International Business Briefs: water treatment and supply and reuse, and biofuels

US water treatment company Ionics has won a US$20 million contract to build, own, and operate a water treatment facility for a 750MW natural gas-fired power plant in Pennsylvania. The water facility will supply steam to the refinery to replace a portion of its existing source of steam. The power plant is scheduled to go online next year.

Lemna International has signed an agreement to provide an US$80 million expansion and rehabilitation of the drinking water system in the Sunyani area in Ghana, which will provide clean water to more than 370,000 people by 2020. Currently, water shortages in the area are so acute that water is sometimes available for only a few hours every day.

American Bio-Fuels has announced that it has signed a joint venture to move and expand its state-of-the-art biofuel plant. ABF has signed a joint venture with Hondo Chemical Inc, which currently manufactures organic fertilisers. The venture includes an existing 12,000 square foot building with its own railway spur and loading docks. Additional facilities also include office space, fully equipped chemical labs, biofuels storage tanks, utilities and excess heat capabilities from existing fertiliser operations.

Water Management Group Inc has announced that its process water reuse system has recovered millions of gallons of water for a Miami beverage manufacturer. WMG has supplied a low-cost membrane process system for Shasta Corporation’s facility for the purpose of recovering thousands of gallons of process water that would otherwise be discharged to the city sewer system. The bottling facility had been exceeding its permitable discharge limits and, as a result, had been paying thousands of dollars to the Miami-Dade Sewer Authority.

Connecticut Water Service Inc, Connecticut’s largest domestically based, investor owned water utility, serving approximately 295,000 people in 42 towns in Connecticut and Massachusetts, has reported increased earnings for the three months ended 30 September 2002 compared with the same period last year. Net income applicable to common shareholders was US$3,850,000, compared to US$2,945,000.

Consolidated Water based in the Cayman Islands, which develops and operates seawater conversion plants and water distribution systems in areas where natural supplies of drinking water are scarce, has reported that its water sales increased 7.8% to a third quarter record of US$2.9 million. However, net income declined 6.4% to US$605,000.