June’s top stories: STW Resources to use desalination, Acciona’s EU energy saving

STW Resources to deploy Salttech water desalination technology

STW Resources will deploy Netherlands-based Salttech’s water desalination processing technology as part of a licensing agreement for the US.

According to STW, Salttech’s green DyVaR technology for water processing does not use chemicals or membranes and is a zero-liquid-discharge process. STW will deploy DyVaR as exclusive licensed technology integrator and manufacturer in the US.

The technology is used for the treatment of saline liquids, and also produces customer-specific products out of saline waste or process streams.

Acciona energy saving programme selected for EU wastewater treatment plants

Acciona’s optimised renewable mix for energy saving in wastewater treatment plants (RENEWAT) project was selected by the European Commission for the EU Life+ programme.

The project aims to provide wastewater treatment plants with in-plant renewable energy sources to reduce their energy use by up to 30%.

It adapts different sources of renewable energy such as solar panels and small wind farms to wastewater treatment plants and integrates them with a smart management system to coordinate the water treatment processes with available energy. It is able to optimally combine these energies in terms of available resources while adjusting water treatment work to the amount of energy being generated at the time, optimising the energy mix supplying the plant.

AECOM secures Florida sewer repair contract

US-based technical and management support services company AECOM secured a $91m contract from Miami-Dade county in Florida to oversee $1.6bn in federally mandated repairs to the county’s sewer system.

The company will provide programme and construction management services for upgrades to the existing wastewater treatment plants and the collection and transmission system pipes and pump stations. This includes overseeing and supporting the early planning, design and construction phases of the capital programme.

AECOM will also be involved in the implementation of numerous capacity, management, operations and maintenance programmes required by a federal consent decree.

SOWC collaborates with IBM over watershed management

Southern Ontario Water Consortium (SOWC) collaborated with IBM to develop a new data integration platform for watershed management.

The new platform will help researchers and urban planners to develop efficient tools to predict floods, safeguard the drinking water supply and forecast the impact of growth and urbanisation on vital ecosystems.

It analyses data collected every 15 minutes from meteorological, surface, subsurface and groundwater sensors and monitors rain and snowfall, soil moisture, water turbidity, flow rates, temperature and well water quality.

Manitoba proposes new Lake Winnipeg plan

The Manitoba Government of Canada proposed a $320m five-year plan, which aims to save Lake Winnipeg by reducing the blue-green algae poisoning the water.

The first comprehensive surface water management strategy and multi-year surface water management investment in the province, the strategy aims to retain the benefits that wetlands provide.

Industrial development on the prairies has lead to the draining of around 75% of the original wetlands in Manitoba, impairing the natural ability of waterways to retain, release and refresh water over time.

Scottish Water upgrades water mains in Greenock and Skelmorlie

Scottish Water completed a major upgrade of 27 miles of water mains in Greenock and Skelmorlie in western Scotland.

The £3.4m project will benefit around 16,500 customers. It solves the problem of discoloured water, which has affected several customers in the past.

George Leslie contractors carried out the work for Scottish Water, which involved the relining of 14 miles of mains, the cleaning and swabbing of around 10 miles of mains and the replacement of around one mile of mains.

Thames Water to pay fines over misreporting data

UK-based utility Thames Water agreed to pay £86m to customers and communities following The Water Services Regulation Authority’s (Ofwat) investigation into the firm’s reporting of sewer flooding data in 2010.

The utility will reduce its regulatory capital value (RCV) by £79m. It will give also give back £7m, of which £2m will go into the independently managed Thames Water Trust Fund which assists customers who are having difficulty paying their bills. The other £5m will go to support additional community projects such as local programmes to better protect rivers and improve the natural environment.

Ofwat investigated Thames Water’s misreporting of the number of properties at high risk of sewer flooding between 2005 and 2010. The misreporting resulted in poorly targeted and inefficient spending of customers’ money, according to the authority.

Black & Veatch and AECOM secure engineering contract for Singapore water project

Singapore national water agency PUB selected a joint venture between Black & Veatch and AECOM to provide engineering services for Phase 2 of the Deep Tunnel Sewerage System (DTSS).

DTSS Phase 2 has been designed to extend DTSS to the western side of Singapore through the 18.6-mile-long South Tunnel, 44 miles of link sewers, the Tuas Water Reclamation Plant (WRP) and an estimated 7.5-mile deep-sea outfall.

With three centralised collection and treatment points, including Changi WRP in the east, Kranji WRP in the north and Tuas WRP in the west, the entire DTSS will result in a 50% reduction in land taken by used-water infrastructure.