FCC to manage Mecca WWTPs, Saudi Arabia

Spanish firm FCC Aqualia has secured a contract comprising the operation and maintenance of the two largest wastewater treatment plants in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, in consortium with the local company Alkhorayef Water and Power Company.

The wastewater treatment plants in Hadda and Arana treat an average water flow of 250,000 m3/day and a have a maximum capacity to treat 375,000 m3/day. The contract will run for three years and has a business portfolio of €20 million.

Mecca has a stable population of 1.5 million people, growing considerably higher during visits by pilgrims when an estimated 13 million annual visits occur each year. This situation creates significant variations in the water flow from the source to the treatment plants.

In 2010 FCC Aqualia was chosen to optimise the water supply network in the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh.

Since January 2012, FCC Aqualia, in consortium with the local company MACE Contractors, has been overseeing the water sanitation and purification in the eastern area of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, which stretches 2,400 km in length. It was in December 2014 when FCC, in conjunction with Hyundai Rotem, began to operate in Qatar.

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VA Tech Wabag(s) Bahrain WWTP Deal

Together with joint venture firm, Belhasa Projects, water treatment company VA Tech Wabag has secured its first engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) order in Bahrain. Under the contract the company will provide EPC services for the new town being developed in Bahrain, known as Al Madina Al Shamaliya. The 40,000 m3/day project is expected to include tertiary filtration and sludge treatment and will cater for the entire irrigation water requirements for all 13 islands at the location.

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Suez: Good Things Come in SMAEL Packages

The Lys Water Supply Syndicate (SMAEL) has chosen SUEZ environnement to produce its drinking water under the terms of a five-year public service delegation contract that will take effect on 1 January 2016.

As part of the contract, worth 23 million euros, SUEZ will produce 20 million cubic metres of drinking water.

The drinking water production plant in Aire sur la Lys, France, has the capacity to produce 100,000 m3/day and will be equipped with two predictive tools that, according to SUEZ, can help it to adapt to the conditions of the local water resources.

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Ghubra Trial Operation Starts Oman's Desal Surge

The 210,000 m3/day new desalination plant planned in Ghubra, Oman has started trial operations with the aim to be fully commissioned by early 2016.

Mohammad al-Mahuruqi, chairman of the Public Authority for Electricity & Water (PAEW) told local press that the trials would produce 50,000 m3/day of desalinated water.

It was at the end of 2012 when the independent water project (IWP) was awarded to a consortium of Japan's Sumitomo Corporation, in conjunction with Malaysia's Malakoff Corporation Berhad and Spanish firm Cadagua SA.

Under a build-own-operate (BOO) project, the constructed facilities will be operated and maintained over a 20-year period, with operation slated to commence in September 2014.

The project is expected to cost up to approximately US$377.8 million in total. Sumitomo Corporation and Malakoff will respectively invest in 45% of the shares of the project company as major shareholders.

The two companies will also establish an operation and maintenance (O&M) company for active involvement in the contract.

Oman's daily water demand currently amounts to about 700,000 cubic metres and is expected to continue growing by 2-3% per year.

Demand is notably increasing in the metropolitan area centered on Muscat, and the Government of Oman is planning to launch multiple IWPs to address the situation.

One of these was the Qurayyat 200,000 m3/day desalination project, awarded at the end of 2014 to Singapore firm Hyflux under a design, build own and operate contract. The plant is expected to be in operation by May 2017 under a 20-year water purchase agreement.

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Singapore's Wastewater Reuse Mark II

Water technology company Xylem has been awarded a contract worth more than $500,000 to supply ultraviolet (UV) disinfection solutions for the second Changi Water Reclamation Plant in Singapore.

An initiative of the Singapore Water Reclamation Study, also known as the NEWater Study, the second Changi Water Reclamation Plant will be operational in 2016.

The project will include microfiltration, reverse osmosis and Xylem's Wedeco Spektron 2000e UV disinfection system.

Johnson Tang, MD of construction firm UESH Holdings Pte, said: This second Changi water reclamation plant is another important step toward Singapore securing the majority of its water needs from reused water."