February top stories: Thames Water plans investment, Jordan deal to replenish Dead Sea

Thames Water launches £4bn capital investment programmes

Thames Water has set up a collaborative initiative eight2O and infrastructure alliance in the UK to carry out £4bn of capital investment programmes and network and developer services over the next five years.

Thames Water chief executive Martin Baggs said: "The alliances will change the way we work and change the mindset, but it’s fantastic to have a team that’s all working together, focusing on our priorities of health and safety and customer service. Problems will be problems for all of us but we’ll share the benefits as well."

The eight2O initiative includes two design and build joint ventures, along with a programme manager in MWH and technology innovator IBM, for which Thames Water is both the client and partner.

Jordan and Israel sign co-operation agreement to restore water to the Dead Sea

Jordan has signed a bilateral water co-operation agreement with Israel which is aimed at building a pipeline to restore the Dead Sea to address regional water shortages.

The $800m deal follows the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by the two countries along with Palestine in December 9, 2013, reports Agence France-Presse.

The project, which has been termed as the ‘Red-Dead’, will involve construction of pipelines connecting the Red Sea to the Dead Sea.

 

Researchers develop nanocomposite membranes for desalination and water sweetening in Iran

Researchers at Arak University in Iran have produced samples of nanocomposite membranes which, besides having desalination properties, can also help in sweetening of water.

The membrane samples can eliminate heavy metal residues from waste water, reports the Iranian Fars News Agency (FNA).

Comprising of Titanium dioxide nanoparticles, the membranes can be used for purifying industrial wastewater, especially in the petrochemical industry.

Greenhouse emissions could increase risks of megadroughts in parts of US, says NASA

Rising greenhouse gas emission could increase the risk of severe droughts in US Southwest and Central Plains, a Nasa study found.

Drought conditions in these regions during the last half of this century is likely to be worse and last longer than in the last 1,000 years, according to a study.

Published in the journal ‘Science Advances’, the study is based on computer projections from multiple climate models, one of which had been funded by the US agency.

Florida plans $1.6bn for restoration of springs in US

Florida Governor Rick Scott has announced plans for $1.6bn funding for restoration of freshwater springs in the state, to be performed over a period of 20 years.

The investment plan is a part of his proposed 2015-2016 ‘Keep Florida Working’ budget.

The springs are likely to undergo $50m of restoration efforts next year, once the proposal receives approval from the state legislature.

UK researcher develops method to decompose desalination waste brine

A scientist from Aston University in the UK has proposed a new method to decompose waste desalination brine using solar energy.

The process claimed to minimalise the damaging ecological effect caused by desalination and neutralise ocean acidity.

A system has been developed by Dr Philip Davies of Aston’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, which he claims will allows desalination plants to act as a sink instead of being a source of atmospheric carbon dioxide.

Siemens and Mapal Green Energy team up to deliver wastewater treatment technology in UK

Siemens has formed a partnership with Israel based Mapal Green Energy for supply of the latter’s floating fine bubble aeration system (FFBA) for wastewater treatment in the UK.

Under the partnership, both the companies work together to deliver Mapal’s innovative water technology.

Mapal will give support to Siemens in the wider delivery of the systems, product lifecycle costing analysis and comprehensive industry technology expertise to support wastewater treatment operators.

Siemens to expand M-Station power and desalination plant in Dubai

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority has awarded a AED 1.47bn ($400m) contract to Siemens for expansion of M-Station power production and desalination plant.

The facility said to be the newest and largest power production and desalination plant in the UAE, built at an investment of AED 10bn ($2.7bn).

Mott MacDonald is the consultant for the project, which generates 140 million of imperial gallons of water daily along with 2,060MW of power.

United Water to use smart water technology solutions from Sensus in the US

US based water utility United Water (UW) has selected water technology solutions from Sensus to improve leak detection, non-revenue water and customer service in New York and New Jersey.

UW is a subsidiary of French utility Suez Environnement.

According to the deal, Sensus will deploy and manage smart communication network for UW, which will include the Sensus FlexNet system, 325,000 smart endpoints and Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions.

Anglian Water selects i2O Water’s technology solution for leakage reduction

UK based water firm Anglian Water has selected smart water networks company i2O Water to provide its technology solution to meet additional water demands in the future besides improving its service efficiency.

The firm will use i2O’s monitoring software which features remote control and automatic pressure management technologies to help the water utility in improving water supply efficiency.

The firm intends to prevent leakage and has agreed to cut down its present leakage levels by over 20 mld by 2020, according to its AMP6 investment plans.