CONTENTS

Vol 01 No 7 June 2018 Pages60 TECH UPDATE

Chairman of the Board

Viveck Goenka DESIGN WATER

Sr Vice President - BPD

Neil Viegas
22 TREATMENT SYSTEMS IN
AN EVEN MORE USER-
FRIENDLY PROCESS
Editor

Mayur Sharma*

DESIGN
TECH FOCUS
National Design Editor
SAVING ENERGY ONLY
Bivash Barua
Assistant Art Director
34 WORKS IF IT IS EASY

Pravin Temble THREE DECADES IN

Chief Designer

Prasad Tate
36 GEORGIA - SCREW PUMPS
SHOW THEIR STRENGTH
Senior Designer

Rekha Bisht 37 CUTTER CLEARS CLOGS

The Seawater Desalination

Graphic Designer

Gauri Deorukhkar
MUNICIPAL WATER
DIGITAL TEAM

Head of Internet LEAD IN DRINKING WATER:

38
- Dream Coming True?
Viraj Mehta PAST, PRESENT, AND
FUTURE
Web Developer

Dhaval Das
Senior Executive - Online

Pushkar Worlikar
OUT OF THE BOX
Executive - Online
Is desalination finally the answer to water scarcity in
Salil Sule arid regions of our planet? As the countries are ALL THAT DOES NOT
GLITTER IS ALSO GOLD -
SCHEDULING & COORDINATION
increasingly depending on seawater desalination to 42 SEWAGE IS AN ASSET, NOT
A LIABILITY
Santosh Lokare provide drinking water for the fast-growing coastal
Photo Editor population, how big a role will desalination play?
Sandeep Patil
Express Water aims to explore if the right application of URBAN WATER
MARKETING
current and future desalination technologies at the
Kailash Shirodkar 100RC AND NIUA
right place can make this dream come true or not.
CIRCULATION 44 ANNOUNCE NATIONAL
LEVEL EFFORT FOR URBAN
Mohan Varadakar 23-33 RESILIENCE IN INDIA

PRODUCTION

General Manager

B R Tipnis INTERVIEW SMART WATER

Manager
SMART WASTEWATER/
Bhadresh Valia

Express Water
TM
15 VIETNAM'S KEY WATER CHALLENGES
AND LESSONS FROM THE REGION - DR.
THANG NAM DO, VISITING FELLOW -
48 SEWERAGE TREATMENT
FOR SMART INDIA
CRAWFORD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC POLICY -
REGD. WITH RNI NO. MAHENG/2017/74894. AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY
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4 June, 2018 EXPRESS WATER

 EDITOR’S NOTE

The Seawater Desalination - Dream Coming True?

Is desalination finally the answer to water scarcity
in the arid regions of our planet? As the countries are
increasingly depending on seawater desalination to
provide drinking water for the fast-growing coastal
population, how big a role will desalination play? This
month, in our cover story, we have aimed to explore
if the right application of current and future desali-
nation technologies at the right place can make this
dream come true.
Over the past few years, the global water desali-
nation industry has grown a lot, reaching 99.8 million
cubic meters per day (m3/d) in 2017, as per recent re-
ports. While the Middle East has always been the
front-runner, Asia Pacific is likely to show an excep-
tional growth in this sector due to increasing need for
water utilization, especially in the manufacturing sec-
tor.
We can understand this situation in the light of a re-
cent news from India. In the Kutch region of Gujarat
state, where water supply situation is getting worse,
the industrial units are now looking at the captive
seawater desalination plants in the region as alterna-
tive solutions to meet their water needs. For the
same, the regional industrial-association has re-
quested the state government to allow water supply
from private desalination plants. The Gujarat state
government has also announced that it will set up a
seawater desalination plant of 100 Million Liter per
Day (MLD) capacity near Jodiya town in coastal Jam-
nagar district. The state government eventually aims
to set-up 10 seawater desalination plants along its
1,600-km long coastline to address the issue of water
shortage.
In another announcement by the Government of
India, to meet the potable water demand, three ma-
jor ports of India - Paradip, Ennore, and Chi-
dambarnar - will now install plants to recycle and de-
salinate seawater. The initiative is expected to bene-
fit the nearby areas and cities.
The desalination is a high-cost option when com-
pared to many other water-recycling technologies.
And it still requires a lot of energy. But as water
scarcity will become a bigger challenge, the coastal
regions will have to increasingly turn to desalination
as the solution.
One of the more encouraging statements comes
from Yoon Seok-won, Head of Water BG Group at
Doosan Heavy Industries, when he speaks on the oc-
casion of winning a 470 billion won (USD 422.05 mil-
lion) Seawater Reverse Osmosis Desalination
(SWRO) plant construction deal in Saudi Arabia,
“We hope to move more aggressively to tap into the
global RO seawater desalination market, which will
worth USD 4.5 billion (5.01 trillion won), by 2020.”
From this month, we have introduced a new sec-
tion ‘Tech Focus’ - where we will specifically focus on
current and upcoming technologies, their applica-
“The cure for anything is tions, and products. This section will be a significant
part of our editorial calendar apart from our cover
salt water: sweat, tears or stories.
the sea.” In our next issue (July 2018), we will focus on
“Storm Water Management & Floods” and “Water
- Isak Dinesen Supply, Transportation & Distribution”. I welcome
editorial contributions on these and all other topics
which you find significant for the water sector.
MAYUR SHARMA
Editor
mayur.sharma@expressindia.com
@TheExpressWater

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6 June, 2018 EXPRESS WATER

 IN THE NEWS

WABAG Secures Repeat Order Worth INR 296 Crores from Delhi
Jal Board,and Also Announces FY18 Results
Company’s consolidated revenue is INR 3,457 crores, Profit After Tax (PAT) of INR 132 crores
is up by 28%, and its board recommends a final dividend of 200%.

Mayur Sharma
India
VA TECH WABAG Limited
has secured an order for INR
296 Crores from Delhi Jal
Board towards rehabilitation
and up-gradation of the 182
MLD Wastewater Treatment
Plant at Rithala under the
Yamuna Action Plan. The
scope includes design, supply,
construction, commissioning
including operation and main-
tenance for 11 years. The proj-
ect will be financed by Japan
International Cooperation
Agency (JICA).
The up-gradation includes
WABAG designing and con-
structing a Biogas power gen-
eration unit from sewage,
reducing dependence on the
power grid. This is another
fine example of promoting the
waste-to-energy concept.
Rajiv Mittal
Commenting on this develop-
ment, Pankaj Sachdeva, CEO -
India Cluster, said “We at
WABAG are excited at the
continuous flow of orders.
This repeat order reflects the
client’s confidence in us and
our capabilities. This is a testi-
mony to the fact that WABAG
continues to enjoy the status
of “Most Preferred Supplier”
in water and wastewater
treatment space.”
Commenting on company’s
annual results, Rajiv Mittal,
Managing Director, VA Tech
WABAG Ltd, said, “I’m very
pleased that as a group, we
continue to deliver profitable
growth consistently. The
order flow momentum which
has picked up recently and
our favorable positions in
upcoming jobs in India and
overseas gives me the confi-
dence that we will continue to
grow with a healthy order
book and margin expansion.”

BASFand Solenis to Join Forces byCombining ANDRITZto Refurbish Dewatering

Paper and Water Chemicals Businesses
EW Staff lines BASF’s active portfolio
Germany management and enables us
to share in the future success
BASF AND SOLENIS have of this promising joint entity,”
signed an agreement to join says Dr. Markus Kamieth,
forces by combining BASF’s member of the Board of
paper wet-end and water Executive Directors of BASF
chemicals business with SE and responsible for the
Solenis. The combined entity Performance Products.
with proforma sales of around The transaction comprises
€2.4 billion and around 5,000 BASF’s global paper wet-end
employees in 2017 aims to and water chemicals business
deliver additional value for with 2017 sales of around €800
paper and water treatment million and around 1,300
customers. For the water employees globally. The trans-
treatment industry, the cus- fer includes production sites
tomers of the joint organiza- and plants of the paper wet-
tion will benefit from Solenis’ end and water chemicals busi-
high-quality service capabili- ness in Bradford and Grimsby,
ties and BASF’s broad water UK; Suffolk, Virginia, USA;
treatment chemicals platform. Altamira, Mexico;
BASF will hold a 49% share of Ankleshwar, India, and
the combined entity that will Kwinana, Australia. BASF’s
operate under the Solenis paper and water chemicals
name and be headquartered in production plants strongly
Wilmington, Delaware, USA. embedded in the Verbund in
“The transaction under- Ludwigshafen, Germany, and
Nanjing, China, are not trans-
ferred and will deliver prod-
ucts and raw materials to the
combined entity under mid- to
long-term supply agreements.
“We will remain committed
to the paper and water treat-
ment industries through our
49% ownership of the com-
bined entity and bring our
excellent technologies, prod-
ucts, and production process-
es. Combined with Solenis’
service capabilities, we will
create additional value for our
customers”, says Anup
Kothari, President of BASF’s
Performance Chemicals divi-
sion.
“Together, we have a
unique opportunity to create a
customer-focused global spe-
cialty chemical company with
an enhanced focus and
expanded offerings”, under-
lines John E. Panichella, CEO
of Solenis.
Equipment for TMPWashing Stage at
Hallsta Paper Mill
EW Staff
Sweden
ANDRITZ HAS RECEIVED
an order from Holmen Paper,
a part of the Holmen Group,
Sweden, to refurbish and
install dewatering equipment
for a new TMP (thermo-
mechanical pulp) washing
stage at PM 12 in Hallstavik.
ANDRITZ will refurbish
two used ANDRITZ twin wire
presses and relocate an exist-
ing ANDRITZ pulp screw
press. After re-installation as
the TMP washing stage, the
dewatering equipment will
improve the pulp quality, thus
ensuring higher product qual-
ity on the paper machine.
PM12 manufactures book
paper and newsprint grades.
The scope of supply is:
refurbishment of two used
ANDRITZ twin wire presses,
relocation, and overhaul of an
existing ANDRITZ pulp screw
press used in the former de-
inking plant at Hallsta paper
mill, installation of a new con-
veyor for pulp dilution and
shredding after washing, and
rebuild and relocation of two
existing screw conveyors.
ANDRITZ’s broad know-
how on the refurbishment of
dewatering equipment as well
as its longstanding and excel-
lent relationship with Holmen
Paper was decisive for the
order award.

8 June, 2018 EXPRESS WATER

 IN THE NEWS

SPMLInfra Declares Profit of INR 431.16 Million in Financial Results

The company has recorded gross revenue of INR 14,117.11 million. The Profit After Tax (PAT)
for the year rises to INR 431.16 million.

Mayur Sharma
India
SPML INFRA LIMITED has
declared the financial results
for the quarter and the finan-
cial year ended March 31, 2018.
The company’s board has
approved the Standalone
Audited Financial Results for
the quarter and the financial
year ended 31st March 2018
and declared that the company
has recorded gross revenue of
INR 14,117.11 million. The Profit
After Tax (PAT) for the year
rises to INR 431.16 million.
Subhash Sethi
Financial highlights of the
financial year 2017-18 are:
standalone EBITDA for FY 18
at INR 2,581.9 million against
INR 2,143.18 million in FY 17,
standalone FY 18 Net Profit
up at INR 431.1 million against
INR 14.4 million in FY 17,
reduction in administrative &
other expenses from INR
1,226.4 million in 2016-17 to
INR 762.8 million in 2017-18,
and successfully implemented
S4A scheme.
INR 5,469.2 Million debt
has been restructured under
S4A Scheme by a consortium
of banks for repayment from
2023 onward for the next five
years.
The moratorium on the
interest for the first five years
will make it possible for the
Company to strengthen its
working capital management
and larger cash flows will
make it possible for SPML
Infra to complete projects
within time and budgeted
cost.
Subhash Sethi, Chairman,
SPML Infra commented, “Our
journey to provide sustainable
infrastructure with profitable
growth continues to be our
focus with the consolidation of
finances and optimization of
resources. We completed a
prestigious project for drink-
ing water supply and irriga-
tion in Gujarat, which was
inaugurated by the Hon’ble
Prime Minister of India. Our
expertise and proven track
record of developing robust
water infrastructure and pro-
viding drinking water facili-
ties to over 40 million Indian
population have made SPML
Infra among the world’s top 50
water companies. SPML Infra
is currently executing about
40 water supply and power
transmission and distribution
projects and we are confident
of delivering these projects on
time.”

Fluence Awarded Aspiral™ Wastewater Project H2O Innovation (Piedmont) Positions Itself
in Changping District,Beijing,China Strategicallyon the International
Desalination Market with ISO 9001: 2015
This is the first MABR plant in Beijing area and with its Certification
new local partner Glory Land (Beijing) Science &
Technology Co., Ltd.
EW Staff gically to better meet the
Canada price, quality and delivery
requirements of its interna-
EW Staff works. Once completed, the ing of the rebranding of our H2O INNOVATION INC tional customers. “This certifi-
China plant will be used by the Aspiral family of wastewater recently obtained its ISO cation is part of a positioning
Changping District govern- treatment solutions, it gives 9001:2015 certification, ensur- approach on the international
FLUENCE CORPORATION ment to treat domestic waste- me great pleasure to ing quality management, from desalination market that will
LIMITED has secured a con- water from an innovative announce today that we con- design to manufacturing, of all certainly allow us to adequate-
tract from the Changping underground treatment tinue to make progress on our its products and components ly meet the needs of our large
District government for the installation. growth strategy in China with for water treatment systems. customer base. It is also a pre-
purchase of an Aspiral™ S1 Fluence’s Aspiral™ S1 unit this sale of an Aspiral™ S1 in a This is a major milestone in its requisite for most of the large
smart-packaged MABR-based is designed to treat waste- new province and with a new strategic positioning with the EPCs (Engineering,
solution (formerly known as water to effluent standards partner. We’ve standardized major players of the desalina- Procurement, Construction)
CMABR) for use in a munici- which exceed Class 1A quality features and options of our tion industry. involved in the manufacturing
pal wastewater treatment in order to comply with packaged units that make By 2025, the international of large desalination plants”,
plant. The plant will be locat- Beijing local standards. The these innovative solutions desalination market is expect- stated Ties Venema -
ed in Changping District, unit will treat 20 m3/d (5,000 easy to customize, install, use, ed to reach $27 B, represent- Commercial Director of
Municipality of Beijing, Hebei GPD) and is scheduled to be maintain, and even expand. ing a 103% increase compared Piedmont.
province, China. commissioned as soon as We’re confident that, within to 2016, mainly driven by rapid H2O Innovation has also
This is the first contract October 2018. this family of products, we industrialization, population been awarded five new water
won through Fluence’s new Commenting on this most have a solution to satisfy any growth and depletion of fresh- and wastewater projects in
local partners Glory Land recent award in China, customers’ need for any water bodies. The Middle East North America. These new
(Beijing) Science & Fluence Managing Director & municipal domestic waste- & Africa are the largest mar- contracts, worth $4.1 M, will
Technology Co., Ltd., which CEO Henry Charrabé said: water treatment challenge in kets. This is why Piedmont bring the Corporation’s proj-
will also provide the civil “Following yesterday’s unveil- China.” wants to position itself strate- ect sales backlog to $56.6 M.

10 June, 2018 EXPRESS WATER

 IN THE NEWS
Singapore’s Advanced Wastewater Treatment Technologies Wins Global Recognition
The novel treatment process is a shining example for others, as it brings down energy use,
saves land and reduces manpower reliance.
EW Staff
Singapore
PUB’S WASTEWATER
TREATMENT demonstra-
tion plant at Ulu Pandan, set
up specially to test advanced
used water treatment
processes before full deploy-
ment in future, has captured
global attention and won the
Water/Wastewater Project of
the Year Award at the 2018
Global Water Awards.
The Ulu Pandan waste-
water treatment demonstra-
tion plant, which started oper-
ating in 2017, was jointly
developed by PUB and the
Black & Veatch + AECOM
Joint Venture. The demon-
stration plant enables PUB to
test and validate advanced
wastewater treatment tech-
nologies, allowing it to miti-
gate any operating risks
before incorporating the tech-
EVOQUANamed Companyof the Year byFrost & Sullivan HYFLUX Announces its Exit from the
The distinction follows being named ‘Company of the
Year’ by GWI last month.
EW Staff
USA
EVOQUA WATER
TECHNOLOGIES has been
selected as the Water
Technology Solutions
Company of the Year by Frost
& Sullivan, the leading global
research and best practices
firm.
“At Evoqua, everything we
do begins and ends with
exceeding the expectations of
our customers,” said Ron
Keating, Evoqua Chief
12 June, 2018
nologies at a larger scale, at
the future Tuas WRP. When
completed in 2025, Tuas WRP
will be the largest membrane
bioreactor (MBR) facility in
the world, with a 30% more
compact footprint compared
to conventional plants. This
12,500 m3/day (2.75 million
imperial gallons per day) facil-
ity is currently housed at
PUB’s Ulu Pandan Water
Reclamation Plant.
These tested technologies
will enable the future Tuas
Desalination Project in Saudi Arabia
Executive Officer. “We are
proud to be recognized by
Frost & Sullivan for not just
our industry leadership but
for the positive impact we
make for our customers each
day as we transform water
and enrich life.”
In naming Evoqua
Company of the Year, Frost &
Sullivan highlighted Evoqua’s
range of technologies and how
the company leverages a vast
amount of “experience and
industrial know-how to deliver
top-notch, customizable cus-
WRP to be more energy effi-
cient - doubling the energy
recovery while consuming
lesser energy compared to
conventional plants.
“R&D is the key driver to
Singapore achieving a robust
management system across
the entire water loop and PUB
continues to innovate to
increase the efficiency of
water and wastewater treat-
ment. The Ulu Pandan waste-
water treatment demonstra-
tion plant has allowed us to
tomer service.” Additionally,
Frost & Sullivan cited how
Evoqua finds avenues for
using IoT technology to deliv-
er quicker, more efficient
products and services for its
vast customer base.
Last month, Evoqua also
was named Water Company of
the Year by Global Water
Intelligence (GWI), the lead-
ing market resource for the
water industry, as part of the
Global Water Awards held in
conjunction with GWI’s Global
Water Summit.
validate and set new stan-
dards for wastewater treat-
ment while fulfilling our need
to bring down energy use,
keep things compact in land-
scarce Singapore and reduce
reliance on manpower. The
success of this demonstration
plant will ensure that the
future Tuas WRP and its inte-
grated NEWater factory can
contribute sustainably
towards the goal of increasing
Singapore’s overall water
recycling rate,” said Harry
Seah, Assistant Chief
Executive (Future Systems
and technology), PUB.
The Black & Veatch +
AECOM Joint Venture serves
as the program manager for
Singapore’s Deep Tunnel
Sewerage System Phase 2
project and the consultant for
the Ulu Pandan wastewater
demonstration plant.
“This award recognizes the
EW Staff
Singapore
HYFLUX LTD HAS
announced its decision to exit
from a desalination project in
the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Subsequent to its wholly-owned
subsidiary, Hydrochem Saudi
Limited, receiving the Letter of
Award from the state-owned
Saline Water Conversion
Corporation (SWCC) to design,
build, supply, test and commis-
sion three seawater reverse
osmosis desalination plants in
Duba, Wajh and Haql (the
Project) in the western region
results of harnessing
advances in digital water tech-
nology together with latest
advanced water treatment
processes to realize opera-
tional, economic and environ-
mental sustainability goals at
the Ulu Pandan wastewater
plant,” said Cindy Wallis-Lage,
President of Black & Veatch’s
Water Business.
“The BV-AECOM joint
venture is proud to partner
with PUB to continually set
global standards in integrated
water management that
ensures sustainable high-
quality water for
Singaporeans. This award is a
milestone in our partnership
with PUB, and we look for-
ward to contributing further
to new advances in
Singapore’s water manage-
ment efforts,” said Billy Wong,
Regional Executive for
Southeast Asia at AECOM.
of the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia, Hyflux was informed by
SWCC of its intention to con-
vert the project into a Build-
Own-Transfer structure which
requires Hyflux to inject capital
to fund the development of
project. In view of the recent
developments, Hyflux has
decided not to commit capital
to this project at this time, and
both SWCC and Hyflux have
reached mutual agreement to
terminate the project. As part
of mutual agreement, Hyflux
received payment amounting to
USD 3.5 million from SWCC for
work done thus far.
EXPRESS WATER
 IN THE NEWS

Sulzer Awarded Large Pumps Orders from GE Power India Limited

Sulzer India has been contracted to supply 21 barrel-type boiler feed pump sets for GE Power
India Limited.

EW Staff Included in the orders are assembled, and packaged in

India
THE PUMPS ARE destined
for the new three thermal
power plants, i.e., 3x660 MW
Ghatampur, 2x660 MW Obra
“C” UPRVUL, 2x660MW
Jawaharpur JVUNL. Those
plants are being built in Uttar
Pradesh, India, and owned by
Newveli Uttar Pradesh Power
Ltd, Uttar Pradesh Rajya
21 barrel-type boiler feed
pumps (20MW drive) and 21
booster pumps. The pumps
are specifically designed for
use in arduous industrial
applications and are opti-
mized for high-efficiency
operations. The scope of sup-
ply also includes 12 conden-
Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited, respectively. The sate extraction pumps and 14
Limited and Jawaharpur delivery is scheduled from heater drain pumps. All pump
Vidyut Utpadan Nigam mid-2018 to mid-2019. sets will be engineered,
India.
Sulzer is a key player in the
supercritical power segment
and investing in employees
and sites in India, setting up a
new 8MW test bed in
Mumbai. After a detailed eval-
uation, the customer has cho-
sen Sulzer as its partner in
this important project thanks
to its technology and well-rec-
ognized global experience.

Veolia’s HPD® Black Liquor ACCIONAWins Contract for Operation and Maintenance
Evaporator System Chosen of 16 Wastewater Treatment Plants in Madrid
by Chung Hwa Pulp
EW Staff
Taiwan
CHUNG HWA PULP has
selected Veolia Water
Technologies’ HPD® evapora-
tor technology to upgrade its
Hualien Mill in Taiwan. This
upgrade requires raising the
capacity and Heavy Black
Liquor concentration of the
black liquor evaporator trains,
in order to meet the future
production of fiber line.
The main design require-
ments from the client were the
optimization of the steam con-
sumption while making sure
not to overload the existing
equipment and with minimal
interaction with the existing
plants.
Of the two evaporation
trains (#3 and #4), only train
#3 was modified, adding the
seventh and eight effects, a
parallel second effect and a
backup condenser. The output
of both trains is concentrated
at a new concentrator, inte-
grated on train #3.
The project will involve an
additional 80 t/h H2O evapo-
ration and a solids increase
from approximately 66% up to
75%.
“The optimized OPEX
offered by Veolia’s solution to
Chung Hwa Pulp was ulti-
mately the difference maker in
this project, consolidating
Veolia’s positioning as an
important partner in the Pulp
& Paper industry” comment-
ed Klaus Andersen, CEO
Veolia Water Technologies
Americas.
Chung Hwa Pulp produces,
sells, and trades in pulp and
paper products primarily in
Taiwan, and mainland China.
The contract awarded by Canal de Isabel II represents
revenues of 24 million euros.
EW Staff
Spain
ACCIONA AGUA HAS been awarded the con-
tract for the operation and maintenance of the
wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) of
Grupo Cuenca Guadarrama, a division of Canal
de Isabel II. It will run for 4 years and came into
effect on 19th April this year.
ACCIONA’s proposition represents rev-
enues (excluding VAT) of 24 million euros. It
will provide a service to a population equivalent
of 2 million people, with a maximum overall
treatment capacity of 1.75 m3/s and a treated
flow per year of more than 30.5 million cubic
meters.
These plants have biological treatment
processes for the elimination of nutrients, terti-
ary treatments and future cogeneration by
microturbines in the Boadilla WWTP, one of
the facilities. There is also a new WWTP at
Arroyo Valenoso, which has ultrafiltration tech-
nology with membrane bioreactors, whose
application allows the separation of sludge
through the filtering process, removing the
need for traditional secondary settling.
Likewise, the WWTP at La Reguera will be
equipped with a biogas enrichment process
that works through the anaerobic digestion of
sludge, which is later used as biofuel for self-
consumption or injection into the natural gas
network.
The cogeneration and biogas enrichment
processes will produce around 5,000
megawatt-hours a year (MWh) of electricity,
sufficient to supply a population of around
4,000.
Several of the WWTPs in Cuenca
Guadarrama also have tertiary treatment, in
which water goes through different stages
using sand and mesh filters, UV light equip-
ment and disinfection with sodium hypochlo-
rite. Through this treatment, 100% self-con-
sumption of industrial water is obtained for the
facilities and to cover the sending of regenerat-
ed water to Boadilla and Móstoles for watering
parks and gardens.
With this new contract, ACCIONA Agua
also consolidates its O&M leadership position
in the Region of Madrid.

EXPRESS WATER June, 2018 13

 PRODUCTS
Alfa Laval
Alfa Laval is now
expanding its range of
the UltraPure
Pharmaceutical
Pumps with an even
larger selection.
Whether a pharma-
ceutical or biotech
process requires a
centrifugal or PD (positive displacement) pump, the
complete range of Alfa Laval UltraPure pumps cov-
ers virtually any pharma or biotech need. The
expanded UltraPure range includes the newly
released Alfa Laval LKH Prime UltraPure, a greater
selection of well-known Alfa Laval LKH UltraPure,
the new Alfa Laval SX UltraPure and the streamlined
high-performance Alfa Laval Solid-C UltraPure.
Designed for the demands of pharmaceutical and
biotech industries, the UltraPure range of pumps
offer features that can help to optimize production.
Fluence Corporation
Fluence has unveiled its Aspiral™ family of decen-
tralized, smart packaged wastewater treatment solu-
tions, based on its innovative Membrane Aerated
Biofilm Reactor (MABR) technology. Fluence MABR
is a spirally wound, self-respiring membrane that
provides aeration for the wastewater process and
functions as the biological reactor. The Aspiral™ L3,
which treats up to 300 m3/day (80,000 GPD) of raw
municipal wastewater, is equipped with all internal
air and wastewater piping and arrives ready for fast
installation and start-up. The Aspiral™ S1 and M2
models treat up to 50 m3/day (14,000 GPD) and 115
m3/day (30,000 GPD) of raw municipal wastewater,
respectively, and include internal clarifiers, integral
pre-treatment screen and arrive fully equipped and
ready for fast installation and start-up.
Mueller Water Products
Mueller® Resilient Wedge
Gate Valves now have an
option for a purple pentagon-
shaped wrench nut, intended
for reclaimed water service
installations. This wrench nut
introduces two distinguishing
features: a unique shape
requiring a special key for
improved security and a pur-
ple finish to quickly identify
reclaimed water. Purple is recognized by the
14 June, 2018
WILO
Wilo’s vision for opments in motor and medium-sized pumping sta-
a smart sewage hydraulics technology and tions, both in wet well and dry
pump station is a offer integrated control intelli- well installation. Using the inte-
solution that gence. Other features of the grated web-server, the Rexa
offers outstand- Nexos Intelligence are the SOLID-Q is controlled and
ing operational intelligent energy-efficiency monitored via the network
reliability, energy optimization function and the interface or directly via the
efficiency and highly sophisticated clogging externally connected touch
connectivity. detection function. panel. The system interface is
These mod- The Wilo-Rexa SOLID-Q conveniently accessible via a
ules are the sewage pump was designed for web browser and supports all
latest devel- conveying untreated sewage in operating systems.
American Public Works Association to identify and a better sand velocity distribution than conven-
“reclaimed” water line components and was adopted tional sand filters. With a non-metal tank and use of
in 1980 by the AWWA California-Nevada Section for materials that are resistant to chemicals and corro-
reclaimed water pipelines. sion it also offers lower operational and maintenance
costs.
Opto 22
Opto 22 has released PAC Project Software Suite Schaeffler
R10. This release supports their new groov EPIC®
system, adds eight new control commands, and pro-
vides the ability to
designate individ-
ual I/O and vari-
able tags as
Public Access for
read-only or read-
write use in IIoT
data communica- Schaeffler is introducing advanced new condition
tions via monitoring technologies to Australasia, which are
setting new benchmarks for predictive maintenance
MQTT/Sparkplug. PAC Project Professional adds an of rotating equipment such as pumps, fans, and elec-
OPC server, database connectivity, PC-based control tric motors. The new globally proven technologies,
configuration and support for legacy Opto 22 I/O including the latest evolutions of Schaeffler’s
units. The Pro version sells for just under USD 1000. SmartQB and SmartCheck condition monitoring
The suite’s control programming software, PAC systems were featured at this year’s Hannover Messe
Control, is full-featured and easy to use, with more exhibition along with a whole host of digitalization
than 450 commands in plain English, plus graphical and cloud-based technologies that harness the
PID tuning and debugging. The most important new advantages of industry 4.0.
feature with this new release is support for groov
EPIC.
SUEZ
To help oil and gas producers scavenge sour gas
Paques effectively, SUEZ has formulated a new version of its
Paques has launched a new version of the Astrasand ProSolv HS line to effectively scavenge H2S without
sand filter: the ASTRASAND®COMPAQT. This fil- phase separation upsets that affect water quality or
ter, which is 30% lower than the original version with salt in the condensate. ProSolv HS is a non-nitrogen-
the same filtration process, is based based chemistry that does not impact downstream
on the reliable continuous sand fil- refining processes. It is safer to deploy compared to
tration technology that has been nitrogen-containing scavengers, which adversely
proven in the last 35 years. The impact refining processes with the formation of salts
reduction of height leads to a 20% and costly corrosion. The new ProSolv HS is formu-
saving on energy, it makes the filter lated specifically to address sour gas production con-
easier implementable on existing ditions. The product can scavenge H2S levels to cus-
sites and it is even possible to place tomer target KPIs without impacting process PH.
it inside. ASTRASAND®COM- This means no costly scale buildup occurs. It can be
PAQT can be utilized for many a game changer for the customers that now can effec-
types of wastewater, with unit capacity varying from tively utilize produced water without further treat-
only a few to several thousand m3/hour. The highly ment and are able to sell gas condensates with the
efficient and reliable system offers a short lead time correct salt level and sales specifications.
EXPRESS WATER
 INTERVIEW
Vietnam's Key Water Challenges
and Lessons from the Region
Dr. Thang Nam Do, visiting fellow at the Crawford School of Public Policy in Australian
National University, speaks about the water challenges and possible solutions in Vietnam.
By IWC for the Australian Water Partnership (AWP)
Please tell us a bit about
yourself, and the current
important water chal-
lenges in Vietnam.
Dr. Thang: It’s my great
pleasure to share some of my
understanding and knowledge
about water issues in
Vietnam. I’m currently a
EXPRESS WATER
focusing on different environ-
mental issues, including water
and environment. Right now
[at ANU] we’re doing some
research on water issues in
Vietnam and solutions to
those issues.
Vietnam is facing many
water challenges. First: water
quantity, water scarcity.
Although Vietnam receives
around 2000 mm of rainfall on
average per year, water avail-
ability is highly seasonal and
unevenly distributed across
the country. Water scarcity
has become very severe in
many parts of the country.
For example, in the
Mekong Delta and central
highlands in 2016, there was a
severe drought. It caused loss-
es of US$700 million and
affected more than two mil-
lion people just in that year.
Another reason for water
scarcity is Vietnam’s growing
population - over 90 million
people now - with associated
rapid industrialization and
urbanization. The groundwa-
ters are being exploited, and
we are facing issues with com-
peting water users in agricul-
ture, industry, households and
the environment. They are all
competing for the same water
sources.
The question is: How much
water should be allocated for
Visiting Fellow at the what purposes? That is a very
Crawford School of Public hard decision to make.
Policy at the Australian There are also water quali-
National University in ty issues, and they also are
Canberra Australia. I have being caused by urbanization
worked for more than 20 and industrialization.
years for the Ministry of Vietnam is facing serious
Natural Resources and water pollution now.
Environment in Vietnam, Let me give you an exam-
ple. Only about 10% of domes-
tic wastewater and about 25%
of industrial wastewater is
treated before being dis-
charged into the rivers.
Polluted wastewaters have
caused big costs in the rivers
and lakes surrounding the big
cities and industrial zones.
And they have damaged the
health and livelihoods of mil-
lions of people who depend on
the water.
Both water scarcity and
pollution are being exacerbat-
ed by climate change. As we
know, Vietnam is one of the
five countries most affected
by climate change. Further,
these issues are being made
worse by the development of
hydropower upstream.
One study estimates that a
sea-level rise of 1 m by the end
of this century could displace
about 11% of Vietnam’s popu-
lation, mainly in the Red River
delta in the north and in the
Mekong River delta in the
south, and among people liv-
ing along the coast. Vietnam’s
coastline is more than 3000
km long, and lots of people in
that coastal area will be affect-
ed by a rise in sea-levels
through climate change.
On top of that climate
change impact, recently
Vietnam has suffered from
severe typhoons and storm
surges as well as other
extreme weather events such
as drought and flash floods.
The cost last year is estimated
at around US$1.7 billion.
These are enormous costs
and impacts, and they are hav-
ing serious effects in the
Mekong River delta - a very
important region for Vietnam.
The Mekong River delta pro-
duces more than 50% of our
rice, and Vietnam is a big rice
exporter - the second or third
biggest in the world.
In short, water scarcity
and water pollution, exacer-
bated by climate change, are
posing great risks to
Vietnam’s economic develop-
ment and the livelihoods of
millions of people in Vietnam.
What has the Vietnam Gov-
ernment done to help re-
solve these water issues?
Dr. Thang: Yes, the
Government of Vietnam has
been aware of the issues and is
trying to address them. The
Law on Water Resources was
promulgated in 2012. The Law
on Environmental Protection
was issued in 2014, addressing
water resources management,
governance, water environ-
mental regulations, and
enforcement. Those laws pro-
vide a legal basis to address
the water scarcity and pollu-
tion. The government also
issued a National Action Plan
on Climate Change, and that
strategy also addresses and
details water issues. Many
measures have been taken to
address the water issues.
Do you think Vietnam
could learn anything from
Australia?
Dr. Thang: Yes, Australia
is well known internationally
for the ways it has been deal-
ing with water issues - and
particularly water scarcity. I
think Vietnam can learn a lot
from Australia’s experience,
June, 2018 15
 INTERVIEW
especially in relation to three
key issues.
First, river basin manage-
ment. In Vietnam, the need for
management of river basins
has been discussed for quite a
while. The government issued
a decree on river basin man-
agement about 10 years ago,
but so far no organization for
interprovincial river basin
management has been estab-
lished. It is very difficult to
manage water running
through many provinces, so I
think Vietnam can learn from
the example and lessons
learned in Australia in the
Murray-Darling Basin, and
the computer model for river
basin management. I think it’s
fair to say we could learn from
both the successes and the
failures of the model.
A second lesson we can
learn from Australia is about
the legal reformation of water
and the environment’s share,
meaning that the environment
has a legal right to receive
water. In Vietnam, that has
not been explicitly mentioned,
nor properly provided for. We
still have a lot of water pollu-
tion, and many environmental
issues because of lack of
water, lack of environmental
flows.
The third point where I
think Vietnam can learn from
Australian experience is in
value-based water allocation.
As I mentioned earlier, right
now we are facing issues of
water allocation for different
competing uses, such as
industry and the natural envi-
ronment. We need informa-
tion about the values of water
resources and the values of
different uses so that we can
allocate water to maximize
social benefit and social wel-
fare. Which use has the high-
est value? Which one needs
more water? We need scientif-
ic evidence and also data to
help in the policy-making
process for water allocation.
We lack fundamental data:
both biophysical data and eco-
nomic data on water use.
How are ‘gender equality’
and ‘social inclusion’ seen
in Vietnam, especially in
16 June, 2018
relation to water issues?
Dr. Thang: It is interest-
ing: gender is mentioned in
many matters, including
water issues, in Vietnam.
Women have a very important
role in daily household deci-
sion-making, especially on
water. We have run some proj-
ects assisting women – wives
and mothers – to raise aware-
ness of water use within their
local communities, and cam-
paigns to make people more
aware of how to protect water
resources: not to contaminate
the water resource; not to
waste water; and so on. The
role of women in this is highly
regarded and very important,
both at the household level
and in whole communities.
I’m hopeful and positive
that if we pay more attention
to the gender issue, and social
inclusion, and involve women
more in water governance,
then we can have better
results.
Right now, Vietnam is try-
ing to promote the participa-
tion of women in governance
in many areas. We are aiming
to raise the percentage of
women officials in various
departments, in the national
assembly, and in local people’s
councils. People care about
this and are trying to bring in
the local participation of
women.
Do you have any tips for
water practitioners inter-
ested in going to work in
Vietnam, or advice on spe-
cific areas young water
professionals should focus
on?
Dr. Thang: For someone
who hasn’t been to Vietnam,
there will be many things they
need to know and would like
to know when they go there to
work. But the most important
part is to get to know people
because without knowing the
people without having a net-
work, it’s very difficult to work
in Vietnam.
By ‘people’ I mean every-
one: government officials,
local state people, local com-
munity - everyone. Whether
you decide to approach the
government first or the local
community first will depend have, by some people from allocation that I mentioned
on the purpose of your work. outside. That is because of our earlier. If you are interested in
But either way, it is very quite rapid development and public participation, you may
important to get to know now our overseas trade. These like to help get civil society
them, to get them to be your people know what needs to be
friends, to build relationships. done: it is just a matter of how
And then you move on to to apply that theory in prac-
the second part, which is get- tice. Vietnam is a developing
ting to know the issues that country, so a lot of issues need
are being worked on at the to be addressed at the same
time. For example, the time. Which one should be Only about 10% of
Government might be looking addressed first? If you come
to frame policy and effect pol- into Vietnam from outside
domestic
icy in terms of water gover- and try to help, please accept wastewater and
nance. If you know what they that. It is not that the people
are working on and are famil- in the water sector don’t
about 25% of
iar with that issue yourself, understand, nor that they industrial
then you can work with them don’t have the knowledge. wastewater is
and assist them - maybe pro- However, they could use
pose a solution or help in external assistance and advice treated before
other ways to find an answer. in applying their knowledge, being discharged
The local community may and they might welcome some
have a different issue. It might objective views on how to into the rivers.
be lack of funding to build address the issues. If you have Polluted
their own water treatment that kind of understanding, I
plant, or changing people’s think you could help them to wastewaters have
behavior in terms of saving work more efficiently. Twenty caused big costs in
water, or not polluting the or 30 years ago they may not
rivers, and so on. Once you have known what to do, but the rivers and lakes
know what they really need, now it’s more a matter of surrounding the big
then that would be very help- needing to know where to
ful for them and for you. start, and how to prioritize the cities and industrial
So, the first thing is build- issues...and how to apply theo- zones.
ing connections, and then get- ry in practice.
ting to know the issues they There are no specific areas
are facing, and then working that young water profession- involved in water governance,
with them. als should focus on more than or to try to convince different
Vietnam has quite a few others because Vietnam has stakeholders - government,
external water consultants many, many issues. I think industry, agricultural industry
from other countries, not just you, as a young professional, and local community - to work
Australia. They come to work should focus on what interests together. There are many
with the local people because you. If you are an engineer you options.
the demand to address water may be most enthusiastic The Australian Water
issues is increasing. about technological and engi- Partnership (AWP) is an
I think right now that the neering solutions. If you are Australian Government devel-
local start-ups in Vietnam learning or want to apply eco- opment initiative enhancing the
have good knowledge - better nomics, you could help with sustainable management of
than they were thought to the issue of value-based water water across the Indo-Pacific.
Dr. Thang Nam Do is a visiting fellow at focal point of ASEAN Working Group on
the Crawford School of Public Policy, Environmentally Sustainable Cities, and
Australian National University, following national focal point of Water Environment
over 20 years working with Vietnam Ministry Partnership for Asia (WEPA). He has led
of Natural Resources and Environment. He research projects on water environmental
has served as the Ministry’s Deputy Director management for river basins, reviewing envi-
General of International Cooperation, Global ronmental economic instruments for revision
Environment Facility (GEF) Operational of the Law on Environmental Protection
Focal Point, member of GEF public involve- 2014, assessing environmental co-benefits of
ment policy review panel, Asia and the climate change mitigation policy, pollution
Pacific’s representative at the GEF7 replen- damage, and national park valuation. In addi-
ishment discussions, national focal point of tion, he has acted as a resource person for
Clean Technology Fund, Chair of Association various regional and national environmental
of Southeast Nations Association (ASEAN) policy issues, including water environmental
Working Group on Climate Change, national management and sustainable cities.
EXPRESS WATER
 MARKET

SUEZ First-Quarter 2018 Results Fully in

Line with Annual Targets
• In first-quarter 2018, SUEZ posted €4,058m revenue, up 13.9% at constant exchange rates.
Momentum in the International division improved with 3.0% growth at constant exchange
rates. Recycling and Recovery Europe reported revenue growth of 1.3% at constant
exchange rates. This division was bolstered by the sharp improvement in the volume of
waste treated (+3.6%) but was negatively affected by the adverse trend in paper and
cardboard prices following China’s decision to restrict imports. The Water Europe division
grew by 1.4% at constant exchange rates, driven by higher water volumes sold in Latin
America which offset the lack of inflation in Europe. Water Technologies & Solutions
(WT&S) revenue stood at $611m, up 4%.
• EBITDA at end-March 2018 stood at €635m, up 8.8% at constant exchange rates. EBIT rose
10.2% at constant exchange rates, to reach €289m.
• Group net financial debt was €8.8bn versus €8.5bn at end-2017 or 3.3 times EBITDA.

Jean-Louis Chaussade, CEO, SUEZ
IN THE FIRST QUARTER,
SUEZ accelerated its growth
by renewing and winning a
number of contracts across all
its activities and regions.
In the Water Europe divi-
sion, the Durance Ventoux
Water Authority chose SUEZ
to manage its drinking water
service and deploy 57,000
"On'Connect" smart meters in
28 cities.
The urban community
Paris-Saclay also entrusted
the water management for 12
years, with a 15-year water
supply agreement. Alongside
local teams, SUEZ will pre-
serve the territory's water
resources by strengthening
the network performance,
thanks to AQUADVANCED®
solutions.
In the Recycling and
Recovery Europe division, the
Group will manage the public
service concession contract in
Ardèche (France) for a new
waste-to-energy and material
recovery facility.
This new 20-year contract,
worth a total of €80m, will
include the design, construc-
tion, and management of this
future recovery facility, which
is expected to be commis-
sioned in the spring of 2020.
The Group also strength-
ened its presence in England,
in the county of Devon when it
won the contract to build a
transfer center and treat
46,000 tons of household
waste from two districts, as
well as six recycling centers.
This 10-year contract worth
about €68m may be extended
for five years.
Abroad, SUEZ also won in
the United States, alongside
its partners AECOM
Technical Services and C.H.
Nickerson, the design and the
construction of the drinking
water facility in Woonsocket
(Rhode Island). This $43m
project is part of the munici-
pality’s comprehensive plan to
improve its water quality.
SUEZ will operate this new
water treatment plant for 20
years.
On the same continent, the
Group won its first contract in
El Salvador to renovate the
Q1 2018 Results:
• Revenue: €4,058m, up
+13.8% at constant
exchange rates
• EBIT: €289m, up +10.2%
at constant exchange
rates
• Net debt: €8,817m; net
debt / EBITDA ratio at
3.3x
Las Pavas drinking water
treatment plant in San Pablo
Tacachico and secure the
water supply for the popula-
tion.
In Africa, SUEZ and the
Ivory Coast's Ministry of
Economic Infrastructure
signed a €19m contract to sup-
ply and install 40 compact
modular drinking water pro-
duction units.
With a total production
capacity of 92,000 m3/day,
these units will supply 18
cities across 17 regions.
In Asia, the City of
Coimbatore in India also
awarded SUEZ the manage-
ment and the operation of the
drinking water distribution
system for the entire city to
ensure a 24/7 supply of water
to its 1.6 million inhabitants.
This 26-year, nearly €400m
project is SUEZ’s largest
drinking water services man-
agement contract in this coun-
try.
The Group was awarded
the contract for the extension
of the drinking water produc-
tion plant in Medan, the third
largest city in Indonesia. The
extension of this build-oper-
ate-transfer contract for 25
years, worth €191m, provides
for the funding, construction,
operation, and transfer of two
additional water production
units for the Medan plant.
In Vietnam, the Group just
won the sanitation contract
for Vi Thanh, in the south of
the country. This €9.5m con-
tract provides for the con-
struction of a wastewater
treatment plant and a sewer
network.
Commenting on the first-
quarter 2018 results, Chief
Executive Officer Jean-Louis
Chaussade said: “Growth has
accelerated at SUEZ in both
revenue and profitability.
First-quarter financial results
are therefore fully in line with
our annual targets, which we
now reiterate. Our efforts to
integrate and extract syner-
gies within WT&S are already
yielding results and confirm
the expected value creation
path. The operational trends
for this division are also well
on track. The significant 30%
growth in the backlog during
the quarter bolsters the busi-
ness’s growth potential.
Lastly, SUEZ is fully commit-
ted to implementing the
action plan presented at the
start of the year, which is also
based on accelerating the
Group’s transformation,
strengthening profitable
growth in France, growing the
business internationally and
everywhere, and expanding
the savings measures.”

EXPRESS WATER June, 2018 17

 MARKET
Ozwater Stirs Strong Interest in High-Performance Grit
Removal with Low Environmental and Energy Impacts
Greg Hansen, Broadspectrum
Infrastructure Maintenance (left),
with Joe Gill, Smith and Loveless
and Kevin Innes, Broadspectrum
Infrastructure Maintenance at
Ozwater in Brisbane from
May 8-10.
TWO OF THE big hits for
exhibitor CST Wastewater
Solutions at this year’s
Ozwater international water
conference were advanced
Smith and Loveless grit
removal technologies and
environmentally harmonious
KDS wastewater treatment
technologies for industrial,
manufacturing and local
authority applications.
“We have already got a
pilot test arranged for a major
food and beverage company
interested in the KDS technol-
ogy, while we also had strong
interest from local authorities
in the high-performance grit
removal technologies, which
are relevant throughout
Australasia and the Asia-
Pacific,” said CST Wastewater
Solutions Managing Director
Michael Bambridge.
This world-proven Smith
and Loveless PISTA® 360™
technology - which CST
Wastewater Solutions has
incorporated into highly suc-
cessful applications in flood-
prone and sandy areas -
18 June, 2018
removes 95 percent of grit as
small as 105 microns (140
mesh).
“We were very fortunate to
have Joe Gill, General
Manager at Smith & Loveless
NZ Ltd, on hand to join us in
explaining how this fine grit
technology has been highly
successfully globally in help-
ing to curtail issues such as
blockages, sewage overflows,
and flooding issues.”
“We were able to show how
this technology has helped
councils in flood-prone areas
and in sandy areas. Grit is a
perennial problem to all those
councils with WWTPs serving
the 80 percent of Australia’s
population living within 50 km
of the coast, so the technology
was warmly received,” said
Michael, who was accompa-
nied at Ozwater in Brisbane
from May 8-10 by CST
Wastewater Solutions’
Applications Engineer Peter
Bambridge and the company’s
New Zealand Manager, Pieter
Groenewegen. Peter
Bambridge is providing the
engineering expertise behind
one of the first Australasian
applications on pristine Lord
Howe Island of an installation
incorporating KDS technolo-
gy that cuts maintenance,
energy demands, and OH&S
issues.
The two-stage system -
suitable for smaller, remote
and ecologically sensitive
community, municipal,
agribusiness and industrial
applications - was selected by
the Island Board of Lord
Howe after extensive testing
to determine the best solution
for the management and dis-
posal of waste generated on
the island.
“It uses a combination of
coarse and fine screening and
advanced dry compaction
KDS separator technology to
produce a more hygienic and
more compact output that is
easier to handle and trans-
port. The system is more eco-
nomical, compact and uses
less energy and minimal
water compared to alternative
systems,” says, Michael
Bambridge.
“Food and beverage manu-
facturers at Ozwater - includ-
ing also brewers and agribusi-
ness processors - could imme-
diately see the advantages of
reduced environmental,
reduced maintenance and
higher cost efficiency. That
was a highlight for us.
“The installation on Lord
Howe illustrates the efficiency
of the best screening technol-
ogy now available as well as
the clog-free automatic liquid-
to-solid waste KDS separa-
tor.”
Japanese-manufactured
and Australian-engineered
KDS systems - for which CST
Wastewater Solutions is the
exclusive distributor - are
being introduced to the Asia-
Pacific for compact dewater-
ing applications ranging from
food processing, food waste,
grease trap and waste oil
through to municipal waste-
water sludge, livestock
manure, and agribusiness
processes.
The compact KDS multi-
The New Clog-Free Automatic Liquid-to-Solid KDS Waste Separator (Left), and the More Hygienic and Easily
Handled Output Obtained in the Lord Howe Island Application (Right).
disc roller separator features
a unique self-cleaning dewa-
tering and conveying system
with oval plate separation and
transfer structure that pre-
vents clogging and permits
automatic continuous opera-
tion that handles oily and
fibrous material with ease.
The compact rotational
oval plate structure achieves
high transportation and sepa-
ration efficiencies, while the
simplicity of the machine’s
overall structure offers low
maintenance, achieving cost
and OH&S benefits through
less handling being required
to clear hazardous materials.
Applications, for which the
separator is designed, include:
• Food processing waste,
including snackfoods,
kitchen and restaurant
waste, raw wastewater (pri-
mary screening) and sludge
• Sewage treatment, includ-
ing raw wastewater (pri-
mary screening) and sludge
to the landfill
• Abattoir, feedlots, and dairy
farm wastewater and
sludge. Cattle manure cake
dryness of 25-35 percent is
typically achieved
• Pig farm raw manure and
sludge, with cake dryness of
20-30 percent.
• Barrel polishing water,
The Latest PISTA 360 Uses an
Integral Flow Chamber Baffle for
Both the Inlet and Outlet of the
Main Chamber. The Baffle Directs
Inlet Flow into the Chamber in a
Manner that Ensures the Proper
Vortex Flow and Prevents Short-
Circuiting.
water-based paint waste-
water, grease trap waste,
dyeing wastewater, waste
oil, and plastic recycling.
• Seafood processing
CST Wastewater Solutions
services division specializes in
the design, construction, and
provision of wastewater solu-
tions for the treatment and recy-
cling of industrial wastewater.
It supplies a complete range of
equipment packages for the
water and wastewater indus-
tries. Its equipment is generally
manufactured in Australia and
Europe to ISO 9001 and EEC
standards of safety and design.
EXPRESS WATER
 MARKET

Toshiba’s Commitment to the Development of Water

Solutions for the Next India
Koichi Matsui, Chairperson and
Managing Director, UEM
A TRULY BEWILDERING
paradox facing us all today is
if 70% of earth’s surface is cov-
ered by water, how can there
ever be a scarcity? And yet,
the World Economic Forum
(WEF) continues to rank
water crisis among its top
three global risks since 2012.
Today, 1 in 9 people globally,
lack access to safe water, and
more than two billion people
are compelled to drink unsafe
water. According to a UN
report, 40 percent of the
world’s people are being
affected by water scarcity. If
not addressed, as many as 700
million could be displaced by
2030 in search of water. World
An estimated 76 million peo-
ple in India have no access to a
safe water supply, and the sit-
uation is only getting more
serious.
There are multiple reasons
for increasing water scarcity
in India. For one, it still relies
majorly on monsoon showers
to replenish its water supply
and the ever-growing popula-
tion is adding to increased
water usage. Insufficient
infrastructure to manage
municipal waste, causes
sewage to either seep under-
ground or eventually flow into
the rivers, contaminating both
the sources of water, causing
the increase in water pollution
levels. Also, the booming
industrial revolution brings in
increased levels of industrial
waste. If left untreated or
unregulated, this too ends up
in our water supply system
through river channels.
Toshiba has been Japan’s
leading solution company for
water supply and sewage facil-
ities for over 40 years.
Recognising India as a prom-
ising country for developing
water-related business and to
bring in its expertise and glob-
al access to India, Toshiba
acquired a majority stake in
UEM in the year 2015. With
the synergy between Toshiba
and UEM, the group has a
unique opportunity to deliver
UEM is focusing on three
major verticals in India -
Municipal, Industrial and
Operation & Maintenance
services. In the municipal seg-
ment, UEM is focused on the
Water and Wastewater
Treatment Segment (WTP/
STP/ WWTP) using various
modern technologies. With
the increasing industrial
development in India, UEM is
also exploring specific proj-
ects in the industrial sector
having experience in handling
all kinds of effluent that gets
generated from various types
of industries viz. Refineries,
Petrochemical, Petroleum,
Automobile, Power, Brewery,
Distillery, Textiles,
Pharmaceutical, Tannery,
Beverage, Steel, Dairy, Paper,
Palm Oil, Hotel, Power, Sugar,
Hotel, Hospital, etc.
Technologies
UEM offers multiple mod-
ern technologies like ZLD
(Zero Liquid Discharge) using
HEROTM (High-Efficiency
Reverse Osmosis), Anaerobic
Biological Treatment, SBR
(Sequential Batch Reactor),
and MBR (Membrane Bio-
Reactor), etc. Apart from
these, global design centre
with in-house engineering
capabilities in process engi-
neering, civil and structural
engineering, mechanical engi-
state-of-the-art Sequential
Batch Reactor (SBR) tech-
nology, UEM established a
14 MLD sewerage treatment
plant project in Salori
Allahabad to produce high
quality treated water and
discharge the treated water
into the Ganges. The treat-
ed water conforms to the
standards where
Biochemical Oxygen
Demand (BOD) < 10 mg/L;
Total Suspended Solids
(TSS) < 10 mg/L; Chemical
Oxygen Demand (COD)<
100 mg/L; Potential of
Hydrogen (pH): 5.5 to 9.
• 2 STPs based on SBR
Technology (5MLD, 7 MLD)
& sewerage works funded
by World Bank at Sahibganj
for JUIDCO.
• A 60 MLD STP based on
SBR Technology including
main pumping station hav-
ing capacity 83 MLD along
with a new underground
sewerage network of about
55 KM length at Saidpur
Patna, Bihar.
Projects in the Industrial
Sector
• PTA Plant for JBF
Petrochemicals at
Mangalore: PTA waste-
water is one of the most
challenging wastewater to
treat. The system offered is
a comprehensive one and
comprises a combination of
anaerobic, aerobic, ultrafil-
tration, and heavy Metal
removal system followed by
RO System.
• ZLD Plant for Japanese
Automobile Manufacturer:
In this project, we have
offered a proprietary sys-
tem to the Client, which is
called HEROTM High-
Efficiency Reverse Osmosis
System. The best feature of
this technology is that it
operates in such a manner
or environment which
ensures very high recovery
across the RO system and
consequently the quantity
of RO rejects is reduced
substantially. On account of
the low volume of rejects,
the downstream evapora-
tor’s size is decreased to a
greater extent and there
are impressive savings in
the operational costs of the
system.
Toshiba and UEM are com-
mitted to the development
and operation of water and
environmental infrastructure.
Toshiba and UEM will con-
tribute to the establishment of
sustainable water circulation
systems and the realization of
advanced environmentally
sound communities for the
next India and world.

Bank forecasts that water
availability in cities could
decline by as much as two
thirds by 2050.
Some 80 percent of waste-
water is discharged untreated
into the environment and
water-related disasters
account for 90 percent of the
1,000 most devastating natu-
ral disasters since 1990.
According to a recent report
on wastewater collection and
treatment in urban India, only
about 30% of wastewater was
being treated to some level.
breakthrough technologies
and quality control to solve
various water and environ-
mental problems. Today UEM
is completely owned by the
Toshiba Group with Toshiba
acquiring 100% stake in UEM
on 20th March 2018. With its
existing offices in the USA,
Trinidad and Tobago, Oman,
Headquarters in India and a
recently established office in
the Philippines and a strength
of approximately 800 employ-
ees, UEM is steadily increas-
ing its global footprint.
“
neering, instrumentation and
controls, and electrical engi-
neering allows UEM to deliv-
er, not just the institutional
Technology can play a pivotal role in solving
knowledge UEM has gained in water pollution problem and replenishing the
designing over 350 projects, water supply. UEM, a Toshiba group
but also suggest the best
CAPEX and OPEX ratio solu-
company, provides a complete one-stop
tion, based on client’s require- solution from engineering and design to
ments. construction, installation, operation and
Projects in the Municipal
maintenance of water and wastewater
Sector treatment facilities.
• 14 MLD Sewage Treatment
Plant Allahabad for UPJN, Koichi Matsui
where using the proven Chairperson and Managing Director of UEM India.

EXPRESS WATER June, 2018 19

 MARKET
GWE Waste-to-Energy Plant Shows Food and Beverage
Producers How to Turn Process Residuals into a Resource
Skol Brewery, Rwanda During Execution
TECHNOLOGIES FEA-
TURED AT Australia’s recent
international water confer-
ence and exhibition, Ozwater
18, demonstrated how com-
plete organic waste-to-energy
plants can benefit food and
beverage processors in
Australasia and anywhere in
the world.
CST Wastewater Solutions
showed at Ozwater the Global
Water Engineering technolo-
gies involved in a new facility
being introduced by Nicholas
Meats LLC of Pennsylvania in
the US, which is one of the lat-
est adopters of GWE’s award-
winning anaerobic waste-to-
energy technologies.
Nicholas Meat’s new facili-
ties will be designed to recov-
er both energy and water
from waste streams generated
on site and significantly
reduce the impact of the beef
processing plant on the local
community.
Such technologies can be
readily applied to local food,
beverage and agribusiness
waste, including applications
dealing with the paunch,
manure and other meat pro-
20 June, 2018
cessing waste as well as waste
from any industrial process-
ing plant with an organic
waste stream, says. Michael
Bambridge, Managing
Director, CST Wastewater
Solutions.
“You don’t need to be a big
company to benefit from this
technology. Paunch and
manure, for example, are rich
in biogas and are often just
left for composting or land
disposal in Australia and New
Zealand, when that biogas
could be a source of ongoing
profits instead,” says Michael,
whose company represents
GWE technologies in
Australasia.
GWE’s North American
affiliate, Global Water &
Energy (GW&E) is providing
Nicholas Meats with both an
industrial wastewater treat-
ment facility utilising its cut-
ting-edge MEMBROXTM aer-
obic membrane bioreactor
technology, as well as a com-
plete organic waste-to-energy
facility to manage solid and
concentrated wastes generat-
ed at the factory and waste-
water treatment plant, using
GWE’s award-winning RAP-
TOR® system.
RAPTOR® stands for
RAPid Transformation of
Organic Residues and is a pre-
treatment-enhanced form of
anaerobic digestion, designed
to turn nearly any organic
substance into valuable green
energy in the form of biogas
that is being used to replace
fossil fuels at scores of food
and beverage plants globally,
including dairy, brewery and
municipal waste-to-energy
plants.
Nicholas Meats new facili-
ties, scheduled to be complet-
ed this year, are engineered to
GEW Raptor Process Diagram
better manage the factory
wastewater on-site for water
reuse and recover energy
from by-products generated
within both the production
process and within the waste-
water treatment operations
themselves. They are aiming
to significantly reduce the
impact of the processing plant
on the local community,
including a major reduction of
odors and truck traffic cur-
rently present and at the same
time making the company
more energy self-sufficient.
“These sorts of environ-
mental benefits could also be
genuinely beneficial to for-
ward-thinking Australian
meat, agribusiness, food and
beverage companies looking
to reduce their environmental
impact, and generate energy
from their wastes and by-
products, both liquid and
solid. The system also has the
ability to accept organic
wastes from other nearby
facilities thus augmenting the
production of green energy
and reducing the local com-
munity’s disposal issues,” said
Bambridge.
The RAPTOR® portion of
the plant involves an innova-
tive twist on traditional anaer-
obic digestion, designed to
maximize the energy genera-
tion from specific wastes
while utilizing the residuals
from production as a
resource, rather than treating
them as wastes.
RAPTOR® technology has
won a global green energy
award from the Institute of
Chemical Engineers
(IChemE), which represents
more than 40,000 chemical,
biochemical, and process
engineers from around 100
countries. The IChemE Global
Awards are known for their
celebration of the excellence,
innovation, and achievement
in the chemical, process, and
biochemical industries, mak-
ing this recognition so signifi-
cant and gratifying for GWE,
the developer of the RAP-
TOR® technology and parent
company of GW&E.
Global Water Engineering or
GWE is a group of companies
specialized in industrial waste-
water treatment, water recy-
cling, digestion of biomass,
sludge and slurries, biogas pro-
duction and use. Its main
expertise, based on 30 years of
practical experience, lies in the
biological treatment of medium
and high strength organic
wastewater by anaerobic and/or
aerobic processes. For anaerobic
wastewater treatment, GWE is
one of the world market leaders
in this field. GWE’s founder and
Chairman/CEO, JEAN
PIERRE OMBREGT, is a pio-
neer of modern anaerobic waste-
water treatment, his involve-
ment dating back as far as 1972.
EXPRESS WATER
 MARKET

Anglian Water Awards Standpipe Management to Aquam

The agreement began on 1 April 2018 and will initially operate for a three-year period. The
award includes the provision of high-quality branded standpipes and bespoke calm network
keys to companies and organizations authorized to operate within Anglian Water’s network.

High-Quality Branded Standpipes can be Provided to Companies and
Organizations Authorized to Operate within Anglian Water’s Network
ANGLIAN WATER HAS
awarded the management of
its third-party standpipes to
Aquam, a global provider of
risk mitigation technologies
for water and energy trans-
mission and distribution
assets. The agreement began
on 1 April 2018 and will initial-
ly operate for a three-year
period.
The award includes the
effects that can cause leaks
and bursts.
Malcolm Holmes,
Restoration Innovation &
Development Manager at
Anglian Water comments:
“We are looking forward to
working with Aquam, to train
existing and new operators,
reduce the risk of illegal
standpipe use and to continue
to provide an uninterrupted
clients.”
Anglian Water is the
largest water and wastewater
company in England and
Wales by geographic area.
Aquam will provide hydrant
and standpipe services to over
1,000 companies operating
the utility’s potable water net-
work assets in the north and
east of England.
Aquam, which has its UK
headquarters in Manchester,
currently provides standpipe
and management services to
12 water companies in
England and Wales.
Aquam Corp is a global Tim Bowen, Managing Director of Aquam, Says the Company’s Focussed
provider of technology solutions Approach to Standpipe Management Benefits Utilities.
for water and energy distribu-
tion infrastructure. We ensure Ltd became the ultimate parent works. This is around a quarter
the health, longevity, safety, and company of the group. It sup- of all those in England and
reliability of vital resources for plies water and water recycling Wales. It borrows water from
water & gas utility, municipal, services to more than six million the environment, stores it and
commercial, residential and domestic customers in the east of treats it to world-class stan-
industrial markets. Our award- England and Hartlepool. It is dards to supply safe drinking
winning proprietary technolo- the largest water and water water to 4.3 million customers in
gies address water scarcity recycling company in England towns and villages from
issues by the diagnosis, cleaning, and Wales by geographic area. Grimsby in the north east of our
and remediation of aging infra- It operates 1,257 water and region to Milton Keynes at its
structure. Aquam also provides water recycling treatment south-western tip.
end-to-end service solutions and

provision of high-quality
branded standpipes and
bespoke calm network keys to
companies and organizations
authorized to operate within
Anglian Water’s network.
Aquam will also ensure all
network operators in the
region are aware of regulatory
requirements and undertake
the company’s e-learning
course on the safe operation of
water hydrants.
Aquam’s Calm Network
Training is accredited by the
Institute of Water and is
designed to educate operators
on the safe hydrant use, valves
and pumps are operated.
Research shows that incor-
rect operation of the network
is a major cause of the surge
water supply to our cus-
tomers.”
Tim Bowen, Aquam’s
Managing Director said, “I’m
delighted that we have the
opportunity to partner with
Anglian Water in this critical
area. Aquam brings a
focussed approach to stand-
pipe management which
greatly benefits the many util-
ities using the service.”
“We can help tackle illegal
use of the network and water
theft, improve hydrant opera-
tion technique and reduce the
number of pipe bursts and
water discoloration events.
This means much less disrup-
tion to customers and commu-
nities and a lower risk of regu-
latory penalties for our utility
technologies for the mainte-
nance, life extension and full
rehabilitation of network distri-
bution infrastructure, which
include: Nu Flow Technologies,
a leader in small-diameter
infrastructure rehabilitation
technologies; Specialized Pipe
Technologies (SPT), a pipe
assessment & rehabilitation
services provider; Aquam Pipe
Diagnostics, a global pipeline
assessment specialist. Aquam
services are available in North
America, South America,
Europe, Africa, Australasia and
the Middle East.
Anglian Water Group is
owned by a consortium of
investors. When AWG was
acquired by the AWG investors
in 2006, Anglian Water Group
“
I am delighted that we have the opportunity
to partner with Anglian Water in this critical
area.Aquam brings a focussed approach to
standpipe management which greatly
benefits the many utilities using the service.
We can help tackle illegal use of the network
and water theft, improve hydrant operation
technique and reduce the number of pipe
bursts and water discoloration events.This
means much less disruption to customers
and communities and a lower risk of
regulatory penalties for our utility clients.
Tim Bowen
Managing Director, Aquam

EXPRESS WATER June, 2018 21

 TECH UPDATE
Design Water Treatment Systems in an
Even More User-Friendly Process
• New 2.0 version of LewaPlus software available
• Combine per drag and drop different technologies in one design
• Design software from LANXESS helps to improve ecobalance
THE SPECIALTY CHEMI-
CALS corporation LANXESS
has made further enhance-
ments to its LewaPlus soft-
ware for designing water
treatment systems. With this
2.0 release, users now have
the unique ability to combine
per drag and drop different
technologies in one design.
“Because modules can be
added to a project via drag
and drop, LewaPlus 2.0 is now
even more intuitive to use
than existing programs on the
market,” emphasizes Dr. Jens
Lipnizki, Head of Technical
Marketing Membranes at
LANXESS.
A Focus on User-Friendli-
ness
Now users can seamlessly
simulate complex plant
designs including a combina-
tion of several treatment steps
in a single design process. The
water analysis calculated by
the individual modules is auto-
matically taken over as feed to
the subsequent module.
During the design process, the
user can change the design of
the system via drag and drop.
“With LewaPlus 2.0, calcu-
lations can be made for
22 June, 2018
designs that not only treat the
purified stream of water, but
also the so-called retentate.
As a result, environmentally-
friendly overall concepts can
be calculated in order to sig-
nificantly reduce the volume
of wastewater produced in
practice,” Lipnizki adds.
The modules can be added
to a project via drag and drop
- even retrospectively in a
later stage of the process. This
is helpful if the system design-
er decides to add pretreat-
ment of feed during the design
process, for example.
Compared to previous ver-
sions, the software can now
show all of the selected mod-
ules in a combined PDF
report. A list of links to the
respective modules, which
can be individually renamed,
helps the user to navigate
through the PDF quickly and
easily.
In addition, the new ver-
sion also offers a product find-
er. It enables LewaPlus users
to identify which Lewatit and
Lewabrane quality products
they can use instead of con-
ventional ion exchange resin
types and reverse osmosis
membrane elements to
upgrade their plants.
Improve the Ecobalance of
Water Treatment
The intuitive design soft-
ware LewaPlus is a compre-
hensive tool for planning and
designing an industrial water
treatment system and allows
the dimensioning of ion
exchange- and reverse osmo-
sis systems for a for a wide
variety of unique system con-
figurations, including several
one-of-a-kind process configu-
rations that can only be
achieved with Lewatit and
Lewabrane product technolo-
gy.
Numerous modules are
available for the calculation of
every step of the water treat-
ment process. As a result,
users can precisely plan
important factors such as
operating costs, power con-
sumption, and water quality.
One module can even be used
to model a CCRO system
(closed circuit reverse osmo-
sis). This helps to enhance the
ecobalance of water treat-
ment through the use of either
ZLD (zero liquid discharge) or
MLD (minimal liquid dis-
charge) treatment processes.
LEWAPLUS® Design
Software for RO And IX
The LewaPlus® design
software is unique in the
water treatment industry. It is
a free, comprehensive soft-
ware design tool for Ion
Exchange Resin (IX) and
Reverse Osmosis (RO) mem-
brane systems. The RO per-
meate can be seamlessly
transferred to the IX module
for a quick and accurate design and performance of an
design of the complete desali- IX plant. It helps to simulate
nation system. Further, it the influence on performance
allows for dimensioning of IX and quality at different
and RO systems under a vari- parameters like salinity and
ety of system configurations, ionic composition of the water,
including some unique temperature, organic load,
process configurations only throughput, and type of resin.
available with Lewatit® and
Lewabrane® product technol- Reverse Osmosis Processes
ogy. This innovative design & Functionalities
software is supported in 11 The Reverse Osmosis mod-
languages. ule calculates the design and
performance of an RO plant
Ion Exchange Processes & for brackish and seawater
Functionalities applications. It helps to simu-
Various processes that late the influence on perform-
cover most of the usual water ance and quality at different
treatment applications are parameters like temperature,
included to calculate the salinity and salt passage.
Key Features
• Not cloud-based which makes the software also available
offline and guarantees data security
• Compatible with Linux and Mac OS X
• Portable software version with complete functionality
available that doesn’t require any Windows administrative
rights for installation
• A single water analysis data entry screen, with RO scaling
calculations, suitable for both IX and RO applications
• Clear interface, reliable and quick results of the calculation
• Design flexibility: Parameters can be widely modified and
values outside the recommended borders are highlighted
• Comprehensive output of IX and RO system design param-
eters and effluent (permeate) quality in an easy to manip-
ulate printed output
• Product scout tool to allow a proper selection of the right
resin or membrane type
• Direct access to technical documentation: Complete set of
technical data sheets and material safety datasheets (only
IX) for all Lewatit® and Lewabrane® products as well as
technical service bulletins e.g. on membrane fouling, mem-
brane cleaning or system troubleshooting
• Regular updates to ensure keeping the software up-to-date
and further improving its functionality with new features
• Data exchange to technical LANXESS experts for opti-
mization and final check of your calculation.
EXPRESS WATER
 COVER STORY SEAWATER DESALINATION

THE
SEAWATER
DESALINATION
DREAM COMING
TRUE?
Is desalination finally the answer to water
scarcity in arid regions of our planet? As the
countries are increasingly depending on
seawater desalination to provide drinking
water for the fast-growing coastal
population, how big a role will desalination
play? Express Water aims to explore if the
right application of current and future
desalination technologies at the right place
can make this dream come true or not.

EXPRESS WATER June, 2018 23

 COVER STORY
Desalination: AGame of Energy,
as Much as a Game of Water
By Devesh Bharadwaj
SINCE INCEPTION SEAWA-
TER desalination has now
grown into a reliable infrastruc-
ture that provides fresh water
for drinking, municipal and
industrial purposes to millions
around the world.
The breakthrough in the use
of polymer films for separating
salt from water in the early
1960sled to the commercializa-
tion of membrane-based desali-
nation - seawater reverse osmo-
sis (SWRO). SWRO’s ability to
desalinate at lower energy con-
sumption made the technology
quickly dominate the industry.
With further improvements
in the formulation, manufactur-
ing procedures, high-efficiency
turbo-machinery, and isobaric
pressure exchanger, the specific
Figure 1
energy consumption of SWRO
has reduced from 16 kWh/m3 in
1970 to around 2 kWh/m3 in
2015 (50% recovery). As shown
24 June, 2018
in Figure 1, there has been a
tremendous improvement in
SWRO energy efficiency, how-
ever, arguably the energy con-
sumption has hit an asymptote
for the last decade with the
components approaching peaks
of their efficiency. Energy con-
sumption still is the achilleas
heel of desalination, contribut-
ing to 40-60% of ownership
costs for a desalination plant.
Theoretical minimum for
SWRO is set by the thermody-
namic minimum work required
to separate 50% of fresh water
from 1 m3 of ocean water, at
around 1.05 kWh/m3. Simple
calculations can show the effi-
ciency of desalination to be at
around 50% at best, without
including the energy consump-
tion required for pre-treatment,
post-treatment and other addi-
tional energy associated with
chemical consumption.
One may ponder, “If the
components in SWRO are
approaching best efficiencies
where are the losses?” Well,
approximately 40% of the losses
are process-losses. In other
words, even if the components
were ideal (100% efficiency) the
energy consumption would be
approximately 1.56 kWh/m3.
The remaining 0.40 kWh/m3 is
the loss in the process design
itself, i.e. how the components
are arranged and operated. The
process design of SWRO hasn’t
changed since the 1960s, when
Sidney Loeb implemented the
first desalination plant in
Coalinga, California.
Pani Energy (where 'Pani'
stands as the Hindi language
word for 'Water') is a Canadian
technology company spun out
of the research from the
University of Victoria in
Canada. Pani Energy has devel-
oped Adaptive Desalination
Technology (ADT) an advanced
SWRO process technology that
reduces the energy consump-
tion in desalination by changing
the process design to reduce
SWRO energy consumption by
up to 30%- tackling the stub-
born process design which has-
n’t advanced since the 1960s.
Utilizing more efficient process
designs, ADT can approach
practical specific energies of 1.5
kWh/m3, by reducing the irre-
versible process losses. Pani
Energy is currently bringing
the technology to the market
and retrofitting existing desali-
nation plants.
Pani is bringing ADT to
market in India and is set to
truly outperform current
desalination boundaries. ADT
uses novel plant operational
methodologies and intelligent
algorithms for process design
and control, allowing Pani
Energy to upgrade existing RO
plants to ADT. The company is
excited to expand its operations
internationally this year, help-
ing desalination plants world-
wide reduce their energy con-
sumption and operational costs
with simple upgrades and quick
project paybacks.
Current and Growing Chal-
lenges with Desalination
It is well known that desali-
nation is as much a game of
energy as it is a game of water.
A holistic challenge with desali-
nation is the variability in
demand and electricity prices,
i.e. keeping the best-case opera-
tional cost economics true with
variable utilization and electric-
ity prices.
Variable Demand
An important factor of
desalination economics is water
demand. The desalination
industry currently faces the
challenge of variable demand
for water at several timescales.
Variability is often caused by
climate conditions (droughts
and rainy seasons), industrial
process requirements, and pub-
lic water consumption (variable
needs from a large group of end
users). When designing a
desalination plant for variable
demand, the plant must be
oversized to accommodate a
high peak water production,
even if the average water
demand is relatively low. This
leads to desalination plants
being underutilized and capaci-
ty being idled. As shown from a
study done at the Pacific
Institute in California for a 50
MLD, reduction in production
directly increases the levelized
costs of fresh water, shown in
Figure 2.
For example, only 60-70% of
the cumulative desalination
capacity is utilized in Algeria
due to seasonal variability.
Additionally, many plants
around the world are built for
water security to meet water
needs during extreme droughts.
Australia responded to its
millennium drought by con-
structing six mega-scale desali-
nation plants. After subsequent
rainfall, two of these plants
(Sydney and Gold Coast) were
mothballed, and two (Victoria
and Adelaide) are on standby
producing close to their mini-
mum production capacity
because their expensive opera-
tion limits their usefulness as a
EXPRESS WATER

base-load water resource.
Variable Electricity Pricing
Currently, some plants must
deal with variable electricity
prices as the utility company
Figure 2
tries to balance electricity sup-
ply and demand. As variable
electricity supply from renew-
able energy becomes more
prevalent, this is expected to
become a more common issue
facing desalination plants.
Electricity costs dominate the
costs of water and account for
50-60% of the operational costs.
Hence, change in the costs of
electricity to the desalination
plant drastically affects its
operational costs. For instance,
the price of electricity in Israel
varies seasonally and hourly,
anywhere from 0.08 USD/kWh
to 0.28 USD/kWh. To reduce
operational costs at high elec-
tricity price, the 480 MLD
desalination plant in Hadera
reduces its production to 37.5%
of peak capacity. As mentioned
earlier (and in Figure 2), reduc-
ing the production of a desalina-
tion plant significantly increas-
es the price of water, the
increase in electricity price at
that reduced capacity increases
the water cost even further.
Variability in electricity
price for desalination plants is
not just a problem of today, it is
a growing problem of the
future. With growing penetra-
tion of intermittent renewable
energy technologies like solar
and wind, the price of electrici-
ty will vary even more.
Christopher Gassons (publisher
at GWI) mentioned in his arti-
EXPRESS WATER
cle, “...desalination plant opera-
tors will need to confront this
(variability in electricity pric-
ing). It will no longer be possible
to ignore the power demand
risk and ask for a pass-through
on the energy costs. Plants will
have to be built to take it into
account - and take advantage of
it.” Turning variability in pro-
duction and underutilization
into an opportunity to reduce
costs.
Pani Energy has developed
and now licenses its novel
Adaptive Desalination
Technology (ADT) that is
designed to solve the growing
issue of variable production.
Adaptive Desalination
Technology (ADT) is an intelli-
gent patent-pending SWRO
plant process that adapts to
take advantage of the variable
demand of fresh water and vari-
able price of electricity. It
reduces the energy consump-
tion of the RO process using
novel plant operational method-
ologies and proprietary algo-
rithms for process design and
control.
ADT allows the seawater
reverse osmosis process to
intelligently adapt in real-time
to a more efficient process
design, which can more effi-
ciently meet the new water
demand at the new electricity
price.
Figure 3 shows the yearly
water production of Llobregat-
Barcelona desalination plant in
Spain. In this example, the pro-
duction of the desalination
plant (blue) is low in the spring
and summer, and high in the
winter. Simulated energy sav-
ings (green) are achieved in the
spring and summer when pro-
duction is low by utilizing ADT.
Figure 4 shows a broader
look at the market with a top-
down analysis of some other
plants in the USA, Algeria, and
Spain. The blue area represents
utilization and grey represents
the potential cost savings with
an ADT retrofit. Bottom line is
that ADT can result in signifi-
cant savings on operational
costs and reduce the levelized
cost of water for many plants
globally.
Depending on the water net-
work, in some cases an internal
Figure 3
and external water storage sys-
tem can help in tackling the
variable demand and electricity
price issue; however, it leads to
idling or underutilizing existing
equipment. An intelligent
SWRO process that alters the
process design in real-time to
new optimum design and opera-
tional points with minimum
change in CAPEX to the cur-
rent state of the art RO system
is a logical step towards not just
Figure 4
SEAWATER DESALINATION
adapting but tackling the ener-
gy consumption problem head-
on.
Conclusion
India’s current seawater
desalination capacity is around
1.4 million m3/day, which con-
sumes around 2.3 TWh of elec-
tricity annually. For comparison
Jamaica’s electricity consump-
tion in 2014 was around 2.8
TWh. India, with a major fossil
fuel infrastructure, emits
around 0.85 kg of CO2 per kWh
of electricity generated. Based
on this high-level analysis,
India’s seawater desalination
industry accounts for 2.38 mil-
lion metric tons of CO2 emis-
sions annually.
If India follows the global
predicted growth in desalina-
tion at 10-20% without lowering
the fossil fuel dependency, the
desalination industry will have
to focus on low energy con-
sumption (high-efficiency) tech-
nologies, to help India meet its
carbon emission goals. In fact,
reducing desalination’s carbon
and energy footprint is a global
effort. Even with strong water
reuse efforts, desalination
requirements will continue to
grow, and the technology will
become an integral part of our
water infrastructure. Global
Water Intelligence predicts that
by 2050 almost 4.8 billion peo-
ple will suffer water stress and
most of them will depend on
desalination for their water
supply.
Policy makers and owners of
desalination plants should
proactively focus on sustainable
desal practices that not just
quench our current thirst but
solidifies a low-carbon water
future.
I founded Pani Energy to do
our part in making cleaner and
efficient desalination technolo-
gies more economical, and I am
certain that the Indian govern-
ment will reciprocate with
favorable regulations to encour-
age adoption of cleaner and sus-
tainable technologies from the
end-user. We are excited to
commercialize our technologies
in India and abroad this year:
helping desalination owners
and operators reduce their
energy consumption, opera-
tional costs, and carbon emis-
sions.
About the Author
Devesh Bharadwaj is the
CEO of Pani Energy, a University
of Victoria spin-off company, and
has undertaken the core R&D
behind Pani’s technologies for sev-
eral years. Since founding the
company in 2017, Devesh has led
Pani’s development of Osmotic
Energy Storage (OES) and the
commercialization of Adaptive
Desalination Technology (ADT).
June, 2018 25
 COVER STORY
We are Creating a NewIDA...A
Reinvigorated,and Forward-Looking
International Desalination Association
Miguel Angel Sanz is the current President of International Desalination Association (IDA).
For our cover story on seawater desalination this month, he candidly discusses the
challenges, objectives, and the role of IDA in global desalination scenario, with Mayur
Sharma.
What excites you the most
about leading the IDA? What
is that one big change you
26 June, 2018
would like to see during your
tenure?
Mr. Sanz: First, on behalf of
the International Desalination
Association, I want to thank
Express Water for the opportu-
nity to talk about our organiza-
tion and the critical role that
desalination and advanced
water treatment play in
addressing the world’s growing
water scarcity.
I am incredibly honored to
serve as President of IDA for
the 2017-2019 term. I am also
very grateful for the confidence
and trust that have been placed
in me along with IDA’s 1st Vice
President Rachid Ghamraoui,
2nd Vice President Li Youqing,
Secretary General Shannon
McCarthy and our roster of offi-
cers that includes highly
respected members of the
world’s desalination and water
reuse community.
My presidency comes at a
time of change, not only for IDA
but for the world at large.
Societal and economic shifts, a
technology landscape that
moves with lightning speed, a
revolution in the way we com-
municate - all of these factors
have converged so that the envi-
ronment in which IDA operates
today is very different from the
environment just a few years
ago.
As a result, while IDA has,
over the past four decades,
established itself as the leading
organization for the world’s
desalination and advanced
water treatment industry, we
also recognize that we must
continue evolving to ensure that
we bring the greatest value to
our members - not only for
today but for the future. That is
why, together, we are creating a
new IDA, a reinvigorated, for-
ward-looking association that
leverages its collective
strengths to serve an industry
that plays a vital role in secur-
ing the world’s water future.
To answer your question, I
believe that the big change will
come in the form of greater
engagement, relevance, and
community as they pertain to
IDA. These words will shape
our future and the value we
bring to our members and the
industry at large.
The process that guides
IDA’s evolution is rooted in pro-
viding our members with rele-
vant, business-building and
career-building opportunities
and programs. Our events, from
our World Congresses to our
international conferences on
water reuse and recycling, and
our specialty technical confer-
ences are known as industry-
leading venues where our mem-
bers can exchange knowledge,
gain new insights and establish
valuable new connections. To
that end, IDA is presenting its
second International
Conference on Water Reuse and
Recycling: Making Every Drop
Count on June 24-27, 2018 in
beautiful Valencia, Spain and
we hope that your readers will
join us there.
Adding to this, the IDA edu-
cational programs offer abun-
dant opportunities for continu-
ing education and training, and
our Young Leaders Program is
designed to encourage the next
generation of water leaders and
help their career development
with our scholarship, fellow-
ship, mentorship and internship
programs.
But that is not enough. We
are also ramping up our com-
munication with members,
developing closer ties with our
valued affiliates, operating with
greater transparency, and forg-
ing new connections with
organizations and institutions
that are involved in vital
aspects of our industry includ-
ing finance, advocacy, and poli-
cy. This process, which we
began in during our 2017 World
Congress in São Paulo, Brazil, is
vital to growing IDA’s reach,
reputation and prominence
around the world. We have
already made important
progress towards achieving
these goals, and we continue
this important work every day.
IDA is our members’ associ-
ation, and we are working dili-
gently to improve our engage-
ment with them. We welcome
their input on what we can do to
make IDA more meaningful to
their business, interests and
professional growth.
EXPRESS WATER

Ultimately, we are focused on
expanding the IDA community
not only in numbers but also in
the breadth and scope of our
membership.
You have 35-years of profes-
sional experience in desali-
nation, drinking water, and
wastewater segments. What
is the future of seawater de-
salination according to you?
Tell us about any ‘one’ cut-
ting-edge technology which
you believe will set the trend
for the future of desalina-
tion?
Mr. Sanz: Seawater desali-
nation has a great future, and it
is an essential solution to
ensure a sustainable water sup-
ply to hundreds of million peo-
ple around the world. But it is
not the only one. Seawater
desalination must be comple-
mented with recycling treated
wastewater and all other meas-
ures to preserve natural
resources.
I think there is not only one
technology that will be “the
solution” for the future. In my
opinion, it will be the mix of sev-
eral technologies and solutions:
One of the most exciting devel-
opments is the coupling of
renewable energy and desalina-
tion plants to minimize the
energy costs. Reducing energy
consumption has long been a
key goal in desalination, and
while significant advancements
have taken place in the past
couple of decades, the promise
of renewable energy cannot be
overstated. It adds a new
dimension to sustainability. We
have also a lot of hope in the
next generation of membranes
under development today.
Graphene, nano-membranes or
bio-membranes are words rep-
resenting a lot of research
efforts and investments that
could give new solutions for the
market in the next years. And
the other trend is to produce
more treated water from the
brine; using PRO, RED, nano-
membranes in combination
with other sources of water (as
treated wastewater).
What is the state of seawa-
ter desalination programs
EXPRESS WATER
and projects around the
world today? Can you give
us some facts and figures?
Mr. Sanz: According to the
2017-2018 IDA Desalination
Yearbook, the cumulative global
contracted capacity, including
plants that have been contract-
ed or are under construction,
reached 99.8 million cubic
meters per day (m3/d) in 2017,
up from 95.6 million cubic
meters per day in 2016. The
cumulative global installed
(online) capacity is now 92.5
million m3/d, compared with
88.6 million m3/d in 2016. The
total number of desalination
plants worldwide across all cat-
egories stands at 19,372 (2017)
versus 18,983 (2016).
Last year, seawater desalina-
tion experienced its largest
increase since 2014, driven
largely by growth in the utility
market in the Gulf, which is like-
ly to retain the largest share of
contracted seawater capacity
for the foreseeable future.
However, significant awards for
seawater desalination plants
were also made in China,
Singapore, and Morocco during
the past year.
We should not forget that
desalination is not just for sea-
water. Desalination of brackish
water is also growing, with an
increase of 29% in contracted
capacity for the first half of
2017. The typical brackish water
desalination plant is for smaller
utilities and industrial users.
China accounted for a large por-
tion of the growth in these
plants, especially during the
second half of 2016.
In terms of geographic
trends, large-scale projects
around the Red Sea and Gulf
account for much of the current
recovery in the desalination
market. However, the nature of
these projects (most are large-
scale) means that this region
experiences highly variable
swings in contracted capacity.
A steadier source of contracts
can be found in the Asia-Pacific
region, where industrial proj-
ects dominate the reference list.
At the half-way point in 2017,
these two regions were almost
equal in contracted capacity.
Both utility and industrial
projects saw a double-digit
increase in capacity for the full
year of 2016, driven by awards
for industrial users in the latter
part of the year. For the first
half of 2017, new utility capacity
was down while industrial
capacity increased, due to the
volume and size of utility
awards in the Gulf during the
first half of 2016 and the pres-
ence of several extra-large ref-
erences for refining and petro-
chemical customers in the first
half of 2017. A closer look at the
industrial sector reveals many
interesting developments in the
upstream oil and gas industry
including several projects that
may point to the future shape of
the market in the offshore oil
industry.
Regarding technology type,
membrane technologies contin-
ue to dominate the desalination
market. For example, in 2017
membrane technology account-
ed for 2.2 million m3/d of annual
contracted capacity while ther-
mal processes accounted for
just 0.1 million m3/d during the
same period.
In your remarks after being
declared as IDA President,
you had said that IDA needs
to adapt to new challenges
and help regions like Asia,
Africa, and Latin America to
apply the best and more
sustainable and economical
solutions, with new and
more efficient technologies,
and especially training the
new generations to take the
relay in this mission. How do
you look at it now? What is
the progress on this front?
Mr. Sanz: Asia, Africa, and
Latin America are the territo-
ries where desalination will
have more development in the
next decades for some impor-
tant reasons: population
growth, concentration in large
cities, and limited water
resources.
These areas need sustain-
able solutions - which means
mainly economical solutions.
The actual trends are looking
for less energy and chemical
consumption, using renewable
energies, new membranes and
plants that are easy to operate
SEAWATER DESALINATION
and maintain are the solutions
that these regions are waiting
for, so I am confident in this
alignment of targets for the
desalination growth in the
Southern hemisphere and Asia.
Delays on some of the de-
salination projects have not
been good for the desalina-
tion industry's reputation.
Can the IDA help push
through such projects more
quickly in some way?
Mr. Sanz: IDA does not get
involved in any specific project;
that’s the role of private or pub-
Desalination is practiced in 150
countries and IDA estimates that
well over 300 million people rely on
desalinated water for some or all
their daily needs. Treating and
recycling desalinated water for
reuse further extend its value.
lic companies. Delays can hap-
pen for many reasons, and they
aren’t only related to desalina-
tion. Any public work is subject
to this kind of event. In addition,
in the majority of cases delays
are a combination of problems
and circumstances, not only
one reason.
What IDA can do in this
regard is to help public authori-
ties, consultants, regulators and
private and industrial compa-
nies to promote the good prac-
tices, training people, pushing
for regulations, giving technical
and economic benchmarks, and
showing success case studies to
avoid and prevent the circum-
stances causing these delays.
What are your personal ex-
pectations from the IDA
2019 World Congress on De-
salination, Dubai?
Mr. Sanz: I am confident
that the 2019 IDA World
Congress: Crossroads to
Sustainability will be an
extraordinary event. Hosted by
the Dubai Electricity & Water
Authority (DEWA), a globally
recognized sustainable, innova-
tive and world-class utility, it
will take place on October 20-24
and will be our second World
Congress to be held in this
extraordinary city where inno-
vation is a mindset, not just a
word.
We expect the 2019 IDA
World Congress to attract 2,000
delegates from the public and
private sector – world leaders in
all sectors of the desalination
and water reuse - representing
as many as 60 countries. It will
coincide with the 21st Water,
Energy, Technology and
Environment Exhibition
(WETEX), which will be held
under the directives of HH
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid
Al Maktoum, Vice President
and Prime Minister of the UAE
and Ruler of Dubai, and under
the patronage of HH Sheikh
Hamdan bin Rashid Al
Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of
Dubai, Minister of Finance and
President of DEWA.
While planning is still under-
way, I can tell you that our 2019
Congress will include many new
features in addition to a robust
Technical Program and
Exhibition.
What is the scope of seawa-
ter desalination in India, in
your opinion?
Mr. Sanz: India is an impor-
tant desalination market, with
which IDA has a longstanding
and close relationship through
our Association Affiliate the
Indian Desalination Association
(InDA).
It is also a growing market
June, 2018 27
 COVER STORY
Last year, seawater desalination
experienced its largest increase
since 2014, driven largely by
growth in the utility market in the
Gulf, which is likely to retain the
largest share of contracted
seawater capacity for the
foreseeable future.
for seawater desalination with
the contracted capacity of
1,501,206 m3/din 124 facilities
from 1990, according to the
DesalData database in its 30th
inventory. Gujarat and Tamil
Nadu are the states where
desalination is well established
and also bringing new projects,
but there are other states on
both coasts, east and west, and
south needing desalination
projects.
From the 352 contracted
plants from 1990, totaling
2,339,525 m3/d, 36% were
brackish or recycled waste-
water and 64% were for seawa-
ter desalination. Membranes
are the predominant technolo-
gy for these plants at over 83%.
In the case of seawater desali-
nation plants, reverse osmosis
was the dominant technology at
74%.
Until today, the market was
mainly driven by industry, rep-
resenting the 79%, but the
municipal market is growing
quickly for the demand of new
seawater desalination plants.
For example, Chennai is plan-
ning its fourth seawater desali-
nation plant with a future
capacity of 400,000 m3/day to
add to the existing capacity
(200,000 m3/d from Minjur and
Nemmeli) and the last plant
actually under evaluation,
Nemmeli II with 150,000 m3/d.
India’s first desalination
plant dates back to 1946, and
the country has been conduct-
ing research into desalination
technologies for over 50 years.
The smaller companies
28 June, 2018
sometimes feel that the big
companies get much of the
association’s attention.
What do you see IDA offer-
ing the smaller companies?
Mr. Sanz: I’m not sure
where that sentiment comes
from. I want to be clear that all
of IDA’s members - large corpo-
rations or utilities, smaller com-
panies, individuals, universities,
students, libraries, individuals
from LDCs - are important to
the association. They are all
part of our community, each
contributing to our industry in
different ways and each bring-
ing their unique knowledge,
resources, and perspectives to
the whole.
Representatives of smaller
companies, like their counter-
parts from big corporations, are
encouraged to become involved
with IDA by serving on commit-
tees, contributing articles to
our publications, participating
in our educational programs
and running for election to our
Board if they meet eligibility
requirements.
There are some differences
in the benefits for large corpo-
rations and smaller companies,
which have 10 employees or
less.
Perhaps one of the most
valuable benefits for small com-
panies is the connections they
make through membership in
IDA. Our community brings
together stakeholders from all
segments of the industry and all
parts of the world. We often say
that IDA is the point of connec-
tion for the global desalination
and water reuse community,
and being part of IDA can be a
tremendous asset in building
one’s business and career.
When - if ever - will desalina-
tion become economically
and politically competitive
with other water supply op-
tions for thirsty cities?
Mr. Sanz: The cost of desali-
nation is already competitive
with traditional sources in
many parts of the world thanks
to the advances the industry
has made in lowering energy
consumption. As you know,
energy costs are the largest
component of OpEx. Of course,
the plants must be built and
they are not inexpensive.
However, we have to remember
that any major piece of infra-
structure has significant CapEx
associated with design and con-
struction.
Finally, how big of a role can
seawater desalination play
in addressing global water
problems? How do you see
IDA’s role in it?
Mr. Sanz: Seawater desali-
nation can play a huge role in
addressing global water prob-
lems. Desalination and water
reuse provide the world’s only
new sources of fresh water and
the sea offers us a nearly limit-
less feedwater source.
Desalination is the reason some
of the world’s major coastal
cities have flourished. Even in
other places where rain is more
frequent, the desalination
plants are like an insurance pol-
icy in case of drought.
Desalination is practiced in
150 countries and IDA esti-
mates that well over 300 million
people rely on desalinated
water for some or all their daily
needs. Treating and recycling
desalinated water for reuse fur-
ther extend its value.
IDA has an important role in
helping to advance water purifi-
cation technologies and best
practices, advocating for tech-
nologies that make desalination
even more energy efficient and
environmentally responsible,
facilitating knowledge sharing,
and helping to educate and
inform both stakeholders with-
in our industry as well as mem-
bers of the general public whose
opinions can be influential in
the adoption of desalination to
ensure their water future.
Miguel Angel Sanz has 34
years of professional experience in
desalination as well as in the
drinking water and wastewater
fields. Currently, he is the Director
of Strategic Development for
Treatment Infrastructure
Division of SUEZ. Working with
SUEZ group, he has a stake in
promoting innovation in the field
of membrane desalination, and he
has taken part in the design, build
or operation of more than 40
brackish or seawater desalination
plants worldwide. He has been a
member of the IDA Board of
Directors since 2009. He has par-
ticipated as a contributor, organ-
izer, speaker or chairman in over
25 events organized or supported
by IDA in the last few years. He
has published over 50 papers on
desalination and water treat-
ment. Moreover, he has con-
tributed to promote and create
some desalination and reuse
organizations such as the Latin
American Desalination and Reuse
Association (ALADyR). He is also
active among IDA’s affiliate
organizations, being for eight
years a member of the Board of
Directors of the European
Desalination Society (EDS) and
the Spanish Desalination and
Reuse Association AEDyR, where
he has been Vice President for four
years. He is also a member of
other desalination or water asso-
ciations: CaribDA, ALADyR,
IWA, and WEF. He had received
his Industrial Engineer Master
degree in 1981 from Bilbao High
Technical School of Engineers.
EXPRESS WATER

The Future of Desalination & Total Water
Management in the Middle East
Desalination technologies are bound to be continuously improved to become even more
competitive; innovative solutions such as RED (Reverse Electro Dialysis) and ceramic
membranes are two considerable highlights in this range, reaching piloting stage already
today.
By Rolf Richard Keil
TODAY, WE NEED the water
supply capacity of more than
five times that of Earth, if every
human of our planet would con-
sume the same amount as is
being used by residents and
industries in the Middle East.
Desalination of seawater
remains to be the most accessi-
ble and sustainable upstream
source for potable water pro-
duction, to feed an integrated
total water management sys-
tem. The Middle East has been
spearheading a technology
transition, driving the potable
water production industry into
the application of new and com-
petitive technologies, such as
reverse osmosis. But we must
not rest here!
Seawater Reverse Osmosis
(SWRO) is the adopted state of
the art technology today at an
average recovery rate of 45%,
supplying to municipalities.
Desalination technologies are
bound to be continuously
improved to become even more
EXPRESS WATER
competitive; innovative solu-
tions such as RED (Reverse
Electro Dialysis) and ceramic
membranes are two consider-
able highlights in this range,
reaching piloting stage already
today.
Integrated Water Manage-
ment
Today, less than 10% of
water used is being treated to a
level that it can be reused for
industrial, agricultural and gov-
ernmental application, recover-
ing 3% of production into a cir-
cular economy.
For many years, Public
Private Partnerships (PPP) and
BOT models have been adopted
by governments across the
region, to cope with the
immense capital expenditure
and operating skills required to
supply reliable water services
to a growing population and
economy, diversifying into non-
carbon industrialization.
In recent days, the arrival of
renewable and nuclear energy
sources has allowed to decouple
water and power production.
Decoupling is considered the
state of the art for water and
power production; this seems to
be true also for the status quo of
aspirations for an integrated
total water management sys-
tem, may it be for a city, a state,
a country or a cooperative
region.
Now, we have the responsi-
bility to take that action, to con-
nect the silos of water produc-
tion, manage allocation for
human and industrial use, col-
lection and advanced treatment
for dedicated reuse. Together,
based on successful coopera-
tion track record in single proj-
ects, both public and private
sector are ready to replicate
such successfully integrated
models and embed them to
their local needs.
The first step is for industri-
al water consumers to be allo-
cated advanced treated TSE
and single source, allowing a
transition period equivalent to
PPP project timeline to develop
and sustainably avail the
required water quality and
quantity for competitive and
controlled industrial develop-
ment.
The second step is aquifer
storage of seasonal surplus of
advanced treated TSE, i.e.
lower irrigation requirements
during the winter season,
reducing expensive SWRO
water to be allocated for such
strategic use.
These two initiators are to
come in parallel with the pro-
gressive and carefully planned
decentralization of advanced
treated TSE station to the
vicinity of sewage production
and industrial reuse customers
to minimize non-revenue trans-
mission losses.
Integration of the total
water management in this way
needs to come from the top and
is in line with the visions
devised by the Executive
SEAWATER DESALINATION
Council of the UAE, as well as
the individual leadership of the
Emirates and beyond. Taking a
closer look, we are not far away
from realization today.
Future Opportunities
This is the call to the private
sector, to pro-actively partici-
pate and implement advanced
emerging technologies con-
tributing to a sustainable
upstream and downstream
realization of efficiencies,
Reduction of power consump-
tion and conversion of water
production process by-products
into valuable products such as
biogas, industrial salts and
many more offer such opportu-
nities today.
SWRO produces a lot of
solid and liquid, partially toxic,
waste, which is widely dis-
charged back into the open sea.
This same seawater in the
Gulf region, already being chal-
lenging to treat efficiently, is
suffering from increasing pollu-
tion that is promoting the devel-
opment of a raw water bio-
chemistry further adversely
affecting membrane perform-
ance and leading to increases in
both, use of chemicals and
replacements.
Water producers are active-
ly looking beyond their tradi-
tional set of technologies and
find suitable solutions in neigh-
boring industries, such as F&B
and O&G related water process
systems.
Ceramic membranes are on
the forefront of this develop-
ment and are earmarked to be
the upcoming, real disruptive
‘game changer’ for the water
production industry.
Together, we must develop
multiple and sustainable servic-
es to create value for our future
generations, whilst incorporat-
ing the evolving expectations of
end-users and building on the
strong partnership with all
stakeholders.
Today, not tomorrow, it is
our responsibility to act. The
time is now!
About the Author
Rolf Richard Keil is a commer-
cially astute, visionary and cre-
ative Senior Manager with an
extensive background of more
than 20 years in the industrial
manufacturing, mining, water,
power and utility sectors.
Throughout his international
career, Rolf was covering diverse
continents and regions including
Africa, Asia, Europe, Middle East
and North America, where he is
recognized as a strong and knowl-
edgeable leader, who is able to
train and manage multicultural
teams to deliver organizational
objectives. Rolf has joined BESIX
Concessions & Assets as the
Project Development Manager,
focusing on desalination and
innovative water treatment busi-
nesses, in November 2016, after
holding senior international man-
agement positions with Publicis
MCD, WA Granite, Hawle
Armaturen, CST Industries and
Toray.
June, 2018 29
 COVER STORY

Towards a Sustainable Solution to

Water Crisis
Even though desalination technologies have been
rapidly developed in the last two decades, its
distribution and utilization are still limited in wealthy
and oil-rich countries.
By Dr. Basim Belgasim

THE SHORTAGE OF clean
potable water has become one
of the most stressful issues in
the world. And the situation is
getting worse due to the limit-
ed resources of freshwater
and as a result of the contin-
ued growth of both the world’s
population and economy.
Nowadays, around 1.2 billion
people are already suffering
from the shortage of potable
water; most of them being
concentrated in arid and iso-
lated areas where electricity
and oil supply are also limited.
This number of people is
expected to be doubled by
2025 and will be distributed in
48 countries. To illustrate the
scale of the crisis, only four
countries out of nineteen in
the Middle East and North
Africa region (MENA) could
be considered above the water
poverty line, 1000
m3/capita/year.
Although water covers
two-thirds of the earth sur-
face, freshwater represents
only about 3% of all water on
the planet. Only 0.25% of this
freshwater can be directly
used from lakes and rivers,
while the rest exists as frozen
water, such as ice at the
earth’s poles, or deep ground-
water which is difficult to
reach. However, saline water
represents the most sustain-
able, abundant and easy to
reach the source of water on
the earth represented in
oceans, seas and some big
ground aquifers of a high
degree of water salinity.
Desalination technologies;
the process of converting
saline water to drinkable
water, have already been used
by various countries to over-
come the deficit in freshwater
demand. These technologies
can be classified into two
groups: phase change tech-
niques in which thermal ener-
gy is the driving power, and
membrane technology which
needs the electric or mechani-
cal form of driving energy.
Unfortunately, water desalina-
tion is an intensive energy
consumption technology.
Generally speaking, to obtain 1
million m3 per day of desali-
nated water, 10 million tonnes
of oil needs to be burned per
year. Based on the fact that
most of the desalination sys-
tems are currently operated
by fossil fuels, it can be figured
out how costly and environ-
mentally damaging this type
of technology is.
Even though desalination
technologies have been rapid-
ly developed in the last two
decades, its distribution and
utilization are still limited in
wealthy and oil-rich countries.
The total installed capacity of
desalination plants is 97 mil-
lion m3 per day in 2015 and it
is in an upward trend. About
40% of this capacity has been
established in the Gulf region
where Saudi Arabia is the
highest producer of the desali-
nated water. The required
energy to satisfy this huge
amount of water is currently
satisfied by burning the fossil
fuel which greatly contributes
to the national budget
exhaust, global warming, and
deadly pollutions.
The integration between
renewable energy systems
and desalination technology is
one of the most promising
approaches to produce fresh
water in many locations.
Interestingly, most of the
thirsty countries have a huge
potential of renewable
resources especially, solar and
wind energy. The German
Aerospace Research Centre
Figure 1: Combinations of Renewable Energy Resources with
Desalination Technologies (Source: Shatat et al, 2013)
reported that each square
kilometer of land in North
Africa, Middle East, and Gulf
regions receive solar energy
equivalent to 1.5 million bar-
rels of crude oil per year.
Integration of desalination
technology with renewable
energy systems does not only
provide a clean and sustain-
able source of energy but also
presents a source of power
which is technically feasible
and reliable to drive the differ-
ent types of desalination sys-
tems. The thermal energy
required to operate phase
change systems including
MSF, MED, SD, VC, and HD
can be satisfied directly from
thermal solar radiation or
geothermal energy without
complex energy conversion
technology. On the other
hand, electricity can be gener-
ated by solar PV and wind tur-
bines systems to operate

30 June, 2018 EXPRESS WATER


Figure 2: Global Renewable Energy Capacity (Source: REN21, 2018)
membrane desalination such
as RO and ED. This variety of
renewable energy systems
gives a flexible combination of
small or large scale desalina-
tion units depends on avail-
ability and potential at a spe-
cific location. The different
combination opportunities
can be demonstrated in
Figure 1.
The global deployment of
renewable energy in different
sectors, electricity, trans-
portation, industry...etc, has
been increased sharply during
the last ten years. The global
capacity, as in Figure 2, has
jumped from less than 1000
Gigawatts before 2008 to
nearly 2200 Gigawatts in 2017,
most of which are solar and
wind. This development has
been driven by the large
improvements that have been
done on the efficiency, capa-
bility and long-term economic
competitiveness of these sys-
tems.
From the economic point
of view, the Levelized Cost of
Electricity (LCOE) of renew-
Figure 3: Levelized Cost of Electricity of Solar and Wind Energy Systems
(Source: IRENA, 2018)
EXPRESS WATER
able energy falling very fast.
As an example, LCOE of solar
energy has been reduced from
over 0.37 USD/kWh before
2010 to reach 0.1 USD/kWh in
2017. Less importantly, wind
energy prices dropped from
0.08 to 0.06 USD/kWh. While
comparing with conventional
energy sources, renewable
energy is still more expensive
in the short-term but all the
forecasting research prove
that renewable energy will
win the race by 2022. Another
evidence of this rapid growth
is the number of investments.
In 2017, the global investment
in renewable energy is about
USD 250 billion compared
with conventional power
resource which only receives
not more than USD 150 billion
in the same year.
More realistically, it would
be better to give some success
stories of this integration. In
January 2015, Saudi Arabia
represented by Advanced
Water Technology (AWT)
company and Abengoa com-
pany have signed an agree-
ment to build one of the
largest solar water desalina-
tion plant in the world. The
plant has become alive com-
mercially at the mid of 2017. It
is located in Al Khafji city at
the northeast of Saudi Arabia.
The estimated cost of the
plant is USD 130 million with
the total capacity of 60,000
m3 of desalinated water per
day.
This plant is expected to be
one of the main regular water
suppliers of more than 120
thousand people who are liv-
ing in the area through the
year.
The desalination unit, at Al
Khafji plant, was built on
250m × 700m area next to an
already RO membrane desali-
nation technology. The solar
field was installed over 90-
hectare area and about 1 km
away from the desalination
unit. The solar system is
based on high concentrator
polycrystalline solar PV pan-
els. It is designed to produce
15 MW to operate the desali-
nation unit and also connect-
ed to the national grid net-
work to upload the extra gen-
eration during the peak or to
substitute any deficit during
the operation.
Currently, only 1% of the
global water desalination
plants are powered by renew-
able energy systems. The
widespread of this integration
is still restricted by some chal-
lenges which need to be over-
come. The intermittent
nature of renewable energy
resources, especially solar
and wind, which lead to an
unstable power supply, is one
of the major challenges. The
expected and unexpected
intermittencies such as night
period or weather changes
reduce the dispatch ability of
this technology. This means
that sometimes the water and
power generated will be out of
phase with the peak of the
demand. This problem can be
solved by using energy stor-
age systems, wither it is ther-
mal or electrical, but with
painful economic punish-
ments.
Another challenge faced
SEAWATER DESALINATION
The total installed capacity of
desalination plants is 97 million m3
per day in 2015 and it is in an
upward trend. About 40% of this
capacity has been established in
the Gulf region where Saudi Arabia
is the highest producer of the
desalinated water.
the implementation of renew- energy and desalination tech-
able energy in desalination is nology can be the light at the
the big capital cost required end of the tunnel due to its
by this technology which capability to be a sustainable,
reduces its economic competi- non-polluted and also cheap
tiveness in the short-term. In source of potable water.
addition, the renewable ener- However, a lot of efforts need
Currently, water prices from
conventional desalination are in
the range of 0.5-1.7 USD/m3 while
desalinated water from renewable
systems starts from 1.5 to reach up
to 3.5 USD/m3 depending on the
capacity, location, and technology
used.
gy systems need substantial to be done by engineers, scien-
land preparation and electric tists, investors and decision
transmission infrastructures makers to break the barriers
which put extra stress on the in front of this emerging tech-
first investment required. nology.
Currently, water prices from About the Author
conventional desalination are Dr. Basim Belgasim is the
in the range of 0.5-1.7 USD/m3 Director of Solar Thermal
while desalinated water from Systems at the Centre of Solar
the renewable systems starts Energy Research and Studies
from 1.5 to reach up to 3.5 (CSERS). He is also a lecturer at
USD/m3 depending on the the Mechanical Engineering
capacity, location, and tech- Department, University of
nology used. Benghazi. He works on research
It has to be said that an projects related to concentrating
immediate re-evaluation is solar power and solar water
necessary for the current desalination technologies. Dr.
approaches already being Belgasim holds a Ph.D. degree
applied to tackle the water from Northumbria University,
crises in the world. The inte- UK in the field of Renewable
gration between renewable Energy Engineering.
June, 2018 31
 COVER STORY

I Have Learned from MyExperiences in

SWRO Desalination to Keep Innovating...
Rodney Clemente is the Vice President of Water at Energy Recovery and is currently
responsible for all of the company’s sales, technical service, support, and aftermarket
activities for the global water business unit. For our cover story on seawater desalination, he
shared his views on the desalination market, energy recovery devices and their technology,
apart from ERI’s recent programs, projects, and performance with Mayur Sharma.

Rodney Clemente, Vice President -
Water, Energy Recovery Inc.
How can desalination best
mitigate and address the
high energy, cost, and toxic
effluent from membrane
problems? And what is the
best way to reduce the en-
vironmental impact of pol-
luted membranes after
use?
Mr. Clemente: First is high
energy - the advancements in
Energy Recovery Devices
have been one of the most dis-
ruptive achievements in the
past several decades with
respect to minimizing the
overall power consumed from
the RO process. Further inno-
vation can yield further reduc-
tions but the current trends in
energy optimization have
come from novel process and
material science improve-
ments.
Then comes the high cost -
the desalination can be broken
down into 2 primary seg-
ments: 1) Thermal desalina-
tion, and 2) Reverse Osmosis
(RO). The CAPEX, OPEX and
overall footprint of RO is typi-
cally cheaper than thermal
processes. RO has taken
majority market share due to
CAPEX and OPEX benefits.
Regarding toxic effluents -
current trends to minimize
waste are two-fold: 1) Increase
membrane recovery and 2)
Zero-liquid discharge. By
increasing recovery, you mini-
mize waste and by leveraging
ZLD-type technologies one
can eliminate this issue alto-
gether. These two solutions
are obviously site-specific and
require further analysis.
With regards to mem-
branes - the step 1 would be to
extend the life of the mem-
branes. This can be achieved
by properly designing your
pre-treatment and by observ-
ing good industry operations/
maintenance practices to pro-
duce the best quality of water
required by the membrane
manufacturers. By extending
the useful life of the mem-
branes you can thus reduce
waste.
We should study what can
be done in pre-treatment of
feed-water to reduce “pollu-
tion” in the membranes
process. And we should work
with membrane suppliers to
develop or correctly select
membranes for the right
application in order to reduce
pollution.
In the desalination market,
the latest studies and ad-
vances are aimed at cost
savings, both in energy
consumption and in the fi-
nal cost of desalinated wa-
ter. In addition to the in-
corporation of renewable
energies, what all tech-
nologies would contribute
to further reduce these
costs?
Mr. Clemente: The energy
reduction is priority #1 as the
price of power, and thus the
power consumed is directly
related to the cost to desali-
nate water. Advancements in
Energy Recovery Devices,
novel process improvements,
more sophisticated plant
designs, material science
breakthroughs and low ener-
gy pre-treatment technolo-
gies will all play a role in
future advancements in ener-
gy reductions. You must also
look past the initial CAPEX
and as an industry we need to
Carlsbad, USA 190,000 m3/Day (50 MGD)
look at life-cycle cost includ-
ing availability which will have
a huge impact on the life of the
plant.
A range of energy recovery
devices has been implemented
over the last several decades
from the early Pelton wheel to
the state-of-the-art Energy
Recovery PX Pressure
Exchanger. At 98% efficiency,
the PX Pressure Exchanger
reduces the power consump-
tion of desalination plants by
as much as 60%.
Many companies, and
indeed ERI, have historically
focused on nameplate efficien-
cies of their products to
reduce energy cost savings for
their customers. The reaching
of PX performance ceilings
has necessitated a shift in
strategy to evaluate the effi-
ciency of the overall system
that delivers maximum sav-
ings for customers. Internally,
we also talk about TOTAL
savings which are the life
cycle costs to customers.
Considerations for customers
must include “all” costs:
upfront investment, product
efficiency, maintenance, and
repairs. The PX device
demonstrates this better than
any other technology; while
upfront cost may be higher
than its competitors, its life
cycle costs are far superior.
Tell us about any ‘one’ cut-
ting-edge technology
which you believe will set
the trend for the future of
desalination?
Mr. Clemente: The PX
Pressure Exchanger has been
the gold standard in energy
recovery devices for the last
20 years and we don’t antici-
pate technologies to beat that

32 June, 2018 EXPRESS WATER


Barcelona, Spain 200,000 m3/Day (53 MGD), Photo Courtesy: ATLL
level of performance. As men-
tioned above, we anticipate
that the next level of innova-
tion that will come to the
industry will be around sys-
tem-level design and efficien-
cies; packaging products that
result in peak performance for
the customer.
Finding new and creative
ways to design and operate
around the state-of-the-art PX
Pressure Exchanger
Technology is currently being
explored and initial results
are looking promising.
Please shed some light on
the product and services
portfolio of your company
related to seawater desali-
nation. How does your
product & technology
compare to other desalina-
tion products & technolo-
gies in the market?
Mr. Clemente: Our prod-
ucts are ERDS - PX Pressure
Exchanger, AT Turbocharger;
for packaged solutions:
PowerPlay, commercial prod-
uct: ESA, and in pumps:
VPXP, Aquabold.
ERI’s ability to supply a
very high efficiency packaged
solution for the OEM market
in the form of PX (industry
leading lowest life-cycle cost
ERD), VPXP and AquaBold
(low maintenance, process
fluid lubricated bearing) may
be unmatched. To reiterate,
not only are the efficiencies
industry leading but the life
cycle costs, again, leave the
competition in the dust.
How long have you worked
EXPRESS WATER
Recovery Devices for the
SWRO desalination space. We
have an unmatched and
unprecedented reference list
of large-scale desalination ref-
erences. With that said, we
are starting to put in place a
strategy for growth. We will
be looking to grow our core
business and will also look to
expand into new markets. We
have 100% market share in
2017 of projects > 50,000
m3/d. And we have projected
100% market share for 2018
projects > 50,000m3/d.
During 2017 - USD 54.3 mn in
in the field of seawater de- top-line revenue was the high-
salination? Could you tell est revenue year for our water
us something about your business. We have over 18,000
own experience in this devices deployed around the
field? globe. We are operating on all
Mr. Clemente: I have been 7 continents. We help in USD
in the SWRO desalination 1.8 billion in energy savings
business for 20 years. What I annually.
have learned from my experi-
ences in the field is to keep What were the achieve-
innovating. No two plants are ments of your company in
the same, thus you must vary 2017-18? How has the com-
your approach to solve prob- pany grown?
lems. You must not only inno- Mr. Clemente: 2017 was a
vate your products and servic- record year for the company.
es but you must also innovate We generated USD 63.2 mil-
in terms of internal tools and lion in revenue for the fiscal
processes. year, which represents the
strongest top-line perform-
What is the state of your ance in company history.
company’s current and up- The Q1 2018 was another
coming seawater desalina- strong quarter for the compa-
tion programs and proj- ny. We as a company generat-
ects? Can you give us ed record product and total
some facts and figures? gross margin of 70 and 76 per-
Mr. Clemente: Currently cent, respectively, on USD 13.8
we continue to be recognized million in revenue. With water
as the global leader in Energy revenue of USD 11 million, we
Bahrain 3,000 m3/Day Barge Installation
SEAWATER DESALINATION
had 3% growth year over year.
The higher OEM and AM
shipments should offset tradi-
tionally slow Q1 shipments in
MPD. We continue to generate
significant manufacturing
efficiencies as well, generating
record-breaking margins in
Water for the quarter.
What are some of the ma-
jor orders won by your
company in last two years?
Mr. Clemente: We do not
disclose the specifics of orders
or clients, but we can tell you
that we have supplied our
technology to approximately
80-85% of all SWRO facilities
> 50,000 m3/d over the past
decade.
Could you tell us about
some of the most interest-
ing projects seawater de-
salination that you have
participated in?
Mr. Clemente: We have
been involved in many very
interesting projects. A few
that come to mind are the
large-scale plants located in
Saudi Arabia. Saudi has his-
torically been a tough market
for ERI to penetrate as the
cost of power is relatively low
making the value proposition
for energy recovery devices,
in general, a bit less attractive.
We have made significant
progress over the past decade
or so and now enjoy majority
market share in the newly
constructed/ awarded plants
in the Kingdom.
How are your seawater de-
salination projects fi-
nanced, and structured?
Mr. Clemente: As an
equipment supplier, we cur-
rently execute all of our con-
tracts under the typical capi-
tal sale approach. We work
with our customers to ensure
we execute and perform at the
highest levels. We have devel-
oped a new procurement vehi-
cle in the form of an Energy
Services Agreement (ESA).
With our innovative ESA
offering, we would get paid
with actual “savings”. For
example, if an existing facility
is utilizing out-dated legacy
technology, ERI would retrofit
the plant, reduce the power
consumed within the facility
and actual savings would be
shared.
What is the future of sea-
water desalination in India,
in your opinion? Is seawa-
ter desalination a suitable
technology for Indian con-
ditions considering the
huge costs involved?
Mr. Clemente: Energy
Recovery’s products help
reduce the overall cost of
desalination making it a feasi-
ble option for India. We cur-
rently hold 100% market
share in the large-scale
SWRO India market. India
has been an early adopter of
our technologies and desalina-
tion is definitely part of their
water diversification strategy.
Our solutions have been
deployed across several large-
scale desalination projects
that produced well over
575,000 m3/d.
With the market really
testing new commercial mod-
els like PPPs, especially with
the recent activity in India, we
feel that we have more tools in
our arsenal to support the
Indian market. Our ESA offer-
ing for example, where cus-
tomers can get our pumping
solution (including PX) for no
upfront costs, can mitigate the
initial sticker shock associat-
ed with desalination projects.
Finally, what are your
growth and expansion
plans for the next 5 years?
Mr. Clemente: We see
strong demand for our prod-
ucts throughout 2018 and
beyond, and our margins
remain
robust; we see no signs of
things slowing. We will contin-
ue to invest heavily in R&D
across our BU’s, including
Water, to ensure future
growth. We will continue to
evaluate options to increase
our offerings to customers if it
generates sufficient value for
them. And we will be looking
to grow our core business and
will also look to expand into
new markets.
June, 2018 33
 TECH FOCUS PUMPING TECHNOLOGIES

SAVING ENERGYONLYWORKS IFITIS EASY

The wireless PumpMeter connection now makes it possible to transfer load profile data via
WiFi for implementing optimization measures. This not only enables identification of energy-
saving potential but also the operation of the pumps at their best efficiency point. The effort
required on the user’s part is minimal.
By Bryan Orchard

its PumpMeter (Figure 1). A flashing EFF (energy

Figure 1: PumpMeter Comprises Pressure Sensors and an Analysing and Display Unit. It Records Suction,
Discharge and Differential Pressures As Well As the Head.
HOW DO YOU get people to
start thinking about energy
efficiency as it pertains to
their processes? Despite all of
the coverage in the media, this
topic still does not receive
enough attention in produc-
tion halls. “It’s not even specif-
ic to any one sector or indus-
try: People are just happy
when the pump is running; the
questions of how it is running
and what can be improved are
in a very distant second
place,” says Heiko Flurschütz,
Head of Industry, Water /
Waste Water and Energy in
KSB’s Sales Region Germany -
Southwest. Enormous energy-
saving potential can be
tapped, however. “For compa-
nies that have not paid any
attention to energy efficiency,
I would estimate that three-
quarters of the pumps they
use could be optimized. Even
companies that have delved
into this topic before can still
reduce the energy consumed
during pump operation by an
additional 25 percent,” sums
up Flurschütz and provides a
typical example. “Companies
often are not even aware of
when a pump switches on and
off for no reason. If not to save
energy, they should at least be
interested in exerting better
control over this process to
improve the service life of the
pump.” But, in Flurschütz’s
experience, users simply do
not want any high-end solu-
tions and instead tools that
are easy to use.
Transparent Pump
The first step toward a
basic optimization tool was
taken by KSB back in 2010
when the company launched
This unit, which is basically a
digital status indicator, pro-
vides information on the con-
dition of the pump. The unit
comprises pressure sensors
as well as an analyzing and
display unit fitted to the
pump. Two sensors in the
pump measure the suction
and discharge pressures
around the clock. PumpMeter
uses this data to calculate the
differential pressure and
determines the current oper-
ating point, which is updated
continuously in real time.
The measured and calcu-
lated values are shown in
alternation on a user-friendly
display. A typical four-quad-
rant pump characteristic
curve shows the range in
which the pump is operating
at a point in time. A flashing
outer segment on the left or
right of the PumpMeter dis-
play indicates that action is
required because the flow rate
is either extremely low or too
high. A flashing third quad-
rant in the pump curve indi-
cates the optimum operating
range. The second quadrant
(from the left) indicates a
long-term need for optimiza-
tion. This display, which uses
international symbols, allows
the operator to evaluate the
operating point immediately
upon start-up and adjust the
pump accordingly. Operators
can see at a glance whether
the availability of their pumps
is at risk and whether they are
operating economically.
Identifying Optimization
Potential
efficiency) icon also indicates
the potential for significant
energy savings. For detailed
information, all the user has to
do is refer to the load profile,
which can be read out and dis-
played by the KSB Service
Tool:
• If a pronounced bar indi-
cates continuous operation
in the optimum operating
range, no adjustments are
required.
• However, if many operating
hours are being recorded in
part load conditions and the
operating point moves
across a wide range of the
characteristic curve, use of
a variable speed system
such as KSB PumpDrive is
a recommended option.
This system can also be eas-
ily retrofitted.
• If the operating hours are in
the far right (outer right-
hand bar) of the load profile,
the pump set has been oper-
ated near the limits of its
operating range. Pump and
motor overload are likely.
Here, it would be a good
idea to learn if the pump is
perhaps inadequately
dimensioned for its applica-
tion. Two potential solu-
tions would be to trim the
impeller to reduce energy
consumption or to install a
new, larger pump.
The recommendations for
action associated with the
flashing EFF icon can differ
greatly. After all, the pump
must always be viewed in the
context of the overall system;
it would, however, be conceiv-
able to install a frequency

34 June, 2018 EXPRESS WATER

 TECH FOCUS
Figure 2: The GSM Modem Installed is Used to Automatically Read Out the PumpMeter Values and Send Them
to a Corresponding Web Portal.
inverter, modify a pipe, install
an energy-efficient motor or
valve, or change the hydraulic
system. “PumpMeter pro-
vides important information
that we can leverage,” says
Flurschütz. “This always pays
off. Especially against the
background that there are
fewer and fewer options for
optimizing production sys-
tems.
The costs of procuring the
base materials, disposal and
logistics are mostly stable;
when it comes to energy costs,
however, there is real savings
potential that can be tapped
and is just waiting to be dis-
covered.”
Figure 3: When the Flow Rates are Very High or a High Level of Availability is Required, Several Pumps are
Often Interconnected to Avoid Potential Production Downtime.
EXPRESS WATER
Logical Next Step
To date, 40,000
PumpMeter units have been
delivered. “We wanted to take
things one step further, how-
ever,” explains Dr. Jochen
Mades, Head of Application &
Basic Research at KSB. As
part of the numerous Industry
4.0 initiatives in the chemical
industry, a chemical company
initially inquired as to
whether data could also be
transferred to the cloud and
analyzed there. Far too many
times the data is not read out
or the flashing EFF icon is
ignored, which Dr. Mades
understands quite well:
“Everyone is now familiar
with the situation that day-to-
day routines simply do not
leave enough room for further
action. Although PumpMeter
has a plain text display, the
data must be processed fur-
ther in order to actually
implement any measures.
This means that you have to
physically walk to the pump
with a notebook, read out the
data there, and then send it to
us.” KSB has therefore devel-
oped a wireless PumpMeter
connection in the form of a
GSM modem (Figure 2) that is
used to automatically read out
and transfer data values. This
includes a corresponding web
portal that the user can access
PUMPING TECHNOLOGIES
at any time,” states project
manager Michael Könen. “The
effort involved is minimal, and
after just a short period, a
report can be generated fully
automatically at the push of a
button.”
The Solution for Pump
Systems
The solution offers yet
another benefit. Previously,
PumpMeter could only dis-
play the status of a single
pump. It is frequently the
case, however, that several
pumps are interconnected
(Figure 3), such as when the
flow rates are very high or
high availability is required to
avoid potential production
downtime. How exactly these
pumps interact could of
course not be displayed using
individual PumpMeters at the
pumps. The wireless version,
however, makes it possible to
configure such multiple pump
systems and assign a time
stamp to the operating times
of the pumps so that the pump
units can be analyzed and
viewed together on the web
portal. This means that multi-
ple pump systems can be
checked with respect to their
overall energy efficiency.
Examples include cooling
water supply systems for
metal-cutting machining
processes at automotive sup-
pliers, large paint shops, cool-
ing lubricant supply systems,
cooling systems for data-cen-
ters and pressure booster sys-
tems in high-rise buildings.
A PumpMeter with a
modem has been used at the
Nufringen pumping station of
the Bodensee-
Wasserversorgung (Lake
Constance Water Supply
Association) since late 2017,
for example. “The main bene-
fit for us is that we have deter-
mined that the pumps in ques-
tion operate in the overload
range very frequently,”
explains Markus Wellinger,
who works in the electrical
and mechanical engineering
department at the Bodensee-
Wasserversorgung in
Stuttgart. Now, the pumps
will all be optimized. “The
focus here is on energy effi-
ciency optimization and main-
tenance. PumpMeter allows
you to use the pumps in such a
way that they run at their best
efficiency point, which also
greatly extends their service
life. At the same time, this
directly translates into lower
energy costs.”
Outlook
Conditions can change
during the service life of a
pump, however, and it often
happens that a pump no
longer runs at its best efficien-
cy point. This is where the
wireless solution from KSB
really shines since it delivers
data around the clock, free of
charge.
The wireless solution is not
the last step, however. In
future, instead of using wetted
sensors in conjunction with
PumpMeter, it will be possible
to pick up vibrations at the
pump and transfer this oper-
ating data to the cloud as well.
This neatly circumvents the
problem of taking measure-
ments using wetted sensors,
which is not always easy when
chemical products are
involved. Vibration sensor and
PumpMeter measurements
are currently being taken in
parallel at selected pilot
plants to verify the data val-
ues.
About the Author
Bryan Orchard is an inter-
national freelance journalist
who specializes in water and
environmental engineering.
All Photos Courtesy of KSB
SE & Co. KGaA.
June, 2018 35
 TECH FOCUS
THREE DECADES IN GEORGIA- SCREW
PUMPS SHOWTHEIR STRENGTH
With almost 30 years and counting of uninterrupted service for its 60” and 72” screw pumps,
operators at the City of Calhoun’s Wastewater Treatment Plant have firmly underlined the
benefits of basic preventative maintenance.
By Lakeside Equipment Corporation
Lakeside’s Open Screw Design
Utilizes a Torque Tube and Spiral
Flights
IN 1988, CALHOUN’S
WWTP (permitted for 16
MGD) first invested in two of
Lakeside Equipment
Corporation’s 60”, 75 Hp open
screw pumps (capacity =
7,000 GPM), and two 72”, 50
Hp screw pumps (capacity =
10,500 GPM). Original con-
crete construction involved an
empty space provided for a
third pump for each capacity,
which was filled in 2012 by a
new 60”, 75 HP Lakeside
screw pump with a lift of 20.46
ft at a 38? incline.
A year later in 2013, one of
the original 60” Lakeside
pumps was finally replaced
(followed a year later by
another of the same diameter
to replace the last, original
60” screw pump) - but even
36 June, 2018
then, as John Banks, City of
Calhoun Wastewater Plant
Manager explains, this was
more to do with budgetary
and long-term planning
requirements.
“The pumps were only just
beginning to wear out, but
they were certainly not on
their last legs,” he said, “far
from it. The original 60”
Lakeside Screw Pumps far
exceeded their life expectan-
cy”.
The average flow at
Calhoun (one hour north of
Atlanta), is around 5MGD (14-
16 MGD during rain events),
serving the city of Calhoun,
Georgia (home to some of the
world’s top floor covering
manufacturers). The treat-
ment plant is a tough, corro-
sive environment for the orig-
inal Open Screw Pumps (all
Lakeside), that via three dif-
ferent configurations, run
rotationally 24/7 to equal out-
wear. Consisting of a spiral
screw, upper and lower bear-
ings and a drive arrangement,
the open screw design uses a
torque tube with spiral flights
set in an open, inclined con-
crete trough. The screw
pump’s basic design has been
used for millennia to promote
both simplicity and reliability.
John Banks (who has
worked at the facility for 12
years) added: “The beauty of
the Lakeside screw pumps is
that there is actually very lit-
tle maintenance. Once per
week, we check oil levels and
our operators will also moni-
tor the grease levels on the
bottom bearing. All very sim-
ple - and with Lakeside’s stain-
less steel tubing, we don’t have
to worry about corrosion.
These routine checks have
seen our screw pumps work
very reliably for 25-years-plus,
which shows what a good
investment they are”.
Normally, two of the
Lakeside screw pumps at the
influent of Calhoun’s WWT
Plant lift the raw sewage up
out of the collection system
into the plant. Pre-screening
is not required because large
objects pass between the
Calhoun’s Treatment Plant
Benefits from Long-Lasting Open
Screw Pumps
screw flights and through the
screw pump.
Additional screw pumps
are ready in the event of the
sewer system becoming
supercharged due to a large
rain event. After lifting, the
wastewater is taken through
screening and grit removal
processes before being lifted
again by the second set of
PUMPING TECHNOLOGIES
screw pumps.
John Banks continued:
“Our program of rotating the
use of the screw pumps, com-
bined with basic oil checks
and free-flowing grease has
given us a winning hand of
flexibility and very long last-
ing equipment. This preventa-
tive maintenance program
also means that we don’t have
the pressure of having to get a
screw pump back into service
quickly if and when we are
looking for additional pump-
ing capacity”.
The older portion of the
Calhoun system covers over
136 miles of interceptor and
trunk lines through the City. It
was upgraded in 2004 to meet
new standards.
Then, as now, the purchase
of screw pumps was put out to
bid, with an eye on securing
the best in long-term perform-
ance and value. Lakeside
offers both greased and sealed
lower bearings on their open
screw pumps. The dual upper
bearing of each style pump
includes both radial and
thrust components, serving
both forces that act upon it,
which helps prolong the life-
time of the screw pump. The
pump also benefits from a V-
belt drive that connects the
motor to the speed reducer.
This acts as a shock absorber
to protect from possible shock
loads, as well as provide for
easy speed changes in the
field. The constant speed
drives eliminate the need for
complex, variable speed elec-
trical controls.
John Banks concluded:
“We’ve taken care of our
screw pump installations, but
Lakeside is always there to
help with start-up, and service
if required. They’re a compa-
ny that very much stands by
its equipment, and like us,
thinks about the long term.
We’ve also had good support
from Lakeside’s representa-
tive Templeton & Associates,
based in Suwanee, Georgia.
“We see good grease com-
ing out during our checks,
which means we have good
grease in there for these very
robust screw pumps. This
plays a big part in the continu-
ing smooth-operation of our
plant”.
Lakeside Equipment
Corporation is an engineering
and manufacturing company
concentrating on helping to
improve the quality of our water
resources.
A V-Belt Drive Protects Against
Possible Shock Loads.
EXPRESS WATER
 TECH FOCUS
CUTTER CLEARS CLOGS
While dredging ponds for Sydney Water, the company were faced with pump chokes caused
by accumulated rags.
By Aussie Pumps
Tsurumi C Series Cutter Pump Solves the Ragging Issue When Cleaning Sewage Pits for Dredging Solutions
KEEPING SETTLING
PONDS in optimum condition
without taking the sewage
plant offline represents real
cost savings. Dredging
Solutions from Sydney NSW
are now able to offer this
option due to an innovative
application of a Tsurumi sub-
mersible cutter pump.
While dredging ponds for
Sydney Water, the company
were faced with pump chokes
caused by accumulated rags.
Normal submersible pumps
cannot cope when oversized,
fibrous materials get flushed
into the system. Dredging
Solutions turned to Aussie
Pumps for a suitable cutter
pump to solve the ragging
problem.
Tsurumi, the world’s
leader in submersible pump
development, has produced a
range of cutter pumps, called
the C Series, designed to han-
dle such contaminated waste.
The C series cutter pumps
EXPRESS WATER
chop waste material, includ-
ing rags, thus allowing free
passage through the pump
without clogging.
“Tsurumi’s breakthrough
cutter impeller chops through
sewage, rawhide, plastic, rags
and other materials in sec-
onds,” said Aussie Pumps
Product Manager Neil
Bennett. “We’ve seen various
unmentionables handled by
these extraordinary pumps so
they were an obvious choice
for Dredging Solutions rag-
ging issue,” he said.
The C Series incorporates
a large open channel impeller
with a cutter mechanism. A
sintered tungsten carbide
alloy tip is brazed on the
impeller vane. As the impeller
rotates the vane slices against
the serrated edge of the suc-
tion cover, chopping fibrous
matter into small fragments
that won’t clog.
The 3 phase, heavy duty
pumps range from 50 mm
bore to 100 mm. The largest
pump in the range has an
enormous capacity of 2,750
liters per minute, and a max
head of 26 meters.
“There is a terrific video on
YouTube that shows the
pumps’ cutting ability. It’s
amazing to watch what these
Dredging Solutions Pontoon in Action, Clearing Ponds Without the Need to Take the Sewage Plant Offline.
unique cutters will do. You’ll
never believe it until you see
it,” said Bennett. “The demo
even shows the pump swal-
lowing nylon rope,” he said.
Like all Tsurumi sub-
mersible pumps, the C Series
includes the features that
extend the life and enhance
the reliability of the pump.
Significant design details
make a big difference. They
include an anti-wicking cable
entry that prevents water
from entering the motor if the
power lead is damaged or the
end of the cable is accidentally
submerged.
A double silicon carbide
seal is standard on all models.
Both seal surfaces are sub-
merged in an oil chamber,
away from the pumped liquid.
This ensures lubrication and
protects ingress of foreign
materials.
The oil bath features a
patented ‘Oil Lifter’ that
increases mech seal longevity.
The lifter ensures both the
upper and lower seals are lubri-
cated and cooled, even if the oil
level in the chamber is low.
“We have created a bit of a
buzz within Sydney Water
with how well the new system
is dealing with the rags onsite.
They have a lot of the ponds to
dredge at one time or another,
that are heavily ragged up and
we now have a solution to deal
with it,” said Cameron
Lorimer from Dredging
Solutions. “The cutter pump
coupled with our dredge sys-
tem will allow the cleaning of
the ponds while they remain
online. This is critical to the
ongoing operation of the
plant,” he said.
Australian Pump Industries,
commonly known as Aussie
Pumps, specializes in high-per-
formance, self-priming centrifu-
gal transfer pumps for a wide
range of applications including
firefighting as well as water and
chemical transfer. Aussie Pumps
also manufactures and imports
high-pressure cleaning equip-
ment including cold water
blasters, steam machines and
drain cleaning jetters for trades-
men and cleaning professionals
under the Aussie Eco-Clean
brand.
June, 2018 37
 MUNICIPAL WATER
LEAD IN DRINKING WATER: PAST,
PRESENT,AND FUTURE
Recent events involving lead in drinking water have eroded the public’s trust in drinking water
supplies in some communities. Restoring this trust requires water utilities to improve their
understanding of the complex nature of lead in drinking water.
By Caroline Russell, Philip Brandhuber, and Darren Lytle
Greater Cincinnati Water Works is One of Many Water Utilities Removing Lead Service Lines.
LEAD HAS BEEN used as a
plumbing material for cen-
turies because of its strong,
yet malleable, properties. The
word plumbing is actually
derived from the Latin word
for lead, plumbum. When
present, lead service lines
(LSLs), connecting water
mains beneath streets to resi-
dences or businesses, are the
most significant source of lead
in drinking water.
Lead also has been used as
a component in solder, flux,
galvanized pipe coatings, and
plumbing fixtures and fittings.
Furthermore, it can accumu-
late in downstream interior
38 June, 2018
pipe scales, particularly those
in galvanized pipe, so lead can
occur at customer taps even
when no LSLs are present.
Learning from the fable of
the blind people and the ele-
phant—each person touches a
different part of the animal,
but none sees the whole-water
utilities need to develop pro-
grams that “see” all aspects of
lead. This involves looking at
lead from several perspectives,
including regulations, water
quality, operations, infrastruc-
ture, and communications.
This is the first in a series
of Opflow articles in which
members of AWWA’s
Inorganics/ Inorganic
Contaminants Research com-
mittees will address these
perspectives. Case studies
also will be presented to illus-
trate proven methods to
address lead. This article pro-
vides background on the use
of lead in plumbing materials,
past and current regulations,
and potential future regula-
tions.
Regulating Lead in Drink-
ing Water
US lead pipe installations
decreased significantly after
World War II for economic
and public health reasons. In
1986, the US Environmental
Protection Agency (USEPA)
amended the Safe Drinking
Water Act (SDWA) to prohibit
the use of pipes containing
more than 8 percent lead. The
agency’s Drinking Water
Additives Advisory Program
arose from the 1986 amend-
ments, leading to the develop-
ment of voluntary standards,
such as NSF/ANSI 61,
Drinking Water System
Components-Health Effects.
The agency stated in a 1997
Federal Register notice that
the NSF/ANSI 61 standards
met the program’s intent.
SDWA amendments in
PUBLIC HEALTH
1996 further limited the use of
lead in plumbing components
by expanding the provisions of
the 1986 amendments to
potable water fittings and fix-
tures, allowing only leadfree
pipes, fittings, and fixtures. In
2011, Congress passed the
Reduction of Lead in Drinking
Water Act (RLDWA), reduc-
ing the maximum allowable
lead content in pipes to = 0.25
percent lead in wetted surface
material.
Collectively, the 1986 and
1996 SDWA amendments and
the RLDWA have dramatical-
ly reduced the amount of lead
in plumbing materials
installed in new homes.
However, many older homes
still have lead service lines,
solder, fittings, and fixtures
that were installed before the
leadlimiting regulations were
enacted.
Today, an estimated 6.1 mil-
lion to 10.2 million legacy LSLs
are in place across the United
States. Homes without LSLs,
but which contain fixtures or
solder with low lead levels,
can also be susceptible to lead
release, depending on water
corrosivity.
Lead and Copper Rule
The SDWA amendments
and the RLDWA focus on
reducing lead use in plumbing.
USEPA’s 1991 Lead and
Copper Rule (LCR) and its
subsequent revisions center
on preventing public exposure
to legacy lead in a distribution
system, primarily by reducing
EXPRESS WATER
 MUNICIPAL WATER
Figure 1: Lead Sources in Utility- and Customer-Owned Service Lines and Internal Plumbing. This Figure Shows Typical Jurisdiction, but the Utility
May Own All or None of the Service Line. (Source: Adapted from Customer Service Drives Quest for a Lead-Safe City, Opflow, September 2016,
http://dx.doi.org/10.5991/PF.2016.42.0052)
water corrosivity through cor-
rosion control treatment
(CCT).
The LCR established a
maximum contaminant level
goal (MCLG) of zero for lead
based on adverse effects on
the nervous, cardiovascular,
and reproductive systems as
well as normal growth and
development. MCLGs estab-
lish the concentration at (and
below) which no known health
effects are observed. The
MCLG of zero reflects the fact
no safe lead level exists, par-
ticularly for children.
Compliance requirements
under the LCR are based on a
treatment technique (TT) reg-
ulation, which establishes
actions that must be taken if
lead or copper concentrations
exceed their respective 0.015
mg/L or 1.3 mg/L action levels
(ALs). The lead AL is based on
EXPRESS WATER
USEPA’s assessment of lead
levels at the tap with a first
draw sample that should be
achievable with optimized
corrosion control; higher con-
centrations are used to signal
CCT needs to be revisited.
The copper AL is health-
based.
Table 1 summarizes some
of the key LCR components.
The rule applies to all commu-
nity water systems (CWSs)
and all nontransient, non-
community water systems
(NTNCWSs). The LCR
requires water systems to col-
lect first-draw samples at taps
in homes and buildings select-
ed on a tiered system that pri-
oritizes sampling locations
based on a site’s likelihood to
release elevated lead or cop-
per levels (e.g., properties
with LSLs). The number of
samples is based on system
size. Lead and copper sam-
pling is conducted every six
months unless a system quali-
fies for reduced monitoring.
In addition, water quality
parameters (WQPs) are col-
lected to assess water corro-
sivity and serve as process
control measurements. WQPs
may include pH, temperature,
alkalinity, calcium, conductivi-
ty, orthophosphate (if a phos-
phate-based corrosion
inhibitor is used), and silica (if
a silicate-based inhibitor is
used). Compliance with the
treatment technique is based
on achieving the required
WQPs rather than achieving
90th percentile lead and cop-
per levels below the AL.
The LCR requires all sys-
tems serving more than
50,000 people to install opti-
mal corrosion control treat-
ment (OCCT), which could
PUBLIC HEALTH
Regulatory Impact
According to USEPA, the
number of the nation’s large
water systems with AL
exceedances has been
reduced by more than 90 per-
cent since the LCR’s imple-
mentation. However, several
significant concerns remain
regarding whether existing
regulations are adequately
protecting public water sys-
tem customers from lead
exposure:
• The lead AL isn’t health-
based; rather, it accounts
for treatment abilities and
costs based on the 1991 eval-
uation, along with sampling
protocols.
• Exceeding the AL isn’t a
violation under the LCR.
• Sampling relies on assur-
ances that any water in the
house isn’t used during
stagnation and it’s taken
from a site properly verified
as to tier ranking as well as
from the intended and
approved tap.
• The LCR doesn’t address
the release of elevated par-
ticulate lead episodes asso-
ciated with various physical
and chemical disturbances
or episodes of fluctuating
water quality outside the
specific monitoring period.
• If initial planning for corro-
sion control and ongoing
include adjusting pH or alka- operation isn’t adequate,
linity to reduce water corro- the AL is at best a mecha-
sivity prior to distribution, or nism to detect a problem
adding a phosphate- or sili- after it occurs. Moreover,
catebased corrosion inhibitor. for systems on reduced
Water systems are required to monitoring, the reduction in
revisit their OCCT if the lead sampling frequency and
or copper ALs are exceeded in locations could delay detec-
more than 10 percent of cus- tion of an issue. In the case
tomer taps sampled. If a of Flint, Mich., the compli-
water system continues to fail ance monitoring program
to meet the lead AL after trailed other indicators that
installing and optimizing CCT, corrosion control wasn’t
it must begin replacing lead working, and there was rea-
service lines within its juris- son to be concerned about
diction. Short-term revisions lead release. Reducing lead
to the LCR promulgated in exposure through LSL
2007 require water systems to replacement is challenging.
provide advanced notification Research has shown full
to their primacy agency of LSL replacement is needed
intended changes in source to reliably reduce exposure
water or treatment that could to lead. Because water sys-
increase lead corrosion and to tems typically don’t own the
gain the agency’s approval portion of the LSL past the
before implementing those property boundary (Figure
changes. 1), coordination with home-
June, 2018 39
 MUNICIPAL WATER PUBLIC HEALTH

Rule Component Requirements

Lead and Copper • CWSs and NTNCWSs must collect first-draw samples at taps in homes and buildings at high risk of lead/copper contamination as identi-
Monitoring fied in 40 CFR 141.86(a).
• Number of samples is based on system size.
• Systems must conduct monitoring every 6 months unless they qualify for reduced monitoring.

Water Quality • All systems serving > 50,000 are required to monitor at taps every 6 months (unless a system is on reduced monitoring).
Parameter (WQP) • Systems serving = 50,000 are required to monitor if an AL is exceeded.
Monitoring • WQPs are monitored at entry points to the distribution system every 6 months until CCT is implemented and thereafter every 2 weeks.

Action Level • The LCR mandates a 0.015 mg/L AL for lead and a 1.3 mg/L AL for copper.
• Exceedance is based on > 10% of samples showing lead or copper concentrations above their respective ALs.

Treatment Technique • All large water systems (i.e., serving > 50,000 people) are required to implement CCT.
Requirements • Water systems serving < 50,000 are required to implement CCT if lead concentrations exceed the action level.
• CCT is re-evaluated and optimized in response to AL exceedance.
• Lead service line must be replaced if AL is exceeded after implementing optimized CCT.

Public Notification • Within 30 days of receiving sample results, all systems must provide individual lead tap results to people who receive water from sites that
were sampled, regardless of whether the results exceed the lead AL.
• Education materials must be provided after a lead AL exceedance.
• Lead and copper results must be included in Consumer Confidence Reports (CCRs).
• All CCRs must include information on lead in drinking water.

Table 1: Key LCR Components. The LCR Centers on Preventing Public Exposure to Legacy Lead in a Distribution System Primarily by Reducing Water Corrosivity through CCT. (Source:
Lead and Copper Rule: A Quick Reference Guide, USEPA, 2006, https//nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyPDF.cgi?Dockey=60001N8P.txt)

owners, including home-
owner willingness and abili-
ty to pay for their portion of
LSL replacement, affects
whether a full replacement
can be achieved.
• The current LCR sampling
protocol often doesn’t cap-
ture the highest lead con-
centrations present when
there’s an LSL. For exam-
ple, a study that profiled
lead concentrations in the
Figure 2: Regulations Impacting Lead and Copper Sources and Concentrations in Drinking Water (Regulations and Actions to Reduce Lead Exposure
in Drinking Water Have a Long History, Helping Water Utilities Significantly Reduce Lead Exposure in Drinking Water).
first 16 liters of water drawn
from taps in single and mul-
tifamily homes, collected in
one-liter increments,
showed higher levels of lead
in samples correlated with
longer travel times from the
LSLs to the tap than are
captured via first flush sam-
ples.
• Lead and copper samples
are collected from the same
sites. Higher copper levels
will be associated with
homes that have newer
plumbing instead of the
often older structures tar-
geted for compliance moni-
toring under the LCR.
USEPA Revisions to the
Long-Term LCR
USEPA is planning to
revise the Lead and Copper
Rule, reflecting a years-long
effort, dating back to 1996 dis-
cussions regarding potential
copper revisions as well as a
2004 national review of the
LCR in the wake of elevated
lead levels in Washington, D.C.
In 2014, the National Drinking
Water Advisory Council
(NDWAC), which is a federal
advisory committee created
through an SDWA provision,
formed a Lead and Copper
Rule Working Group
(LCRWG) to advise USEPA
regarding potential LCR revi-
sions. The LCRWG’s recom-
mendations included sugges-
tions regarding LSL replace-
ment, improved CCT, develop-
ment of a healthbased level for
lead, sampling protocols, and
differentiating requirements
to control copper. USEPA is
considering recommenda-
tions from the NDWAC
LCRWG as well as other
stakeholders, an internal
USEPA workgroup, and best
available science as it pre-
pares a proposed rule, which
is scheduled for publication in
2018 (Figure 2).
In a 2016 white paper on
LCR revisions, USEPA high-
lighted that LCR revisions will
include “technology-driven
and health-based elements
that focus on proactive, pre-
ventative actions to avoid high
lead levels and health risks.”
Based on information in the
white paper, the LCR’s TT-
based aspects will be retained
where lead-exposure preven-
tion hinges on CCT, monitor-
ing for realized lead levels,
and public education to mini-
mize lead exposure. It’s also
likely that LSL replacement
will play a more prominent
role in the rule framework. As
Table 2 illustrates, USEPA is

40 June, 2018 EXPRESS WATER

 MUNICIPAL WATER PUBLIC HEALTH

considering options to
enhance those key elements
as well as potentially bolster-
ing them with additional com-
ponents such as a health-
based benchmark.
Moving Forward
According to USEPA, reg-
ulations and actions to reduce
lead exposure in drinking
water, as well as from other
consumer products, has low-
ered the median blood lead
level in children from 15
micrograms per deciliter in
1976–1980 to 1 microgram per
deciliter based on recent data.
However, recent events in
Flint and elsewhere show that
legacy lead in plumbing mate-
rial remains a significant con-
cern in communities across
the United States. USEPA is
considering LCR revisions to
further reduce public expo-
sure to lead in drinking water.
In the interim, water systems
can take actions to prepare for
potential rule revisions and to
proactively reduce lead expo-
sure, including identifying
LSLs, reviewing and optimiz-
ing CCT, strengthening public
education programs, and
developing strategies to fully
remove LSLs in the communi-
ties they serve.
About the Authors
Caroline Russell is with
Carollo Engineers, Austin,
Texas; Philip Brandhuber is
with HDR Engineering, Denver;
and Darren Lytle is with the
US Environmental Protection
Agency, Office of Research and
Development, Cincinnati.
Source: This article original-
ly appeared in the January 2018
issue of Opflow, the water indus-
try’s most popular resource on
operations issues published by
the American Water Works
Association (AWWA). The
award-winning monthly maga-
zine presents new and estab-
lished technologies and ideas
that readers can apply to water
treatment and distribution as
well as wastewater operations.
Opflow is a benefit for members
of AWWAIndia and a valued
resource for water professionals
around the world. To join
AWWAIndia, visit
awwaindia.org. To view the
original article, see
https://doi.org/10.5991/OPF.201
8.44.0001.

LCR Elements for Potential Considerations

Revision

LSL Replacement • Need to update utility distribution system LSL inventory.

• Pace of the LSL replacement program.
• Management of short-term increases in lead levels caused by LSLR.
• Possible prohibition of partial LSLR.
• Funding mechanisms and environmental justice considerations tied to the customer’s ability to pay.

Improved Optimized CCT • Requiring large systems to re-evaluate their systems using any new CCT requirements proposed by the rule.
• Requiring all systems to implement CCT.
• Requiring systems with CCT programs that exceed the lead AL to automatically be required to review and re-optimize CCT, if
justified by the review.

Health-Based Benchmark • Could be based on impacts to life-stage development for children under 6 years of age.
• Benchmark could trigger action at the household level.

Role of Point of Use Filters • Based on success in using POU filters to control tap lead levels in Flint, Mich.
• Filters could be installed in response to:
- Disturbances to LSLs.
- Exceedances to a health-based benchmark.

Strengthened Sampling • Continuing the current practice of “first draw” sampling or alternatively requiring sequential or random daytime household
Requirements sampling.
• Requiring mandatory sampling programs for schools.
• Examining the feasibility of real-time distribution system monitoring of parameters measuring the effectiveness of CCT.

Increased Transparency and
Information Sharing
• Requiring utilities to post all LCR sampling results.
• Shortening time frames for utilities to provide sampling results to consumers.
• Quickening public notification by utilities and primacy agencies of high lead levels.
• Publicly identifying locations of LSLs.
• Publicly providing information about the design and results of lead sampling programs.

Public Education Requirements
• Providing customers with information on how to reduce lead exposure.
• Providing new customers with information on lead risks.
• Performing expanded outreach to vulnerable populations.
• For systems with LSLs:
- Targeted outreach including invitations to customers to have water tested and participate in LSL replacement regardless of
lead levels.
- Notification to customers of emergency or planned maintenance that could disrupt LSLs.
- Providing standard procedures to other utilities to follow when they may disturb LSLs while maintaining their services.

Revised Copper Requirements • Changing LCR monitoring site selection criteria to include sites of greatest risk for copper leaching.
• Establishing criteria for classifying systems with water that is aggressive to copper and systems with water that is not.
• Requiring copper CCT in systems classified as having aggressive water, with periodic testing of systems that are not.

Relationship With Broader Lead • USEPA states that it will “continue to work with federal, state and local partners to reduce lead risks in all contaminated media.”
Issues

Table 2: USEPA Elements for Potential LCR Revision. USEPA is Considering Options to Enhance Key LCR Elements As Well As Bolstering Them with Potential Additional Components.

EXPRESS WATER June, 2018 41

 OUT OF THE BOX
All That Does Not Glitter is Also Gold -
Sewage is an Asset,Not a Liability
To enhance sustainability, Zero Sewage Discharge STPs must be initiated and encouraged in
India at the moment. Resource recovery from the treatment process is at the heart of this
concept. The treated wastewater has a lot of potential to be recycled and reused.
By VA Tech WABAG Limited
THE GOVERNMENT OF India has
been working to enhance the sanitation
coverage with an intent to improve the
social and economic spheres of our
times.
The flagship schemes of the Central
government have been focusing on car-
rying out river cleaning programmes,
at the heart of which is increasing the
percentage of sewage treated and
reducing the untreated discharge of
sewage.
This entails integrating sustainable
technologies for effective sewage man-
agement; all these being clear initia-
tives which have been promoted in the
forward-looking policies of the Central
Government.
According to the data released in
the report “Inventorization of Sewage
treatment plants, 2015” by the Central
Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the
available treatment capacity is only for
37% of the total 62,000 MLD (million
liters per day) of sewage which is gen-
erated in urban India.
With the tremendous rise in popula-
42 June, 2018
tion coupled with rapid urbanization,
the paramount task at hand is to fast-
track the construction of sewer net-
works to ensure maximum collection
and minimum discharge of untreated
sewage and setting up of efficient
Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) with
reliable and sustainable processes to
ensure efficient sewage management.
To enhance sustainability, Zero
Sewage Discharge STPs must be initi-
ated and encouraged in India at the
moment. Resource recovery from the
treatment process is at the heart of this
concept.
The treated wastewater has a lot of
potential to be recycled and reused.
With increase in the percentage of
sewage treated, we also need to
address the issue of sludge manage-
ment.
First, the sludge can be thickened
and subjected to anaerobic digesters to
produce methane gas. This methane,
with its high calorific value, can run the
Biogas Engine which generates elec-
tricity for the entire plant, thus making
savings in operating expenditure (50-
60%) can be achieved & a payback peri-
od of 3-4 years can be expected.
This is lucrative considering sewage
treatment projects under the Namami
Gange program are slated to have a 15
year operations period.
Second, the fully digested sludge is
ideal for reuse and can be utilized as a
valuable fertilizer for agriculture.
Thus, the entire sewage is com-
pletely reprocessed, resulting in no dis-
charge while simultaneously yielding
multiple benefits (hence the name Zero
Sewage Discharge STP).
By opting for such a resource recov-
ery model, we not only achieve conser-
vation of energy & environment, but
also help promoters avail carbon cred-
it self-sustainable. its.
This eliminates the hassles of inter- Such power neutral STPs are cur-
mittent power derived from the grid rently in the nascent stage with time-
which can affect the biological process- tested references across India and
es at the plant. would be the way forward considering
Such an ingenious concept also Government notifications which are
helps transform the sewage treatment promoting this concept.
process into a revenue-generating According to the Ministry of New
option. and Renewable Energy (MNRE), there
By putting in place a system to gen- exists a potential of about 1700 MW
erate green power from sludge, greater from urban waste (1500 from MSW
According to the data released in the report
“Inventorization of Sewage treatment plants,
2015” by the Central Pollution Control Board
(CPCB), the available treatment capacity is
only for 37% of the total 62,000 MLD (million
liters per day) of sewage which is generated
in urban India.
EXPRESS WATER
 OUT OF THE BOX

Recently, WABAG executed

and 225 MW from sewage) and about vides capital subsidy and Grants-in-Aid
1300 MW from industrial waste. The for projects which includes power gen-
ministry is also actively promoting the eration from biogas at Sewage
generation of energy from waste by Treatment Plant or through bio-
providing subsidies and incentives for methanation of urban and agricultural
the projects. waste.
Central Financial Assistance pro- These plants are entitled to a sub-
sidy of INR 2.00 crore/MW or bio-CNG
from 12000 m3 biogas/day (Max INR
5.00 crore/project).
There are time-tested and success-
ful case studies in India which testify to
the viability of power neutral STPs.
The biological The State Government of Tamil
Nadu has been pro-actively looking to
Sewage Treatment tackle problems surrounding sewage
Plant (STP) at and its disposal using smart solutions
over the last decade.
Kodungaiyur, In 2004, VA Tech WABAG was
Chennai handles 110 entrusted with the turnkey realization
of a new biological sewage treatment
MLD (million liters plant at Kodungaiyur, located in the
per day) of sewage. northern periphery of Chennai City.
The plant handles 110 MLD (million
Its treatment process liters per day) of sewage and the treat-
is based on activated ment process is based on activated
sludge process with anaerobic sludge
sludge process with digestion and biogas utilization by
anaerobic sludge means of a power plant based on the
gas engine (capacity 1,317 KVA).
After commissioning in 2006,
WABAG also assumed responsibility
for operations & maintenance of the
plant for a period of 10 years.
It is the largest plant of its kind in
India and the most energy efficient one
among the 9 STPs in Chennai - achiev-
ing 98% self-sufficiency in terms of
power consumption.
Comprehensive technical and eco-
nomic know-how of WABAG has guar-
anteed efficient project realization and
a highly commendable operations
phase of the plant for over a decade.
The Kodungaiyur STP has the dis-
tinction of completing maximum hours
of run time with a single gas engine,
which has run successfully for 78,843
hours, producing 45036 MWh over the
last 11 years.
The way forward would be to fast-
track implementation of the
Government policies promoting the
generation of electricity from biogas
and build more such power neutral
STPs.
This is also in line with our
Honorable PM’s vision to create a
Karnataka’s first power neutral
STP, entrusted by Bangalore Water
Supply and Sewerage Board
(BWSSB). The plant with a capaci-
ty to treat 60 MLD of sewage, locat-
ed in K&C Valley, was designed and
built with power generation process
from biogas, thus making the plant
eligible under Renewable Energy
Certificates (RECs) policy mecha-
nism. The plant is based on an acti-
vated sludge process with biological
nutrient removal system and has a 1
MW biogas Engine installed in it for
green power generation. The flag-
ship power neutral STP was inau-
gurated by the Honorable CM of
Karnataka in mid-2017.
lower carbon renewable energy future.
Establishing the Zero Sewage
Discharge concept comprehensively in
India will ensure the successful realiza-
tion of a “Swachh Bharat”.
VA Tech WABAG
Around the world, the WABAG name
stands for innovative and successful solu-
tions in the water engineering sector. As
an internationally respected expert group,
WABAG is a systems specialist and full
service-provider with a focus on the plan-
ning, installation, and operation of drink-
ing and wastewater plants for local gov-
ernment and industry in the growth mar-
kets of Asia, North Africa, Middle East,
the Central and Eastern Europe.
The WABAG Group represents a lead-
ing multinational player with a workforce
of over 1,600 and has companies and
offices in more than 20 countries. It dis-
poses of unique technological know-how,
based on innovative, patented technolo-
gies and long-term experience. Since 1995,
WABAG has completed over 900 water
and wastewater plants worldwide.

digestion and biogas

utilization by means
of a power plant
based on the gas
engine (capacity
1,317 KVA). It is the
largest plant of its
kind in India and
achieves 98% self-
sufficiency in terms
of power
consumption.

EXPRESS WATER June, 2018 43

 URBAN WATER
Sustainable Earth: The Role of Urban
Water Management
By Ajitabh Sharma
Sustainable Development
and Triple Bottom Line
The principle of sustain-
ability of growth and develop-
ment intersects three basic
systems- the economic, social
and the ecological system. All
three systems are interdepen-
dent and interconnected.
To exemplify it further:
industrial development, when
evaluated in isolation may
reflect positive economic sce-
nario, like, increase in GDP
and per capita income. But,
when looked holistically the
picture might be contrasting,
wherein, the social and the
ecological systems get
adversely impacted because of
the widening inequality in the
ownership of wealth and envi-
ronmental degradation respec-
tively. Such a growth model
would not be sustainable as it
is not leading to the desired
goal of social equity and, envi-
ronmental and ecological pro-
tection for the intergenera-
tional holistic well-being.
Sustainable development is
a scenario where economic,
social and environmental ben-
44 June, 2018
efits are maximized within the
given set of constraints.
Implying that, for a given
activity or a project economic,
social and environmental costs
and benefits are balanced for
optimization of overall benefit.
To illustrate: for a given
multipurpose irrigation proj-
ect, the new command area
created, additional drinking
water availability and power
generation are economic bene-
fits. Whereas, displacement of
villagers and loss of livelihood
has its own social implications.
Furthermore, submergence of
large tracts of culturable land,
extinction of local biodiversity
due to impounding of water,
reduction in ecosystem servic-
es rendered by the tamed river
and other adverse environ-
mental impacts carry huge
ecological costs, which are
mostly ignored in project eval-
uation exercises.
To determine sustainability
aspect of such projects, social
and ecological implications are
to be exhaustively analyzed
and translated into monetary
terms using the tools such as
Environmental Impact
Assessment and Social Impact
Assessment studies. All three
dimensions of costs and bene-
fits are thus calculated and
balanced among each other to
determine the sustainability of
the project for taking the final
decision by the policy-makers.
In financial terms, the oper-
ations of a firm which are con-
ventionally measured in mone-
tary terms only, need to also
internalize the social and envi-
ronmental externalities, and
incorporate them in its balance
sheet to represent the true and
fair picture of the business
operations. This concept, now
defined as 'triple bottom line'
is utilized by many businesses
to assess the outcome of a
development project on three
dimensions of economic, social
and environmental equity.
Reforms in business
accounting standards for
adopting triple bottom line
principle will bring in more
transparency to the people
impacted by actions of a busi-
ness venture or a development
program and empower them
for making informed decisions.
It will further assist the
prospective investors in chan-
nelizing their capital wisely to
the programs having better
chances of achieving the goal
of sustainable development.
Circular Economy & Water
Improving the triple bot-
tom line of a business venture
requires life cycle analysis of
the output product in conjunc-
tion with the social and envi-
ronmental impacts of the busi-
ness operations. Under the life
cycle analysis, the market
costs as well as the hidden
costs of the product, from the
stage of production to con-
sumption to disposal, are iden-
tified and analyzed.
In a Circular Economy: To
minimize the adverse impact
of a business activity on the
society and the environment,
and the usage of natural
resources; wastage is reduced
by reusing resources in a cyclic
manner and releasing the least
possible effluents into the air,
water, and land. Wastage in the
production process is mini-
mized by using alternative
methods resulting in less
amount of water and energy
consumption. Wealth from
waste is the underlying theme
in a circular economy. Supply
chain diagnostics is an effi-
cient method for transitioning
from linear to a circular econo-
my.
The circular economy has
been advocated as one of the
most critical pillars of sustain-
able development. Water as a
resource plays a vital role in
the supply chain of most eco-
nomic, social and ecological
actions. Hence, managing
water prudently across the
ecosystem is crucial for
achieving the goal of a circular
economy, and in-turn the goal
of sustainable development
and sustainable earth.
To add further, considering
the integral role which water
plays in the development
process, the United Nations
has identified the water-food-
energy and climate nexus to be
a key principle behind sustain-
able development. But unfor-
tunately, water is fraught with
challenges, which might put
the whole nexus under threat,
with the urban water compo-
nent being the weakest link in
the chain.
The Impending Urban Wa-
ter Crisis
According to a UN report
(2014), 2.5 billion more people
will be added to the world pop-
ulation between 2014 to 2050,
making the proportional share
of the urban population 66 per-
cent of the total population by
2050. The world population
will reach 9.3 billion by 2050,
6.3 billion of which will be liv-
ing in urban areas. Highest
urban population growth will
occur in China, India, and
Nigeria. These three countries
will account for 37 percent of
the global urban growth.
With increasing urban pop-
ulation, pressure on water,
food, energy and other natural
resources will expand geomet-
rically, challenging the quality
provision of services and sus-
tainability of resource con-
sumption. If not managed effi-
ciently, this would further
exacerbate the adverse impact
on the environment and the
ecosystem.
Soaring population will
increase per capita consump-
tion, putting immense pres-
sure on water resources in
urban and peri-urban areas,
consequently straining the
environment if the water use
cycle is not managed efficient-
ly.
Globally, irrigation is a
major water guzzler, average
70 percent of water is used for
agricultural purposes. As per
the UNDP 2006 report, with
the growing urbanization and
further increase in peri-urban
irrigation, and with the
demand for domestic and
industrial water consumption
expected to double by 2050 in
the increasingly urbanizing
economies, the water quantity,
quality, and sanitation will
present itself as the most criti-
cal urban challenges in the
coming decades. This would
further make the task of
achieving the SDG 6, providing
clean water and sanitation;
and SDG 11, making cities
inclusive, resilient and sustain-
able, more daunting for the
policy-makers.
Increased consumption of
water in urban areas will also
increase wastewater genera-
EXPRESS WATER
 URBAN WATER
tion, further impacting the
quality of surface and ground-
water resources, and conse-
quently threatening the
already dismal state of sanita-
tion services in most of the
local bodies.
Characterization of Urban
Water Challenges
Water sustains life. It is an
inextricable component for the
production of food for human
survival. It is a vital con-
stituent for the rendering of
ecosystem services, and a driv-
er for most developmental and
majority of outdoor recre-
ational activities. Any type of
water-related crisis situation-
scarcity, abundance, quality,
water-induced disaster events,
urban flooding, has the poten-
tial to put human life and
growth under acute crisis.
Pre-empting the crisis situ-
ation necessitates characteri-
zation of the impending prob-
lem. The urban component
being the most primary ele-
ment of holistic water manage-
ment calls for priority atten-
tion of the policy-makers and
other actors in the sector.
The urban water crisis has
multiple facets. First, the
sprawling urban areas and the
burgeoning population are put-
ting acute pressure on limited
freshwater resources. If not
managed effectively, provision
of water and sanitation servic-
es would become more difficult
than ever to render.
Second, excessive ground-
water abstraction is adversely
impacting the natural water
cycle.
Third, shortage of sanita-
tion and sewerage systems are
resulting in the discharge of
untreated or inadequately
treated wastewater in natural
water bodies causing health
and environmental risks.
Fourth, improper solid
waste management and
unplanned urban land develop-
ment are increasing the occur-
rence of urban flood events.
Fifth, poor stormwater
management and drainage sys-
tems are impacting the live-
ability and also causing eco-
nomic losses to the citizens
and the local bodies.
EXPRESS WATER
Sixth, the overstretched
and aging infrastructure is
unable to meet the demand of
various competing sectors.
Seventh, capital investment
for the creation of new, and
retrofitting of old water infra-
structure is not commensurate
with the financial requirement
of the water utilities.
Eighth, climate change
impact is increasing the vul-
nerability and unpredictability
of the existing urban water
resources.
Ninth, absence of proper
regulatory and institutional
framework is the primary
cause of the fragmented
approach towards inefficient
urban water management.
The Solution: Integrated
Urban Water Management
(IUWM)
As explained above, urban
water management is a
process full of complexities.
The traditional approach of
management is the linear one-
focussing more on the creation
of new supply support systems
and distribution networks,
usage of water, its onward
treatment and the last point
discharge into the ecosystem.
The traditional linear
approach is not sustainable as
opposed to the approach of cir-
cular management.
The business as usual
approach is fragmented,
where less or no attention is
paid towards interconnected-
ness and interdependence of
urban planning and develop-
ment process, with the urban
water management plan.
Integrated Urban Water
Management (IUWM) seeks to
integrate three distinct com-
ponents of planning and imple-
mentation mechanisms, which
are, first, urban water services
including water supply, waste-
water treatment, sewerage
services, stormwater manage-
ment, sanitation services, solid
waste disposal, demand-side
management, reducing non-
revenue water and conserva-
tion and efficiency measures.
Second, aquifer and water-
shed management, which
includes the hydraulic and
hydrologic aspects of the
urban and peri-urban limits.
Third, urban planning and
development, which broadly
includes: urban landscaping,
urban floodplain zoning, keep-
ing urban construction in tan-
dem with the natural flow of
the water cycle, rainwater har-
vesting both rooftop as well by
increased infiltration by pro-
tecting the permeable areas in
the city sprawl.
IUWM is rooted deep in the
concept of Integrated Water
Resources Management and
works on the principle of not
simply using, but managing,
water as a resource. It works
on the principle of using alter-
native water resources such as
fit-for-purpose treated waste-
water, greywater, stormwater,
harvested rainwater and
desalinated water, besides
fresh surface water and
groundwater resources.
The Three ‘R’
Environmental Slogan:
Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, is
one of the themes of urban
water management also.
Technological interventions
and communication cam-
paigns are core to water con-
servation and efficiency meas-
ures, both, indoor at the
domestic and institutional
level and outdoor at the utility
level. Nutrient and energy
recovery from wastewater has
a huge potential of turning
environmental and health
risks into opportunities for the
water utilities.
IUWM connects the quality
of the water with its potential
usage. It seeks to plan in an
integrated manner various
sources of water and using
recycled water again and again
for different purposes like agri-
culture, urban landscaping,
domestic washing, flushing,
makeup water for cooling tow-
ers, washing of streets, and
thus utilizing water in a closed
loop making it an essential
component of a circular econo-
my.
The urban watershed and
catchment development for
the protection of natural water
resources and reservoirs is
integrated with an urban
development plan. Urban land
zoning is based on the funda-
mentals of capturing stormwa-
ter, keeping the drainage basin
uninterrupted to mitigate the
urban flood situation and
reducing the pollution load to
the water reservoirs. The vul-
nerability is reduced by scien-
tific surface water and ground-
water co-management as a
part of an overall strategy.
IUWM incorporates the
interdependencies and inter-
connectedness of several insti-
tutions working in the water
sector policy space. It seeks to
create harmony between
water resources management
and urban planning resulting
into synergistic outcomes of
increased water supply, better
sanitation, a cleaner environ-
ment, improved ecosystem
services, reduced urban flood
situations, efficient stormwa-
ter management, better recre-
ational facilities, and improved
livability and feel good factor.
It is imperative for the
water utilities to have a mind-
set shift from single-option
solution of heavy infrastruc-
ture investments for water
scarcity problems, towards
exploring mixed solutions
involving decentralised sys-
tems, on-site sanitation solu-
tions, nature-based systems,
treatment up to fit-for-purpose
standards, direct use of treat-
ed water for non-potable and
ecosystem services, and indi-
rect use for potable purposes.
With clearly laid standards
many countries are using
treated wastewater for agri-
cultural purpose, converting
the environmental threat to an
opportunity for employment
generation and food security.
IUWM envisages and
endeavors for economic effi-
ciency, social equity, and envi-
ronmental sustainability. It
seeks to create a coordinated
environment of the existing
formal and informal institu-
tions like urban water utilities,
urban land planning depart-
ment, water resources depart-
ment, sanitation agencies, cli-
mate change mitigation and
adaptation strategy formulat-
ing bodies, pollution control
and environmental protection
agencies, non-governmental
organisations, and the commu-
nity at the forefront, with
extensive participation of
media for awareness and com-
munication. The role of scien-
tists and academics is also
given due importance for
research and advocacy of
water management.
Capacity building of institu-
tions, water engineers and
managers is essential for effi-
cient application of diagnostic
methods and tools for success-
ful implementation of IUWM.
Conclusion
The goal of a sustainable
earth is embedded in sustain-
able water management.
Integrated Urban Water
Management although not a
panacea, but, is inevitable for
the new paradigm of sustain-
able cities.
To achieve the goal of
water-wise cities, effective
advocacy for water steward-
ship, spreading the sense of
water conservation and usage
of technology for efficient use
of water, at the citizen and the
institutional level, is impera-
tive.
There is all likelihood of
world’s many cities slipping
into Day Zero situation similar
to Cape Town in future. There
are multiple stakeholders in
water management, individu-
als, groups, institutions, gov-
ernments and the biophysical
ecosystem itself. The Day Zero
situation and its dreadful con-
sequences are a clarion call
mandating early individual
and collective action across
the globe to mitigate the ensu-
ing water crisis situation.
Integrated Urban Water
Management is certainly the
way forward for our cities, to
continue their journey as
growth engines of human civi-
lization in future.
About the Author
Ajitabh Sharma, IAS, is
currently working as Secretary
to Government in Animal
Husbandry, Dairying, Fisheries
and Gopalan Department with
the State Government of
Rajasthan, India. He has done B.
Tech. from IIT Delhi and has
seven years’ experience in the
water and natural resources
management.
June, 2018 45
 APPLICATION
Guided Wave Radar Level Measurement Reduces
Costs,Improves Accuracyin Wastewater Applications
Precise level measurement in the wastewater holding tanks is equally important when
environmental regulatory compliance is on the line, and GWR level is often the most efficient
and cost-effective technology for that application.
By Sumant Juvekar
GUIDED WAVE RADAR
(GWR) level measurement is
frequently associated with
large tank farms and applica-
tions where precision level
analysis is crucial to custody
transfer or prevention of
explosions or fires. But pre-
cise level measurement in
wastewater holding tanks is
equally important when envi-
ronmental regulatory compli-
ance is on the line, and GWR
level is often the most efficient
and cost-effective technology
for that application.
Under stable storage con-
ditions, some contents may
enter the holding tank at high-
er temperatures and then
cool. In the parts of the noz-
zles or stilling wells exposed
to ambient conditions, heavy
condensation or freezing of
the material may occur on the
instrumentation, potentially
impacting level measurement.
Because of accessibility rea-
sons, only top-down level
technologies can be used,
such as mechanical level
gauges or radars. Most plants
with wastewater holding
tanks will be faced with this
choice.
In such applications,
mechanical level gauges have
46 June, 2018
the following limitations:
• Mechanical parts such as
floats get stuck due to coat-
ing
• Ice forms in nozzles
because of condensate
freezing
• Accuracy is low due to
changing product proper-
ties such as density
• An increased number of
cables are used when trans-
ducers and transmitters
have separate housings and
terminals
• They require frequent
maintenance
GWR technology provides
a versatile, reliable solution:
• No mechanical parts
• Less sensitive to ice forma-
tion
• Accuracy independent of
product properties
• Integral probe-transmitter
solution
• Virtually maintenance-free
GWR is based on
microwave technology.
Microwaves are only affected
by materials that reflect ener-
gy, which means that temper-
ature variations, dust, pres-
sure, and viscosity do not
affect accuracy - an important
factor in challenging waste-
water holding tanks. In most
wastewater processes, vary-
ing conditions are common,
especially regarding tempera-
ture, density, and viscosity.
Variations in level measure-
ment can easily occur under
these conditions, but the
GWR technology is unaffected
by these changes. The device
does not need to compensate
for changes in density, dielec-
tric, or conductivity in the
fluid, which makes this top-
down measurement very
robust.
When measuring tank lev-
els, the GWR device sends a
low-energy microwave pulse
down a probe. When the pulse
hits the media, a significant
proportion of the energy is
reflected back up the probe to
the device. The level is direct-
ly proportional to the time-
domain reflectometry.
GWR can also use a pro-
portion of the emitted pulse
that continues down the probe
to detect an interface between
two liquids. The ability to
measure surface level and
interface level between two
liquids is particularly useful in
wastewater applications that
can potentially have more
than one liquid (water mixed
with other liquids).
One example is oil on
water. When microwaves hit
the oil surface, some are Rosemount 3308 Level Wireless Transmitter - Guided
reflected and some continue
through the oil. The reflected tric (80) and any other liquid dielectric constant of 1. Oil is
microwaves provide the level floating on top of water can be approximately 2, and water
reading and the microwaves expected to typically have a around 80. A dielectric con-
that continue through the oil much lower dielectric con- stant below 1.5 is often chal-
will be reflected on the water stant. Therefore, this kind of lenging to measure, so pro-
surface, providing the inter- application makes it a very cessing facilities should look
face reading. good fit for level and interface for high-sensitivity guided
One of the criteria for detection by guided wave wave radar level transmitters,
measuring levels of two liq- radar. which are able to handle such
uids is that there should be a Note, however, the higher challenges.
sufficient difference in dielec- the dielectric constant, the The win/win, of course, is
tric constants (wave reflecting stronger the reflection of the that with just one device,
capability) between the liq- microwaves. Vacuum gives no wastewater treatment facili-
uids. Water has a high dielec- reflection at all and has a ties can measure both level
EXPRESS WATER
 APPLICATION
Rosemount 5300 Level Transmitter - Guided Wave
and interface - saving time
and money.
GWR isn’t a total panacea
for wastewater processing
facilities, however - it is a con-
tacting level measurement
technology that uses a probe
touching the process liquid.
Wastewater sometimes can
have a lot of solid particles
mixed in that could coat the
probe. Excess coating on the
probe can affect level meas-
urement and will require fre-
quent cleaning, so the possibil-
ity of probe coating and main-
tenance needs to be evaluated
before choosing GWR for
wastewater applications. A
smart way to predict the
maintenance need for GWR is
signal quality metrics - which
are quality values based on
clever radar algorithms, cal-
culating how the signal quality
is affected by, for instance,
contamination - in order to
provide an early warning for
the operator.
An example of the effective
use of GWR in wastewater
treatment comes from a
chemical plant in Japan. As
with many wastewater plants,
EXPRESS WATER
the wastewater at this plant is
discharged from each manu-
facturing process into the pits,
and is then biologically treat-
ed and discharged to the pub-
lic water area. The intermedi-
ate treatment liquid remains
in the pits, and since the con-
Microwaves are only affected by
materials that reflect energy, which
means that temperature
variations, dust, pressure, and
viscosity do not affect accuracy -
an important factor in challenging
wastewater holding tanks.
tents are waste liquid, leakage
from the underground pits
can contaminate groundwater
and soil, violating environ-
mental regulations and
prompting significant fines.
Japanese law requires reg-
ular inspections of the tanks
for soundness and safety.
Emptying the pits is extreme-
ly difficult, so this company,
like many others, conducts
regular “water logging”
inspections. During these
inspections, the pits are filled
with water and left for a peri-
od of time, after which any
decrease in the water level is
measured using a level gauge
and recorder. A significant
problem, however, occurs
because several steps of the
wastewater treatment
process need to be stopped
completely during these
inspections, delaying produc-
tion. Therefore, the inspec-
tions must be performed as
quickly as possible without
raising costs or sacrificing
accuracy. It was because of
these demands that the chem-
ical company decided on guid-
ed wave radar. Originally
using level gauges, the inspec-
tion of the company’s four pits
took two full days. After the
installation of GWR, inspec-
tion time was reduced by 75
percent, and most significant-
ly, inspections now only need
to take place once a year - a
dramatic cost saving.
When considering the use
of GWR for interface level
measurements, wastewater
facilities need to consider
these factors:
• The lower dielectric fluid
must be on the top
• The dielectric difference of
two liquids must be at least
six
• The upper dielectric must
be known, and it should be a
fixed value
• For the interface to be
Rosemount 3300 Level Transmitter - Guided Wave
detected, the upper fluid
layer must be = 13 cm
• Target applications, upper
layer dielectric (< 3) and
lower layer dielectric (> 20)
For the Japanese chemical
company, GWR proved to be a
significant improvement over
the previous test devices
because of its accuracy and
minimum maintenance. They
compounded their advantages
by choosing to use wireless
technology for the installa-
tion. Because the transmitter
is wireless, the original instal-
lation costs were low. In addi-
tion, transmitter locations can
be easily changed, if neces-
sary. The WirelessHART™
technology is unaffected by
obstacles - which is especially
important in an unpredictable
environment like wastewater
holding tanks. Their wireless
technology is designed as a
self-organizing network based
on the IEC 62591
WirelessHART standard. The
device is self-healing, secure,
robust, and endlessly config-
urable. The mesh technology
offers a data reliability of
more than 99 percent that
ensures an interoperable,
adaptive, and flexible
approach. For the Japanese
company, using a digital signal
- rather than 4-20 mA analog -
to the DCS improved the
repeatability from 5mm to
2mm. Because the inspection
time is reduced by 75 percent,
the cost totaled less than 50
percent of the original level
gauges, resulting in savings of
$9,000. The new system also
reduced the number of inspec-
tion hours needed from 22
down to 5.5 and reduced the
downtime of the wastewater
treatment facility saving an
estimated $27,000 per year.
Obviously, every waste-
water treatment facility must
evaluate their level measure-
ment requirements based on
individual parameters, but in
many holding tank applica-
tions, the use of guided wave
radar is a cost-saving, accura-
cy-enhancing choice.
About the Author
Sumant Juvekar is the Sr.
Senior Business Development
Manager, Rosemount Level at
Emerson Automation Solutions.
Emerson, headquartered in
St. Louis, Missouri (USA), is a
global technology and engineer-
ing company providing innova-
tive solutions for customers in
industrial, commercial, and res-
idential markets. Its Emerson
Automation Solutions business
helps the process, hybrid, and
discrete manufacturers maxi-
mize production, protect person-
nel and the environment while
optimizing their energy and
operating costs. The Emerson
Commercial and Residential
Solutions business helps ensure
human comfort and health, pro-
tect food quality and safety,
advance energy efficiency, and
create sustainable infrastruc-
ture.
June, 2018 47
 SMART WATER
Smart Wastewater/ Sewerage
Treatment For Smart India
By Raveendra Bhat and Rajul Mehrotra
chemical properties of waste-
water gives rise to public
health issues and affects the
environment. Hence, it is nec-
essary that India should opt
for wastewater treatment that
is consistent, low on mainte-
nance and can handle the
wastewater flow variation.
In traditional STP, Sewage
enters the Sewage Treatment
Plant (STP) and goes through
the Screens and Fine Screens
which prevents entry of large
solid particles; such as plastic
cups, paper dishes, polythene
bags, etc. from entering aera-
tion tank. But sometimes
Figure 1: Traditional Wastewater/ Sewerage Treatment (STP) Approach these particles pass through
the screens and will cause
URBANIZATION HAS basis, be it flush-latrines, in operations. So, only 35% of wear and tear of pumps &
ENCOURAGED the migra- bathing, washing clothes, wastewater is treated at machinery reducing treat-
tion of people from villages to utensils, etc. This generates a acceptable levels and the ment efficiency of the
the urban areas in India. From significant amount of waste- remaining untreated sewage Activated Sludge Process. It
the point of view to improve water. As per CPCB 2015 esti- is released in rivers and lakes, is, generally, observed that
the standard of living, water- mates, wastewater generated leading to water pollution and mechanical screens installed
supply has been established in in urban India is around 62 same water is used as drink- in STPs are out of order, main-
most of the cities/towns and million m3/d, whereas treat- ing source few km away. ly because of poor mainte-
even in some villages over ment capacity is around 23.3 Though India is now looking nance and high cost.
past three decades. Tons of million m3/d. There are 800 forward to the reuse of waste- The water passing through
water is being used on daily wastewater treatment plants water, the inconsistency in the the Screens enters the Grit
Removal Chamber. Grit
includes sand, gravel, cinder,
or other heavy solid materials
that are “heavier” (higher spe-
cific gravity) than the organic
biodegradable solids in the
wastewater which are sepa-
rated in this chamber. In the
next step, the water is either
sent to a “Primary Clarifier”
where the organic and inor-
ganic solids are settled out of
water due to gravity or direct-
ly sent to the Activated Sludge
Process (ASP) for secondary
treatment.
The ASP removes the
biodegradable organic matter,
nutrients, TSS, pathogens and
heavy metals. Typically, the
Figure 2: Smart Wastewater/ Sewerage Treatment conventional ASP occurs in 2
48 June, 2018
stages:
Aeration: The aeration tank
consists of diffused aeration
system and blowers. Diffusers
provide oxygen to bacteria for
treating organic and inorganic
compounds. Oxygen is needed
by bacteria to allow biodegra-
dation to occur. The supplied
oxygen is utilized by bacteria
in the wastewater to break
down the organic matter con-
taining carbon to form carbon
dioxide and water. Without
the presence of sufficient oxy-
gen, bacteria cannot biode-
grade the incoming organic
matter in a reasonable time.
Secondary Clarifier: It
allows liquid and solids sepa-
ration of biomass solids in the
Mixed Liquor (biomass slur-
ry), coming out of the aeration
tank and settling to the bot-
tom of clarifier. The clarified
liquid is then sent to tertiary
stage of treatment in the form
of filtration or directly to the
disinfection stage of the plant.
The conventional ASP pro-
vides one of the highest
degrees of treatment of waste-
water. However, it has some
challenges - one of it being the
requirement of a larger foot-
print. ASP plants are typically
costly to construct as they
occupy substantial land areas.
The treated effluent from
the secondary treatment is
sent to tertiary treatment in
the form of Gravity Sand
Filter, if required to trap and
trace the amount of solids that
escape the clarifiers. The
Gravity sand filters needs
higher maintenance as the
sand media might degrade
over a period of time. After
tertiary treatment, the efflu-
ent is given a dose of Chlorine
for disinfection. Chlorine is
EXPRESS WATER
 SMART WATER
Advanced SBR (Ex. XYLEM ICEAS Advanced SBR)
actually an efficient disinfec-
tor but also produces bi-prod-
ucts like THMs
(Trihalomethanes) which
leads to Cancer. Other major
problems faced by WWTPs in
India are Power Supply and
Consumption and Cost of
operating the STP. On an
average Wastewater treat-
ment plants are consume 2 -
3% of electrical power annual-
ly in a developing nation.
STPs require continuous
power supply to function
properly. Power supply
remains a major hindrance for
STPs as erratic power sup-
plies affect the amount of
sewage treated on a regular
basis. STPs which have a
treatment capacity of more
than 200 MLD require 1
megawatt of power supply. In
India, where more than 50
million homes still have no
access to electricity, continu-
ously supplying 1 megawatt of
power to STPs is a big task.
When the CPCB surveyed 84
STPs in 2010, it was found
that only 8 of them had contin-
uous power supply. The rest
were dependent on inade-
quate power supply lasting for
12, 14 or 18 hours a day. Setting
up a sewage treatment plant is
a costly affair. The CPCB esti-
mates that the conventional
cost for an STP comes to Rs. 1
crore per million liters daily
Disk Filters (Ex. Xylem Leopold Ultrascreen Disk Filter)
EXPRESS WATER
reduce the complexity of oper-
ation. Unlike conventional
activated sludge plants, there
is no need for primary or sec-
ondary settlement tanks or
return sludge pumps. All
treatment is done in a single
basin. It is continuous in flow,
distributes variations in flows
and loads evenly across all
basins - simplifying day to day
operations and operational
changes as well as accommo-
(MLD). This means that an dating single basin operation
STP with the capacity of for low flow and maintenance
treating 300 MLD of sewage conditions.
will require Rs. 300 crore to An advanced SBR is able to
be set up. It must be noted handle flows from 1 MLD to
that this is just the set up cost. 300 MLD. The process also
Additional costs in installation effectively removes nitrogen
of an STP include provisions and phosphorus from waste-
of power supply, installation of water through Biological
power generators and employ- Nutrient Removal (BNR)
ing staff. Apart from these, process. The main focus
the maintenance of a medium should be put upon producing
sized STP (with a treatment cost-saving water technolo-
capacity of minimum 100 gies that use less energy
MLD) requires an approxi- throughout the lifetime of the
mate amount between Rs. 70 project by not only using high-
lakh to Rs. 2 crore annually. ly efficient aeration grids and
STPs set up by both Union blower technology but also
and state governments have cutting-edge controls and
to bear the brunt of these instrumentation which use
expenses, as churning out innovative algorithms to con-
such large amount every year trol the aeration and process,
becomes difficult for state minimizing energy use by up
governments. This results in to 50%. With its continuous
many STPs to lower their
sewage treatment capacity,
due to unavailability of enough
funds. Due to unavailability of
funds, many STP’s are forced
to lower down their sewage
treatment capacity.
Smart Wastewater/ Sew-
erage Treatment Wastewater Quality Monitoring
S m a r t Sensor (Ex. Xylem WTW
Wa s t e w a t e r / S e w e r a g e Wastewater Quality Sensors)
Treatment leverages the
advanced SBR (Sequencing inflow distribution technology,
Batch Reactor) for the the peak load is spread across
Activated Sludge Process. An all basins simplifying opera-
advanced SBR is designed to tion and saving up to 30% on
the total footprint.
Disk filters are important
components that can replace
the conventional sand filtra-
tion process in an STP. The fil-
ters are made of 304 SS or 316
SS to be provided in a com-
pact package system ready to
operate. The filters utilize an
extremely durable AISI 316 L
stainless steel screen which is
contained in circular disk sec-
tions that are easy to clean
Ozonator (Ex. Xylem Wedeco SMO)
and can be chemically treated
if necessary to remove col-
loidal materials that perma-
nently foul other disk media.
In case if the disks get dam-
aged, only the damaged part
can be removed and replaced,
reducing the maintenance
cost. The maintenance cost
and the footprint of this filter
are comparatively less than
traditional sand filters, and
provide a high level of tertiary
polishing in an extremely
small footprint.
As we discussed above the
side-effects of the use of
Chlorine in the treatment of
sewerage water, keeping the
same in mind, it is suggested
that UV is used for disinfec-
tion of water. The three main
factors that affect an STP are
cost, time and quality. UV sys-
tems can best provide all the
above three factors. These UV
disinfection systems just need
5 seconds of time to be in con-
tact with water and disinfect
it. This time is very low com-
pared to Chlorine, which
needs 20 to 30 minutes only
for mixing. Also, UV systems
reduce the operational cost
because they do not require
other facilities for storage or
handling as that for chlorine.
Ozonators can effectively
replace activated carbon fil-
ters in the traditional process.
Activated carbon filters add
carbon content to the treated
water. Ozonators add oxygen
and improve the taste and
odor of the water. Ozonators
allow up to 30 times less nitro-
gen dosing which consider-
SCADA (Ex. Xylem FLYGT SCADA)
ably reduces the formation of
nitrogen oxides (NOx), as well
as potential corrosion and
performance issues. Lower
corrosion leads to lesser leak-
age and hence lesser wastage
of water. Achieving the full
rated ozone production capac-
ity requires only a maximum
time of fewer than 30 seconds
- a decisive contribution to
overall process control. The
Ozonator comes with a PLC
and SCADA. This helps the
user to monitor the function-
ing and control it without
actually visiting the Plant.
Smart sewerage treatment
leverage real-time wastewater
quality sensors to monitor
wastewater quality at every
stage of the treatment
process. Any degradation of
wastewater quality at any
stage of the treatment process
can be highlighted and correc-
tive action can be taken quick-
ly to ensure consistent high-
quality output of clean, puri-
fied water.
The biggest challenge in an
STP is the monitoring of all
the systems. Smart Sewerage
Treatment leverage SCADA
(Supervisory Control and
Data Acquisition), which inte-
grate all the elements of STP
through a communication net-
work. Through SCADA, an
operator can monitor and con-
trol all elements in an STP
from one command center.
About the Authors
Raveendra Bhat is the
Director - Treatment at Xylem
India. He has 25+ years of expe-
rience in water and waste indus-
try.
Rajul Mehrotra is the
Director Strategy & Smart
Cities at Xylem India. He has
15+ years of experience in con-
sulting cities and real estate
developers in developing smart
cities and smart townships. In
past, Rajul has led smart cities
business for IBM and Accenture
in India.
June, 2018 49
 COLUMN
Planning with Water
By Peter Neill, IWC for the Australian Water Partnership (AWP)
“THE WORLD IS NOT
DOING ENOUGH.”
So states a report from a
2012 survey of participants at
the World Economic Forum in
Davos, Switzerland. “Though
the problems of floods,
drought, and inadequate
water supply that were pro-
jected more than two decades
ago have come true, little is
being done to address them
effectively. Leaders are espe-
cially ill-prepared for wide-
spread social instability…”
Circle of Blue quotes Bob
Sanford, chair of the Canadian
Partnership Initiative, as fol-
lows: “We didn’t realize until
recently how much our econo-
my and society relied on
hydrologic stability.”
Well, that is not entirely
true. China, for example, has
been building massive water
transfer systems to move
water from areas in the south
to the more arid north where
drought, industrial irrigation,
and flagrant pollution have
brought scarcity as well as
economic and political crises.
A recent analysis by
researchers at the Leeds
Water Research Institute at
the University of East Anglia
in the UK, published in the
Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences, sug-
gests that this extraordinary
expenditure of public funds
and labor may not be suffi-
cient to meet increased eco-
nomic and population growth.
Dabo Guan, Professor of
Climate Change Economics at
the University’s School of
International Development, is
quoted by Bloomberg News
What then is the most valuable commodity on earth
around which a new, more viable, more realistic sys-
tem of value can be built? It is water, the one natural
product that every person, rich or poor, from any-
where around the globe, must rely on for life.
50 June, 2018
describing the system as
“pouring good water after
bad.”
China, India, Australia, the
US - all are grappling with
these conditions, certainly not
theoretical anymore, but
immediate, devastating, and
disruptive. The rising price
for grain and rice resulting
from severe drought has been
suggested as the major con-
tributors to social unrest, per-
haps toppling a government in
Egypt and crippling a regional
economy in Australia and
escalating prices in food-
dependent markets through-
out the southern hemisphere.
These are not problems easily
dismissed or ignored.
We are fighting wars for
water, as much as for oil or
religion.
The old solutions do not
serve these extreme events. It
may be that the old engineer-
ing ideas and designs like the
Tennessee Valley Authority in
the US or the diversion of
northern rivers in India can-
not meet the challenge of
exponential demand, degrad-
ed supply, and global warm-
ing. That proof may be now
visible to us all, even those
leaders gathered in the Swiss
mountains to contemplate the
world condition and its most
critical needs.
There is a direct link
between water abundance
and human well-being,
between the adequate supply
and the sustainability of any
community, rich or poor.
Northern California is a
region of great fecundity and
wealth in the U.S., dependent
on water from the Sierra
Nevadas and distributed by
engineered solutions. Water
rationing, inadequate supply
at key points in the growth of
fruit and crops, and weak and
declining harvests can bring
even such a community to its
knees. The response cannot
be conventional, cannot be
more of the same. The time
for that has passed.
“We didn’t realize until
recently how much our econo-
my and society relied on
hydrologic stability.” Perhaps
we do now, and if finally so,
what are we going to do about
it?
If global leaders have real-
ized how much our economies
and society rely on hydrologic
stability, what do you suppose
they intend to do about it?
Despite the drought and
water scarcity, despite the
ongoing pollution of existing
water supply by fertilizer,
chemicals, toxic spills, and all
the rest, what action do you
suppose might be taken to
address this evident, recur-
ring, critical need? In the
United States Congress, the
recent response has been to
deny climate change as a
cause of such instability
around the world (and close to
home) and to work with fervor
and dedication to dilute the
protections of the Clean
Water Act, to weaken if not
eradicate the Environmental
Protection Agency, and other-
wise to relieve any restric-
tions or prohibitions for any
activity that will simply make
the matter worse. It repre-
sents the most perverse inter-
section of short-term profit
for a politically motivated
interest and a long-term loss
for everyone else.
So it goes, at least until the
price of oil collapses and all
the numbers, justifications,
and reasons for sustaining the
KNOWING OUR WATERS
status quo go down with a
great sucking sound heard
from Houston to Anchorage,
from New York to Moscow,
from Beijing to the Poles.
There is, of course, no alterna-
tive plan. Or is there?
The most valuable com-
modity on earth is no longer
oil. All the calculations
change, even as the energy
companies and their investors
double down on what surely
they hope will be a return to
the good old days. Suddenly
the communities suffering
from the myriad conse-
quences of fracking or explod-
ing pipelines find leverage to
fight back against what has
been so cleverly packaged as
beyond them and essential to
the national interest.
What then is the most valu-
able commodity on earth
around which a new, more
viable, more realistic system
of value can be built? It is
water, the one natural product
that every person, rich or
poor, from anywhere around
the globe, must rely on for life.
The collapse of oil, then, could
be seen as a unique opportuni-
ty to shift our value system to
an alternative based on water,
priced by its utilitarian neces-
sities.
Of course, we need the
energy to grow, not just for
growth’s sake but to meet the
known requirements of a
world population that is
increasing dramatically by the
millions year to year. If we
cannot provide the basic liv-
ing for these inhabitants in the
form of health, shelter, food,
employment and quality of
life, then we should be pre-
pared to accept our responsi-
bility for the unfortunate con-
sequences. It does not take
much imagination to envision
the outcomes; we see them in
the disruptive conditions of
poverty, political volatility, and
social injustice in those places
and among those peoples
already deprived of what we
take for granted.
Is it possible to construct a
new system on the true value
of water? What decisions
must be made? Do we need
new technologies and more
money, or can we actually
change by using the technolo-
gies already in hand and re-
allocating existing assets?
Can we finance such a
change with funds divested
from the extraction industry
and re-invested in alternatives
and renewable resources? Can
we move the oil subsidies
away from a dying industry to
bring the new alternatives to
scale? Can we take back the
definition of our future from
those who see it only as a
replication of our past? Can
we make, and execute a new
plan?
Of course, we can. It is, in
fact, already in progress, per-
haps not so publicly known,
perhaps not so clearly under-
stood. There are amazing
examples of progress based
on a sharpening vision of the
future.
Examples of a world, built
around the movements and
cycles of water and the ocean,
sits at its center.
Peter Neill is founder and
director of the World Ocean
Observatory and is author of
The Once and Future Ocean:
Notes Toward a New Hydraulic
Society. He is also the host of
World Ocean Radio, a weekly
podcast addressing ocean issues,
upon which this blog is inspired.
The Australian Water
Partnership (AWP) is an
Australian Government devel-
opment initiative enhancing the
sustainable management of
water across the Indo-Pacific.
@WaterPartnersAU
EXPRESS WATER
 COLUMN
Analyzing the Global Irrigation Water Systems Market
By Frost & Sullivan
A G R I C U L T U R E
ACCOUNTS FOR 70% ‘blue-
water’ withdrawal from
sources like river and ground-
water. The intensity of with-
drawal has grown 3 times in
the last 50 years. By 2050,
global water demand for
Agricultural is expected to
increase by 19% due to
increased crop production.
Close to 40% of the world’s
food supply is from areas irri-
gated through artificial means
especially in regions like
South East Asia. Water need
for people and environment is
competing with agriculture,
especially in regions where
irrigation is an absolute need
threatening to dry up ecosys-
tems. In coming years, climate
change will be an unpre-
dictable threat to the avail-
ability of water. In order to
overcome water scarcity,
political will, trust and coop-
EXPRESS WATER
eration are needed between
nations.
Increasing efficiency in
irrigation is a high priority.
Improved water management
in agriculture will increase
water availability, provoke
development, reduce soil ero-
sion, lead to diversified agri-
culture and feed a population
of 9 billion by 2050. As of
today, according to UN and
FAO, 60% of the water
pumped to irrigate is wasted
through runoff or evapotran-
spiration. Water-use efficien-
cy can be achieved only
through employing irrigation
systems that have proved to
produce more crops.
Many major food produc-
ing countries like China, India,
United States, Pakistan,
Australia and Spain are close
to reaching their renewable
water resource limits.
Reasons for the unsustainable
water use are:
• Leaky Irrigation Systems,
• Wasteful and conventional
application methods,
• Cultivation of thirsty crops
without assessing the envi-
ronmental conditions.
The underlying problems
related to agricultural water
are worsened by misdirected
subsidies, low awareness about
the water crisis and weak legis-
lation. An efficient irrigation
system will overcome these
challenges, and adopting the
same is extremely critical.
According to Frost &
Sullivan, the Global Irrigation
Systems Market was estimat-
ed at $8.2 billion in the year
2016 with CAGR of 7.6% with
irrigation systems (micro-irri-
gation, mechanical irrigation,
irrigation pumps, and pipes)
contributing to 72% of the
overall global revenue. North
America and APAC con-
tribute about 33.6% and
24.6%.
Key drivers for the growth
of global irrigation systems
market include:
Water Scarcity
According to FAO,
Agriculture accounts for
world’s 70% freshwater with-
drawal and more than 90% of
its consumptive use and it is
90% in regions like Middle-
East and North Africa. Global
climate change, increasing
population, excess crop pro-
duction has been constantly
deteriorating freshwater
reserves. Situation demands
need for adopting efficient
water management for agri-
culture. Water scarcity has led
to innovations for increasing
the efficiency and sustainabil-
ity of water use. However, in
several parts of the world,
water mismanagement has
led to depletion of freshwater
resources. Water scarcity has
shifted the focus on land pro-
MARKET INSIGHTS
ductivity without raising con-
cern for water use or in other
words, getting highest yield
with less amount of water.
Irrigation holds most of the
responsibility for increasing
crop/food productivity and
food security, if managed
effectively.
Efficient Water Manage-
ment and Government
Support
The challenges in water
management are attributed to
growing population and pres-
sure to use water resources
efficiently signify that, the
organization/institutions
charge of water management,
have to constantly reform
their policies so that the coun-
try is able to cope with new
demands and challenges.
Efficient water management
achieved through efficient
irrigation by reducing water
losses, increase in water pro-
ductivity and increase crop
yield with optimum water.
Water-stressed nations have
been drawing policies to assist
farmers in adopting efficient
irrigation systems by provid-
ing incentives and subsidies.
For example, in India, subsidy
for drip irrigation system has
been 75-100% as several
regions have been under
severe drought. The
Government of United States
offers subsidies to offset the
technology's higher cost. Drip
irrigation has brought about a
significant boost to crop yield
in the state of California which
has been under the drought
for some time now.
Increase in Agriculture
Production
Yield is higher from irriga-
tion than the highest yields
obtained from rain-fed agri-
culture. According to projec-
tions by FAO, overall food pro-
duction would increase by
approximately 70% in 2050.
Crop production in developing
countries is expected to dou-
ble and there will be a signifi-
cant increase in production of
several key commodities. The
pressure on renewable water
sources for irrigation would
be critical and would increase
in several countries in near
East/North Africa and South
Asia.
However, there are
restraints that have a greater
impact on the irrigation sys-
tems market as well. One of
the main restraints that affect
farmers in developing coun-
tries is the Lack of Expertise.
Farmers lack adequate knowl-
edge or means to know exist-
ing on-farm practices to
achieve better water efficien-
cy levels. They are also
unaware of the incentives and
unaware of the actual irriga-
tion practices for better crop
yield. Under existing circum-
stances, agricultural water
management will maintain the
unidentified water efficiency
levels. Farmers will have the
lesser motivation and weaker
incentives to make substantial
effort to improve water use
efficiency. This can, however,
be less of a threat in the future
if a knowledge-exchange sys-
tem is in place. One of the key
steps to overcome this lacuna
is by continuous knowledge
exchange between all the
stakeholders. Many irrigation
companies are focused on
educating farmers on the
usage and efficiency of the
systems before installing the
same. This not only improves
the know-how but also bene-
fits the farmers with more
crops and eliminates technical
challenges.
Deepthi Sugumar is a
Research Analyst at Frost and
Sullivan.
@FrostSullivanEE
June, 2018 51
 COLUMN
Developing the Urban Circular Water Economy
By Robert C. Brears
Our traditional economy,
which is based on the ‘take-
make - consume - dispose’
model assumes that resources
are abundant, available, and
cheap to dispose of. However,
this model faces significant
challenges from a variety of
mega-trends. The world’s pop-
ulation will be 50% larger in
2050 compared to 2000 while
the world’s economy will have
nearly tripled by then.
Meanwhile, by mid-century,
66% of the world’s population
will be living in urban areas,
up from 54% in 2014. Annual
global material extraction will
reach 183 billion tonnes in
2050, more than twice the
amount in 2015. Regarding cli-
mate change, extreme weath-
er events will damage infra-
structure and harm human
health, potentially reducing
global GDP per annum by 3%.
Finally, by 2050, global
demand for water will out-
strip supply by 55% under a
business-as-usual scenario,
while water quality will be
severely threatened too:
already, 80% of the world’s
wastewater and over 95% in
52 June, 2018
some least developed coun-
tries is released to the envi-
ronment without treatment,
resulting in polluted rivers,
lakes, and coastal waters.
The Urban Circular Water
Economy
Around the world, there is
a transition towards the ‘cir-
cular economy’ that focuses
on the 3Rs of reducing materi-
al consumption, reusing mate-
rials, and recovering materi-
als from waste. In the context
of urban water resources
management, a variety of
cities and their respective
water utilities are implement-
ing circular economy concepts
that promote the reduction of
water consumption, reuse of
water, and recovery of materi-
als from wastewater.
Reducing Water Consump-
tion
Water utilities are using a
variety of demand manage-
ment tools to reduce water
consumption including pric-
ing of water, reducing leak-
ages in the systems, metering
all customers, using subsidies
and rebates to encourage the
installation of water-efficient
technologies and appliances in
homes and businesses, and
awareness initiatives that
educate the public on the need
to use water wisely. The over-
all aim of demand manage-
ment is to modify the atti-
tudes and behavior of cus-
tomers towards water during
both normal and atypical
times.
Scottish Water’s Water
Savings Calculator
Scottish Water provides
customers with an online
‘Water Savings Calculator’ to
determine their actual water
usage. At the start, customers
get to personalize the ques-
tions to suit their homes, so if
they do not own a car the cus-
tomer will not be asked how
often they clean it. Once com-
pleted - it takes around 5 mins
- the user is provided with
their own personalized water,
energy and spend profile, a
few free water-saving prod-
ucts that are easy to install,
along with a series of tips on
what can be done to save
water. For example, fixing a
dripping tap can save as much
as 48 liters of water a day, or
17,500 liters of water a year
and shaving 1 minute off your
shower could save £15 in ener-
gy bills and a further £15 in
water bills per year or £120
saved a year for an average 4-
person household.
Reuse of Water
Water reuse involves col-
lecting, treating, and reusing
wastewater (recycling). It can
also involve the reuse of grey-
water or rainwater in houses
or buildings. Recycled water
can be used for non-potable
uses e.g. industrial, agricultur-
al etc. If treated appropriately,
recycled water can be blended
with surface or groundwater
to increase supplies. This
reduces the economic and
environmental costs related to
establishing new water sup-
plies.
Pure Water San Diego
To enhance San Diego’s
resilience to drought, climate
change, and natural disasters,
the city has launched Pure
Water San Diego which is a
phased, multi-year pro-
gramme to provide one-third
of the city’s water supply
locally by 2035. The pro-
gramme will use proven tech-
nology to clean recycled water
to produce safe, high-quality
drinking water and provide a
reliable, sustainable water
supply. Currently, only 8 per-
cent of wastewater is recycled
with the rest being treated
and discharged into the ocean.
The Pure Water Program will
transform the city’s water sys-
tem into a complete cycle in
which wastewater will be
treated to recycled water
standards at an existing water
reclamation plant, before
being sent to a Pure Water
Facility. The purified water
will then be sent to an existing
reservoir and blended with
imported and local water sup-
plies. After which, the mixed
water will be treated at an
existing drinking water treat-
ment plant, before distribu-
tion to customers.
Recovery of Materials from
Wastewater
Traditionally, waste-
water is seen as a burden
that needs treating and dis-
posing of. However, waste-
water is a source of valuable
resources including energy
and nutrients. The positive
impact of recovering
resources from wastewater
is additional revenue
streams for utilities and
mitigation of emissions.
URBAN WATER
Berliner Wasserbetriebe
Recovering Resources
from Wastewater
Berliner Wasserbetriebe’s
Schönerlinde sewage treat-
ment plant is turning sewage
sludge into sewage gas to gen-
erate power and heat.
Additionally, the utility has
constructed three wind tur-
bines, with a capacity of 2 MW
each, as well as two micro gas
turbines to complement the
plant’s CHP unit. Overall,
around 84% of the energy
required by the plant is pro-
duced internally, saving up to
13,000 tons of carbon emis-
sions per year. Berliner
Wasserbetriebe has also
developed a patented process
for recovering phosphorous
from its sewage treatment
plants. The recovered phos-
phorous is sold under the
brand name ‘Berliner Pflanze’
(Berlin Plant) to horticulture
and agriculture producers in
the surrounding areas of the
city. Several years ago,
Berliner Pflanze won the
GreenTec Award for environ-
mentally-friendly recycling
products.
Overall, cities and their
respective water utilities can
implement the urban circular
water economy by using
demand management strate-
gies to reduce water con-
sumption, for instance,
enabling customers to calcu-
late their water savings poten-
tials, reusing wastewater to
supplement local supplies,
and by doing so reducing
dependency on imported
water, and recovering valu-
able resources from waste-
water to produce new prod-
ucts.
Robert Brears is the author
of Urban Water Security,
Founder of Mitidaption, and
Our Future Water."
@Mitidaption
EXPRESS WATER
 COLUMN
The Price of Failure: Water Qualityand the Issue of
Governance in India
IT IS NOON and we are visit-
ing the water quality testing
laboratory of Gaya district in
Bihar. The lab chemist, one of
the 35 appointed across 35
districts of Bihar, is showing
us the testing equipment for
fluoride, arsenic, iron and
nitrate contamination in
water. There is also an elabo-
rate looking machine to test
bacteriological contamina-
tion. With nametags and cloth
pieces kept over them, some
of them look freshly dusted,
presumably for the benefit of
the visitors. However, most of
them are non-functional; just
about 5-6 out of 14 work. The
only functional spectrometer
is used for both fluoride and
nitrate tests. The apparatus
used for bacteriological con-
tamination breaks down fre-
quently, so they can only do an
indicative test. Upon investi-
gation, the chemist recalls
that he joined this lab in 2004
and all these instruments
came prior to that. None of
them has been either repaired
or replaced. Chemicals for the
tests are procured centrally
from Patna and are often of
dubious quality.
Additionally, there are cost
implications too. The labora-
tory is allocated Rs. 25 per
EXPRESS WATER
sample for collection, and they
have to test 300 samples per
month. In order to collect
samples, they have to hire a
vehicle costing about Rs. 800-
1000 per day, with an addi-
tional Rs. 500 for diesel and
other requirements, totalling
to Rs. 1500 for one day. In
order to meet the cost, they
collect 5-6 samples per habita-
tion, across 10 habitations a
day. However, this can often
result in skewed sample col-
lection. While they are sup-
posed to upload the test
results directly to the state
MIS, they are unable to do so
due to the lack of laptops and
a good internet connection.
Thus, they send it to the State
Lab, the only NABL accredit-
ed laboratory in the state run
by a third party. To accom-
plish all this, the lab has only
two regular staff including the
chemist, against the promised
eight. Out of the government
allocations for PHED budget
(Public Health Engineering
Department, the nodal
department in charge of water
quality), 1 percent is supposed
to be allocated for water qual-
ity testing, which is rarely the
case. Somehow, water quality
comes at the bottom of the
pyramid of priorities stressing
the department. The key to
three crucial problems plagu-
ing the lab - infrastructure,
human resources, and instru-
ments and chemicals - lies in
governance.
The result of this sad state
of affairs was revealed later in
the afternoon; when we visit-
ed a village called Churaman
Nagar barely a half an hour
drive from the city, lying
under a barren and rocky
hillock. The hamlet has rough-
ly around 150 households, all
Dalits (consisting of Musahars
and Bhuiyans). It is officially
declared to be fluoride affect-
ed. We were informed by the
chemist that the contamina-
tion is around 15-16 ppm,
against the threshold of 1.5
ppm. And the impact is too
evident. Almost all the house-
holds have at least one or two
people affected by fluoride
contamination.
Right from the kachcha
driveway where you get off
your air-conditioned vehicle in
the blazing temperature of 44
degrees, you witness two
things. The white taps outside
mud houses, the pipes of
which are going beneath
cesspool of water everywhere
and the main pathway sur-
rounded by a wide drain of
blackwater. There is also a
huge building, clearly the only
pakka structure in the vicini-
ty, which is the fluoride treat-
ment plant set about 8-9 years
ago. On the outside of the fluo-
ride plant the compound has a
cesspool of dirty water, and on
the inside, there are greyish,
muddy looking, three large
barrels through which fluo-
ride is treated in stages. The
person-in-charge of mainte-
nance complains that he has
not been paid for over two
years now. The chemist also
explains how the operator
himself shows tell-tale signs of
fluoride contamination, his
wiry limbs, and discolored
teeth.
We then met the villagers,
mostly men and children
inside a half-built community
hall, and a few women sitting
outside.
Eight-year-old Arjun is
looking at us blankly. As he
steps forward, we notice his
severely disfigured feet,
spread out unevenly. We then
meet Guddu, who cannot tell
us his age (villagers say he is
around 15) with his limbs
twisted and curved in knots.
We also meet Mithilesh who is
presumably 18-years-old but is
no more than 4.5 feet in
height. I don’t want to see any-
more!
My colleague asks a girl
whether she went to the local
primary school that day and
whether she had received her
entitled mid-day meal. The
answer to the first question
was affirmative and to the sec-
ond, negative. We witness a
row of crumbling single room
houses, which were apparent-
ly built in 1975 in the wake of
Indira Awaas Yojana. We also
saw an Angandwadi, whose
floor level had gone below the
ground level, an alarming
threat due to the upcoming
monsoons. We met an articu-
late young boy designated
Vikas Mitra appointed at the
panchayat level (with a hand-
some salary of Rs. 10,000)
mandated to bring benefits of
20 odd schemes to the SCs
and STs of his area. We also
heard of a Tola Sevak appoint-
ed at habitation level to
encourage children to attend
school. All in all, there are
roughly 10-15 such govern-
ment-appointed frontline
cadres to look after its citi-
zens.
The dance of welfare state
was in its full glory. As part of
their piped water supply
scheme, the Panchayati Raj
Department recently dug a
fresh borewell to install a sys-
tem for easy water access.
However, villagers claim that
this was done without testing
the water quality, despite the
fact that the region was offi-
cially declared fluoride affect-
ed. Hence, it was exclusively
PHED’s responsibility to bring
safe water to the village.
• Now to put things in a
broader perspective:
• A population of 1.47 crore
from across 17,000 settle-
ments is staring at high risk
WATER WISE
of cancer due to arsenic-
contaminated drinking
water. About 16,889 areas
are affected by contamina-
tion, way above the permis-
sible limits.
• High levels of fluoride are
reported in the drinking
water supply of 12,029
areas, and heavy metal con-
tamination in 2,384 settle-
ments.
• Close to 23,613 areas with
iron and 14,069 areas with
high salinity in drinking
water have been identified
as of now.
• Nitrate has also been found
in 1,809 areas.
• All such areas sustain about
69,267 habitations with an
estimated population of
4.56 crore.
(Source: www.times-
nownews.com/mirror-now/in-
focus/article/1-47-crore-indian-
citizens-are-consuming-arsenic-
contaminated-drinking-
water/227740)
Two days later, upon meet-
ing senior government offi-
cials, one of them confessed
that the village has a dysfunc-
tional fluoride treatment
plant. They rued the lack of
Operation and Maintenance
systems. They said how their
Executive Engineer was sad-
dled with so many burdens
and how the issue of water
quality got affected due to that
(pun entirely unintended).
They asked us, what we pro-
posed to do about it and
offered us their help if we
began work there. All I could
remember was the silhouette
of 18-year-old Mithilesh disap-
pearing in the dusk with his
twisted feet as we set out for
our next destination.
Avinash Kumar is Director
- Programme, and Policy at
WaterAid India.
@Avinashkoomar
June, 2018 53
 MARKET

PRE EVENT
BLUETECH FORUM REVEALS TOPWATER TECH
COMPANIES
The global water event is celebrating the theme of managing water risk in the circular
economy and BlueTech Research chief executive Paul O’Callaghan says the chosen
technologies demonstrate major new efficiencies in the way resources are conserved,
captured and repurposed in the treatment plant and the wider infrastructure.

Genifuel’s Hydrothermal Processing System is One of the Technologies
Taking Part in BlueTech Forum
A global event taking place
in Canada will feature 13
ground-breaking technologies
developed for the water sector.
Digital, biotech, and mem-
brane technologies are among
the top 13 selected to take part
in BlueTech Forum in
Vancouver on 6-7 June 2018.
The global water event is
celebrating the theme of man-
aging water risk in the circu-
lar economy and BlueTech
Research chief executive Paul
O’Callaghan says the chosen
technologies demonstrate
major new efficiencies in the
way resources are conserved,
captured and repurposed in
the treatment plant and the
wider infrastructure.
“BlueTech Research has an
unparalleled record in the con-
tinuous tracking of technologi-
cal trends and emerging tech-
nologies in water and the com-
panies chosen to present in
the innovation showcase sign-
post the wider trends,” he said.
“I’m delighted that delegates
will have the opportunity to
find out first-hand about some
of the most advanced tech-
nologies in the world.
“The companies we have
selected have technologies for
applications as diverse as
energy recovery, water quality
sampling, sludge monitoring
and ultrafiltration. Uniquely,
the technologies will be pre-
sented at separate roundta-
bles where delegates will have
the opportunity to question
the developers face-to-face.”
O’Callaghan added, “The
intimate setting and collabora-
tive atmosphere of BlueTech
Forum makes it very easy to
form new business relation-
ships and identify potential
new partners. I am delighted
that we can bring 13 outstand-
ing technologies to the event
and look forward to introduc-
ing them to delegates from
global utilities, industrial end-
users, and the investment
community.”
The Innovation Showcase
featured companies are:
• Aqua Membranes: Uses its
unique patented 3D-printed
spacer technology to boost
permeate water flow,
increasing the membrane
surface in spiral-wound ele-
ments and significantly
reducing membrane fouling.
• Aquam: Provides technolo-
gies for packaged waste-
water treatment plants that
can eliminate sludge, recov-
er energy as direct electrici-
ty and enable onsite water
reuse at significantly lower
cost than incumbent tech-
nologies.
• Cerahelix: Has developed a
durable ceramic filter that
uses DNA to create micro-
pores that can deliver high
levels of water quality and
lower energy consumption
in industrial reuse applica-
tions.
• Emagin: Provides water
utilities with an operational
intelligence platform to
enable smarter manage-
ment of their critical
processes in real-time.
• Fluid Technology Solutions:
Forward osmosis technolo-
gies use low-fouling, long-life
cellulose membranes to
treat the most challenging
wastewaters.
• Genifuel: Hydrothermal
processing system (HPS)
produces biocrude oil and
renewable natural gas
(methane) from wastewater,
converting more than 85%
of the feedstock carbon to
renewable fuels.
• HYREC: Offers a hybrid FO-
OARO (forward osmosis -
osmotically assisted reverse
osmosis) system to treat
high strength waste streams
• IONMR: Has created the
most durable and versatile
high-performance anion-
exchange membrane ever
synthesized.
• Island Water Technologies:
Has complete demonstra-
tion of the world’s first real-
time bio-electrode sensor
for the direct monitoring of
microbial activity in waste-
water treatment systems.
• Microbe Detectives: Applies
advanced DNA sequencing
to identify and quantify
nearly 100% of the microbes
in a sample of water, pro-
vides comprehensive micro-
bial evaluations for water
quality and disease manage-
ment.
• Purifics: Has a proprietary
ceramic ultrafiltration
(CUF) membrane technolo-
gy which filters water and
wastewater, destroys chemi-
cal and biological contami-
nants, facilitates clean
water recovery and elimi-
nates the need for backwash
and pre-treatment.
• TECTA-PDS: Markets the
world’s first automated
microbiological water quali-
ty monitoring system, which
considerably lowers the cost
of monitoring.
• World Water Works: Has
developed a wastewater
treatment system that
increases process through-
put and performance
through the gravimetric
selection of dense sludge
aggregates with improved
settling rates and the pro-
motion of enhanced biologi-
cal phosphorus removal.
BlueTech Forum takes
place in Vancouver, Canada on
6-7 June 2018.
BlueTech Research
BlueTech® Research provides
investors, water companies,
researchers and regulators with
the latest information at their
fingertips. The company pro-
vides clarity and critical analy-
sis on emerging water technolo-
gy market areas. BlueTech
Research maps and analyzes the
water technology innovation
landscape. The company is
focused on what is changing and
how new approaches, new tech-
nologies, and new needs are
reshaping the water technology
market.

54 June, 2018 EXPRESS WATER

 MARKET
POSTEVENT
IFATGERMANY: THE ENVIRONMENTAL
TECHNOLOGIES ARE BOOMING...
Filtering of microplastics, more effective recycling of plastics and the digital transformation
of the entire industry: for five days, the world’s leading trade fair for environmental
technologies IFAT revolved around the issues of the management of water, sewage, waste and
raw materials management. The industry’s products are in rising demand all over the world.
“IFAT PRESENTS THE
technologies of the future for
the clean environment;
hence, it is driving the public
discourse more actively than
ever before. This was reflect-
ed in the visits of internation-
al politicians, the numerous
delegations from all over the
world and technology experts
who came to share ideas,
experiences, and know-how”,
says Stefan Rummel,
Managing Director of Messe
München. “The fair displays
the significance of the indus-
try and the issue: the number
of exhibitors rose by 7 per-
cent to 3,305, the number of
visitors by 4 percent to more
than 141,000.”
Consumers Drive the In-
dustry
It is above all the con-
sumers’ rising awareness and
their demand for sustainabili-
ty that make the industry
boom. German Federal
EXPRESS WATER
Environmental Minister
Svenja Schulze said what
many people around the
globe are concerned about.
“We need to use resources
and recycle plastics and other
materials more effectively
and avoid plastic wastes
being disposed of into the
environment. It is to avoid
unnecessary plastics”. Here,
technologies have a key role.
“The IFAT presents smart
and innovative environmental
technologies that are already
part of a solution to many of
our environmental chal-
lenges.”
Herwart Wilms, Managing
Director of Remondis SE &
CO KG was one of the indus-
try representatives to appeal
to the public. “Technologies
are ready and on standby. To
achieve a closed raw materi-
als cycle the makers of prod-
ucts now need to significantly
raise their recycling quotas
for raw materials”, he said.
Local Authorities and In-
dustry at the Same Level
At the same time, repre-
sentatives of the manufactur-
ing industry visiting IFAT
showed a rising interest in
resource-conserving and effi-
cient methods. “Demand
from industry has increased
significantly”, says Falk Olaf
Petersdorf, Managing
Director of Xylem Water
Solutions Deutschland
GmbH. IFAT boss Stefan
Rummel is convinced: “The
2018 IFAT has addressed
both local authorities and the
industry.”
Digitally linked pumps,
waste containers with sen-
sors, autonomous road
sweepers - digital innovation
is a feature of many innova-
tions at IFAT. The new hall
allocation based on the sub-
jects of water/sewage and
waste/secondary raw materi-
als was very much appreciat-
ed. Hence, also the issue of
drinking water is now firmly
established in Munich. Udo
Jirmann, Managing Director
of Georg Fischer GmbH puts
it like this: “Now, IFAT has
also become the world’s lead-
ing trade fair for drinking
water; the record figures
achieved reflect its impor-
tance for the environmental
industry.”
2018 IFAT: Figures
More than 141,000 expert
visitors from more than 160
countries came to Munich
between May 14 and 18, 2018
(2016: 136,885 visitors). Above
all, this means a rise of IFAT’s
internationality. The highest
growth came from (in this
order): Japan, Russia,
Australia, China and
Slovenia. In total, 3,305
exhibitors from 58 countries
presented their products and
innovations for the booming
environmental industry.
Dr. Johannes F. Kirchhoff,
Chairman of the IFAT
Advisory Board and
Managing Director of
KIRCHHOFF Group drew a
positive conclusion: “The
2018 IFAT is another impres-
sive example of an excellent
platform for municipal and
private disposal companies as
well as the water, sewage,
waste and raw material
industry.”
The next IFAT takes place
in Munich from May 4 to 8,
2020.
June, 2018 55
 PROJECTS TRACKER

Water Treatment First as Scottish Water Trials Nyex

• First major drinking water pilot for Arvia’s Nyex treatment system
• Trials assess effectiveness on hard-to-treat organics in raw water
• The tertiary treatment combines oxidation and adsorption to eliminate waste

process that has many poten- are delighted to be taking this

tial applications in water and
wastewater processing. In
municipal water applications,
the main advantage of Arvia’s
Nyex over granular activated
carbon (GAC) filters is the
elimination of waste - cutting
the cost of having to dispose of
waste solids to landfill.
The Scottish Water trial is
focused on establishing
whether Nyex could have an
application on the hard-to-
treat water with a high con-
tent of organic material, due
to the impact this can have on
drinking water treatment.
pilot project to a scaled-up
level, which is the first long-
term drinking water applica-
tion for Nyex since approval
by the Drinking Water
Inspectorate (DWI). The pilot
will assess the effectiveness
on a range of flow and current
parameters and locate the
technology at different posi-
tions in the treatment train,
including before and after
pre-treatment.”
Allan Mason, Senior
Project Manager for business
excellence at Scottish Water,
said, “Research and innova-

Containerized Nyex Treatment System Onsite at Pateshill Water

Treatment Works
SCOTTISH WATER IS set to
undertake the world’s first
long-term trial of Arvia’s Nyex
treatment system on drinking
water at a specially estab-
lished pilot plant in West
Lothian. The trial, which will
run separately to the existing
water treatment works at
Pateshill, will assess the effec-
tiveness of the system in
removing organic material
from raw water.
Nyex is a tertiary treat-
ment system which combines
adsorption with oxidation in a
Nyex Process Tank Within the
Container
and I am very excited to see if
The Scottish Water trial is focused we can replicate and sustain
on establishing whether Nyex performance on a larger scale.
“If it performs well during
could have an application on the this pilot, it could potentially
hard-to-treat water with a high offer us another method for
treating drinking water in an
content of organic material, due to efficient and cost-effective
the impact this can have on manner which continues to
meet the high standards of
drinking water treatment. Bench service we aim to provide to
trials have shown the Arvia system our customers.”

could remove 68 percent of organic

material from water, with the new
pilot set to test the treatment on a
larger scale to see if these results
can be replicated and sustained.
Bench trials have shown the tion is key to Scottish Water
Arvia system could remove 68 being able to improve its
percent of organic material water and wastewater servic-
from water, with the new pilot es and ensure we are operat-
set to test the treatment on a ing as efficiently as possible,
larger scale to see if these even in the most remote of our
results can be replicated and communities. The bench trials
sustained. of the Arvia system produced Water Samples from Before and
The Scaled-up Treatment System is the First Long-Term Drinking Water Arvia Project Manager some excellent results on a After Treatment on the
Application for Nyex Following DWI Approval. Akmez Nabeerasool said, “We difficult-to-treat raw water Laboratory-Scale Nyex System

56 June, 2018 EXPRESS WATER

 PROJECTS TRACKER NAMAMI GANGE

The Government Hopes to Clean 70-80% of River

Ganga byMarch 2019: Nitin Gadkari
“WE HOPE TO clean 70 to 80 grated Ganga Conservation completed which has created
percent Ganga by March 2019. Mission is an umbrella pro- 217 MLD STP capacity, reha- NWIC Setup as a Single Window Source of Updated
251 Gross Polluting Industries gramme with the aim to inte- bilitated 62 MLD STP capaci- Data on Water Resources
(GPI) have been closed and grate previous, currently ty and 1879.5 km of sewer net- Consequent upon approval of the Cabinet, National
closure directions have been ongoing and new projects work has been laid. Presently, Water Informatics Centre (NWIC) has recently been creat-
issued to noncomplying planned as part of the pro- 45 sewage infrastructure proj- ed by Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and
GPIs”. This was stated by gramme at an indicative cost ects are under execution. Ganga Rejuvenation at New Delhi. NWIC would be a repos-
Union Minister for Water of Rs. 20,000 crore. The pro- These projects envisage creat- itory of nation-wide water resources data and would work
Resources, River gramme is to be implemented ing 841 MLD sewage treat- as a Subordinate Office under the Ministry of Water
Development and Ganga over a period of five years end- ment capacities. Another 33 Resources, River Development, and Ganga Rejuvenation.
Rejuvenation, Nitin Gadkari ing on December 2020. projects are under various Besides, the center will also collaborate with leading
while addressing a press con- Under Namami Gange pro- stages of tendering. In a para- research institutes nationally as well as internationally to
ference recently. gramme, a total of 195 projects digm shift in sewage sector in provide technical support to other central and state organ-
The minister said that real- have been sanctioned for vari- the past one year, works on izations dealing with water, emergency response for hydro-
time monitoring of pollutions ous activities such as sewage two STP projects (50 MLD in logical extremes.
Varanasi and 82 MLD in
Haridwar) have been started
Prime Minister of Netherlands Inaugurates Indo- under Hybrid Annuity PPP Quality Monitoring Station have been sanctioned out of
Dutch Ganga Forum in New Delhi mode (HAM). (RTWQMS) are operational which 13 have been completed
Prime Minister of Netherlands Mark Rutte inaugurated under Namami Gange pro- and in 18 work is under
the Indo-Dutch Ganga Forum to take forward the Initiatives Taken by NMCG gramme to keep water quality progress.
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the Among some of the new check. In Uttar Pradesh, 30 proj-
Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and initiatives that have been 11 trash skimmers have ects have been sanctioned out
Ganga Rejuvenation, Government of India and the Ministry taken by National Mission for been deployed at Haridwar, of which eight projects have
of Infrastructure & Environment of the Netherlands in June Clean Ganga are “One City Garh Mukhteshwar, Kanpur, been completed and work is
last year. Addressing the gathering, Mr. Rutte appreciated One Operator” as part of Varanasi, Allahabad, Patna, under progress on nine proj-
the efforts being made under Namami Gange programme which STPs in 7 towns Sahibganj, Nabadwip, ects. Three tenders are under
and acknowledged the vastness of the task at hand. He said (Kanpur, Allahabad, Mathura, Howrah, Delhi and Mathura- evaluation and 10 under ten-
that local governments, the financial sector, and the private Patna, Kolkata, Howrah-Bally, Vrindavan. dering.
sector, as well as communities, will need to join hands with Bhagalpur) are being integrat- Five crore plants are being In Bihar, 20 projects have
the Indian and the Netherlands governments. The ed and tendered with Hybrid planted along Ganga basin as been sanctioned out of which
Netherlands government also shared the experiences of Annuity based projects. The part of the afforestation drive work is under progress on 10
their collaboration with Uttar Pradesh government to focus under Namami Gange involving an amount of Rs. 112 projects while 4 are under
reduce water consumption and employ cleaner technolo- programme has been on 10 crores intended for prevent- evaluation and 6 under ten-
gies in tanneries in Kanpur. major towns contributing ing erosion of soil and ground- dering.
almost 64% of total sewage water recharge in the Ganga In Jharkhand, two projects
discharge. basin. are under progress in
is being done in 938 indus- infrastructure, ghats and cre- 44 Real-Time Water In Uttarakhand, 31 projects Sahibganj where a 12 MLD
tries. 211 main ‘Nallas’ have matoria development, river- STP, 55 km Sewer are being
been identified which are front development, river sur- constructed. The project is
causing pollution in Ganga face cleaning, institutional GIS Technology to Strengthen Namami Gange Pro- likely to be completed by
and 20 modular STPs are development, biodiversity gramme December 2018. Another proj-
being deployed to treat Nalla conservation, afforestation, National Mission for Clean Ganga has brought on board ect in Rajmahal is creation of
water. rural sanitation, and public Survey of India, the oldest scientific department in the 3.5 MLD STP, 34 km sewer
Addressing this press con- participation. country set up in 1767, to facilitate the Ganga rejuvenation has been awarded and likely
ference, Union Minister for 102 projects out of 195 were task by using Geographic Information System (GIS) tech- to be completed by June 2019.
Drinking Water and sanctioned for the creation of nology. Through the project which has been approved in the In West Bengal, there are
Sanitation Uma Bharti said 2369 MLD new sewage treat- EC meeting at an estimated cost of Rs. 86.84 crore, NMCG 15 projects that have been
that almost all the 4470 vil- ment plants (STPs), rehabili- aims to strengthen planning and implementation at nation- sanctioned out of which two
lages on the bank of Ganga are tation of 887 MLD of existing al/state/local levels. The project includes the use of Digital have been completed; work is
now Open Defecation Free STPs and laying/rehabilita- Elevation Model (DEM) technology which ensures accurate under progress on four proj-
(ODF) and now we are work- tion of 4722 km sewer network data collection, an important aspect of river basin manage- ects while four others are
ing on the strategy of ODF for abatement of pollution in ment planning. The use of GIS technology for Namami under tendering. For five proj-
plus. river Ganga and Yamuna. Till Gange programme will also ensure decentralization. ects tenders have to be float-
Namami Gange an inte- date 24 projects have been ed.

EXPRESS WATER June, 2018 57

REGD.NO.MCS/219/2018-20, PUBLISHED ON 5TH OF EVERY MONTH & POSTED AT MUMBAI PATRIKA CHANNEL
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