Water news in brief from World Water magazine

Trinidad awards desalination contract

Plans to build a seawater desalination plant with a capacity of 109,090 cubic metres a day has moved a step forward with Trinidad awarding the contract.

A joint venture in Trinidad between Ionics and Hafeez Karamath Engineering Services has received the contract to build, own and operate the $120M plant, claimed to be the largest in the western hemisphere.

Under a 23-year contract with the Water and Sewerage Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (WASA), the joint venture company, Desalcott, will supply water at a price of $0.707/m3 ($2.67/1000 gallons) to Trinidad’s Point Lisas Industrial Park, enabling the water supply currently used by the Industrial Park to be made available for municipal purposes.

Ionics will design, build and construct the desalination facility, and subsequently operate and maintain it, in five separate phases. The first phase is expected to be completed within 12 months and the final phase 39 months later.

New Zealand opts for ultra violet sewage treatment

Wedeco AG of Düsseldorf has been awarded a contract by Watercare Services of New Zealand to provide what is claimed to be the largest UV system in the world to date.

The system will be installed in New Zealand’s largest sewage treatment plant at Mangere, near Auckland and treat a maximum flow of 14m3/sec. To protect the wildlife in the surrounding Manukau Harbour, the plant will achieve stringent faecal coliform and enterococci standards.

Namibia’s capital goes ahead with effluent reuse scheme

Norit Membrane Technology (NMT) of The Netherlands, part of the Norit Process Technology Group, has been awarded a contract for the supply of water treatment equipment for a new effluent reuse scheme in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia.

The equipment will be used to produce potable water from a feed of secondary treated sewage.

The installation of the new plant will provide vital additional water resources, producing up to 24,000m3/d of fully disinfected, bacteria and virus free water for a largely dry area.

The membrane technology has been jointly developed by NMT and its sister company X-Flow, also of The Netherlands.

Malmö to recycle valuable sewage sludge ingredients

Kemira Chemicals has announced that its Kemwater subsidiary has won an SEK64M ($7.5M) order from Malmö Water to install the Krepro process for sewage sludge treatment. This follows an earlier statement that Helsinki city council is to set up a joint venture company with Kemira Chemicals in the water utilities sector.

Malmö will be the first city in the world to use the Krepro process on a large scale. The Krepro, or Kemwater Recycling Process, separates recyclable components from wastewater sludge.
Phosphates can be used for agricultural fertilisers and solid organic material as a fuel.

The Helsinki venture, in which Kemira Chemicals will hold 51% of the shares with the council holding the rest, will be called Kemwater Services. The Kemira group has only just outlined a new strategy in which water services and water treatment will be key areas of future business growth. The new company will market know-how in Finland and in nearby areas to clients in the municipal and private sectors.

Helsinki Water has pioneered the introduction of advanced water treatment processes such as ozone and GAC.