more than US $5 million.
Field Notes
CHINA: IDE Technologies has signed a $119 million contract with Tianjin Ambest International Logistics to furnish a 100,000 m3/d (26.4 MGD) sea water desalination plant at the Beijiang Power Station, 200 km northeast of Beijing. The plant will supply boiler makeup water for the power plant and drinking water to the local population. The concentrate will be used for producing salt. Parts of the facility are scheduled to be operational by the end of 2008.
INDIA: Officials in the Indian city of Chennai and Degrémont opened an expansion to the country’s second largest drinking water production plant July 19. Designed and built in 24 months at a cost of e25.2 million, this plant provides 530,000 m3/day of drinking water to almost 4 million people and will be operated by Degremont for seven years. It’s fully automated and managed using a SCADA system. It uses the Degrémont-developed Aquazur V and Pulsator clarification and filtration techniques.
AUSTRALIA: In a first for remote Australian communities Water Recycle Group (WRG) is installing a solar-powered package wastewater treatment system with full water reuse capabilities. The site at William Creek is in the fragile Lake Eyre conservation area. With no mains power, a pro-environment alternative was sought. Working with WJMac Services and RI-Industries led to a solution that now sets the standard for carbon-neutral remote installations.
KOREA: Brighton, Michigan, USA-based land development consulting firm Atwell-Hicks has launched an international division and two new offices in South Korea in reaction to increasing global real estate and development markets. In addition to environmental and water/wastewater services experience throughout the USA, Atwell-Hicks has global experience in Canada, France, Mexico, China, Japan, Thailand and South Korea.
INDIA: An agreement was signed in July between the Indian state government of Himachal Pradesh and M/s Doon Infrastructure Ltd. for setting up of a Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) at Baddi, India, to handle increased manufacturing growth in the area. Additional chief secretary Smt. Parminder Mathur said the CETP will assure industrial effluent discharged is properly treated according to approved norms of the Pollution Control Board and that the government will lease out land for setting up of this facility. She said the SPV will ensure at least 70% of the employment is local.
TURKEY: Amiantit Saudi Arabia and joint venture partner SUBOR, of Turkey, have been awarded a contract worth SR118 million (US$ 31.5 million) for the supply of Flowtite GRP pipes for the Eyn-Khosh irrigation network, which is part of Dasht-e-Abbas irrigation project, in Iran. The project is of vital importance for irrigation of a large agricultural area and is being partly funded by the Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank and partly by the Iranian government.
