Water & Wastewater Asia March/April 2019

MICA (P) No: 120/05/2018 • ISSN: 2010-233X • KDN: PPS 1501/11/2012(022878) • www.waterwastewaterasia.com • MARCH/APRIL 2019

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Water & Wastewater Asia • March / April 2019 

4 Editor’s Note 

5 News 

54 SWA Newsleer 

63 Events Calendar 

64 Adverser’s Index 

Market Report 

14 Nine trends to watch in 2019 

In Person 

17 Frédéric Théry: “…sustainable soluons that addresses unique 

requirements” 

21 IDE predicts trends in 2019 

From The Ground 

24 Montreal’s water supply system gets an addional pump to increase capacity 

and flexibility 

28 Minconsult Sdn Bhd Proposes Opmal Asset Improvement programme for 

water network system 

32 Powering water access with the sun 

36 Early leak detecon significantly reduces repair cost 

Insight 

40 It’s in the mix: Rotamix® mixing systems improve process performance 

42 A cornerstone in Singapore’s water industry 

46 The Internet: People, innovaon and assets 

Opinion 

48 ‘Day Zero’ looms for India 

50 Liquid analysis: The key to efficient, economical desalinaon 

Tech Round up 

58 Agilent paves the way in water tesng 

60 ANDRITZ launches Metris addIQ control systems 

62 WesTech extends package product line 

21 24 

40 

50 

60 

62

EDITOR’S 

NOTE 

Nurturing water 

Looking back, I noce I wrote about innovaon in the water industry just one 

issue ago. But looking at the water industry now, I, along with many others, am 

coming to appreciate that innovaon in water is a never-ending virtuous cycle, 

with new innovaons blossoming from other innovaons. 

SARAH SI 

Assistant Editor 

LET'S CONNECT! 

 

@waterwastewaterasia 

However, within this cycle, the market has seled into its rhythm, the newest 

predicted trends (p. 21) and latest movement in the market (p. 14) have already 

taken centre stage, and the global water industry will soon begin bracing itself 

for the rest of the year while nurturing new innovaons and technologies. 

Analycs and pumps are just some of the areas the water industry is developing 

in this me of great paradigm shi. But changes and newly uncovered – and 

unexpected – pain points are part of the process of growing, according to 

Schneider Electric’s Mr Shanmugavel Subramaniam, who took note of an 

increasingly-obvious generaon gap. 

“The knowledge and know-how of the older generaon, the hands-on people, has 

to be transferred on to technology because the younger ones are less hands-on 

but more technologically-savvy,” he said (p. 46). 

Pumps, one of the major energy users in the world, have also turned to innovaon 

to cut down on its electrical usage. Now, companies like Grundfos are breaking 

ground with offerings like a water pumping system powered by solar energy (p.34). 

Efficient hydraulic mixing is another area which the water industry is culvang, 

with Vaughan introducing a unique soluon that could not come at a beer me 

(p. 40), especially with Singapore already looking at maximising biogas producon 

at the upcoming Tuas Nexus. 

Moreover, Singapore, already an acknowledged global hydrohub, is connuing 

to make waves in the industry. A cung-edge consorum, spearheaded by Dr 

Adil Dhalla alongside a team of academics and sciensts, is aiding membrane 

research and allowing it to flourish, with big plans to put a lile country on a 

huge map (p. 42). 

But, at the end of it all, I hope readers will take this one thing away with this 

magazine; in a me where economical uncertainty has gripped the global market 

and resulted in withheld investments, innovaon in the water industry has proven 

that is not just a fad – it is here to stay. 

Water & Wastewater Asia 

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Water & Wastewater Asia • March / April 2019

NEWS | 5 

Danfoss launches new generation of popular iSave 21 ERD 

IN response to the ever growing demand for 

energy savings in smaller SWRO plants, Danfoss 

has developed the next generation of iSave 

21 energy recovery devices for onshore and 

offshore applications. 

The highly efficient iSave 21 Plus saves up to 60 

per cent on the energy bill and is easily built into 

existing SWRO solutions to obtain the savings 

right away. 

The new iSave 21 Plus ERD, with integrated 

pressure exchanger, booster pump and 

motor in one compact unit ensures optimum 

efficiency and short payback time of 

plants ranging in size from 110 to 350m³. 

In addition, it is ideal for applications 

where space is limited, with the new design 

allowing both vertical and horizontal installation. 

“We are proud to introduce the new 

iSave 21 Plus in response to the growing 

demand for energy efficient SWRO. The 

pressure boost of the iSave 21 has been 

increased from three to five bar in the 

new version to ensure high reliability,” 

says Jesper Bentzen, Sales Director. 

“Furthermore, the new iSave 21 Plus is 

highly efficient and runs with long service 

intervals.” 

SAVINGS 

iSave 21 Plus captures hydraulic energy 

from the high pressure reject stream of 

the SWRO process and transfers the 

energy back into the system, reducing the 

energy consumption by up to 60 per cent 

regardless of flow rate and size of the 

system. 

Besides the substantial savings during 

operation, iSave 21 Plus cuts CAPEX by 

reducing the required pump size and the 

number of pipes and components. 

The iSave 21 Plus will also be on display at 

the upcoming Water Philippines. WWA 


6 | NEWS 

LACROIX Group reinforces activity toward 

“Smart Environment” 

LACROIX Group has passed a major 

milestone by acquiring SAE IT-systems, the 

German provider of connected equipment 

to monitor and secure electric grid and 

renewable energy infrastructure. 

With 75 employees and €15 million (US$16.9 

million) in revenue, SAE IT-systems will 

bring new skills to LACROIX’s portfolio, 

and will radically strengthen LACROIX 

Group’s positions in the Smart Environment, 

especially in a time when the increasing 

scarcity of water, energy, and raw materials 

makes it essential to optimise their use and 

control. 

LACROIX, through its Smart Environment 

activity, is the French leading equipment 

provider for water and heating infrastructure 

management. With SAE IT-systems, LACROIX 

will now be able to address the electric 

grids challenges of tomorrow, such as 

the integration, monitoring and control of 

renewable sources of energy, the creation of 

intelligent distribution networks and control 

of consumptions. 

All these new skills will ensure LACROIX’s 

place in the energy networks and “smart 

grids” markets. 

STEP-BY-STEP INTEGRATION 

At first, SAE IT-systems will be integrated 

as a distinct entity, keeping its own brand, 

management team and strategy. 

“Both companies need to get used to each 

other, to display our full potential. We share 

a similar philosophy with complementary 

offers and positioning,” Vincent Bedouin, 

CEO of the LACROIX Group, said. “We 

Vincent Bedouin and Joachim Schuster ink LACROIX’s acquisition of SAE IT-systems 

aim at implementing synergies in a very SAE IT-systems’ Joachim Schuster said. 

pragmatic way in many areas such as 

product development or R&D.” 

“Smart environment is a growing market, 

with a huge need of connected technologies 

A LOT TO SHARE 

to face critical issues of our planet. To tackle 

Both companies have a lot in common: our future challenges, we need to reach a 

Shared vision on the environment, critical size, an international positioning 

complementary positions on the smart and keep a high level of expertise. SAE ITsystems 

is the best partner to achieve this 

environment market and similar views on 

international development. 

strategy,” Bedouin underlined with the same 

enthusiasm, while also taking note of the 

“We, at SAE IT-systems, are really confident long-term goal of this external growth. WWA 

with this new step of our development. 

By sharing views and opportunities with 

LACROIX, we will be able to expand 

on strategic markets and address new 

opportunities. Our future is looking bright”, 


NEWS | 7 

Teck commissions IDE 

Technologies to design and 

supply a modular SWRO 

desalination plant 

IDE Technologies, a world leader in water treatment solutions, 

announced that it has been chosen by Teck Resources Limited to 

design and supply the desalination plant for the Quebrada Blanca 

Phase 2 (QB2) project in Chile. 

QB2 is an extension of Teck’s existing Quebrada Blanca operation, 

and the desalination plant will be located at the port site for the 

QB2 copper mine in the Tarapacá region. It is set to be the second 

largest seawater desalination plant in Chile. 

IDE’s experience encompasses more than 400 desalination plants 

worldwide, with more than 20 successfully operating desalination 

plants in Chile. The new SWRO desalination plant for the QB2 

project will produce high-quality water for use in the copper 

concentrator, and IDE’s design of the QB2 desalination plant will 

be in accordance with the stringent environmental requirements 

and safety regulations in Chile. 

“IDE’s experience in South America and worldwide, and their 

commitment to high environmental standards were key factors 

in their selection for the QB2 project,” said Karl Hroza, Project 

Director, QB2, Teck. 

IDE has extensive experience designing large-scale modular RO 

plants for the mining sector and is aware of the common practices 

and the challenges facing the mining industry. Their modular 

solution simplifies the installation of the plant while reducing 

installation and startup time and cost. IDE will work closely with 

Teck to ensure that the QB2 desalination plant meets its availability 

and reliability goals. 

“We’re excited to partner with Teck in providing high-quality water in 

an economical and sustainable manner, to support the expansion of 

this mine,” said Guy Sagie, CEO, IDE Projects. “Our modular SWRO 

desalination design is an excellent solution for remote locations 

due to the use of prefabricated modules with minimal maintenance 

requirements. Once completed, the QB2 desalination plant will 

deliver a consistent and reliable supply of water for daily mining 

operations.” WWA 


8 | NEWS 

Veolia Water Technologies has launched 

AQUAVISTA Plant, a complete digital plant solution 

VEOLIA WATER TECHNOLOGIES has launched 

AQUAVISTA Plant, a holistic digital solution 

composed of a suite of intelligent software 

solutions for real-time optimisation of 

process performance. It provides a stateof-the-art 

auto-pilot to optimise the whole 

wastewater system, including sewer network 

and treatment plant. 

AQUAVISTA Plant focuses on real-time 

automated optimisation of the consumption 

of energy and chemicals, biological and 

hydraulic capacity enhancement, stable 

operation and compliance of wastewater 

treatment plants and sewer networks. 

REAL-TIME PERFORMANCE 

OPTIMISATION 

More than 50 features are available today, 

from activated sludge, Biofilter, MBBR, UASB, 

and even anaerobic digesters, anammox 

processes and sewer networks – making it 

the most comprehensive digital offer for the 

water industry. 

AQUAVISTA Plant can analyse several sensor 

measurements in real time and, based on a 

holistic analysis across all the data collected, 

will make optimised set-points available 

in real time for all parts of the wastewater 

treatment plant and sewer network. 

“The operator will still be in control of the 

operation since he is the one who defines 

the strategy according to what AQUAVISTA 

Plant has to optimise,” Aude Giard, Chief 

Digital Officer at Veolia Water Technologies, 

explained. 

IMPROVED OPERATION, REDUCED 

COSTS 

AQUAVISTA Plant is currently implemented 

across several countries with hundreds 

of wastewater treatment plants already 

connected and benefiting overall OPEX 

savings, more hydraulic capacity, improved 

effluent quality at the wastewater treatment 

plant, and a reduction of combined sewer 

overflows (CSOs). 

“As a manager of a utility, AQUAVISTA Plant 

lets me know what we get for our money and 

how we are performing, helping us lower the 

costs of our operations,” said Per Holm, CEO 

of BlueKolding. 

“The fact that it is a cloud-based solution 

means that our data security is on a very high 

level and that’s very important to us.” 

MAXIMUM SECURITY 

Data security is ensured according to the 

AQUAVISTA Digital Platform security 

practices, covering various levels of data 

management. Cloud security is ensured 

by secure communication through 

encryption and certificates, rolebased 

user access, and strictly 

one-way communication 

from the plant to the cloud. 

WWA 

With combined optimisation, the wastewater 

treatment plant and the sewer network can 

perform as one integrated treatment system, 

for the maximum benefit of the environment 

and the treatment costs. 


NEWS | 9 

The Malaysia International Water Convention set to return 

THE Malaysia International Water Convention (MIWC) is a one stop 

shop for inspiration, insights, showcases, and new connections, 

offering a range of programmes: The Water Utilities Leaders Summit, 

MIWC Conference, MIWC Exhibition & Water Loss Asia exhibition, 

Water Awards, workshops and many more networking opportunities. 

MIWC 2019 will be held at Malaysia International Trade and 

Exhibition Centre Kuala Lumpur from the 1 st to the 3 rd of October 

2019, and brought to you by Malaysia Water Association (MWA). 

MWA has been organising Water Malaysia, a biennial international 

exhibition and conference that encompasses all across the entire 

water cycle, since 1991. 

MIWC’s focus on Water 4.0 will bring together scientists, engineers, 

governmental representatives, international aid agencies, technology 

innovators and utility companies from around the world to share 

the most relevant water-related topics and issues for discussion, 

and presents the latest products, innovations and solutions and 

technologies for the water industry. WWA 

The seventh edition of Water Loss Asia, a specialised Non-Revenue 

Water event, will also be held concurrently. These two events alone 

bring over 4,500 water professionals, 500 delegates and around 

250 convening organisations from more than 30 countries. 

MIWC 2019 is designed to prepare industry professionals to be 

future-ready for embracing disruptions to transform the water 

sector to secure our future. A successful, sustainable, and low-cost 

water and wastewater service relies on breaking down resistance to 

technological innovation and new ways of working. 

With this objective in view, MIWC 2019 will focus on Transformation 

of Water Utilities and Water 4.0 in the new era of Sustainable 

Development Goals (SDG) which is well underway with 17 goals, 

169 targets and 232 indicators seeking nothing less than global 

transformation. It will help the water utilities to discover cutting edge 

technologies and learn how digital disruption affects Water Utilities 

value chain, and the best practices for transforming water utilities. 

The exhibition will also enable participants and exhibitors to stay 

ahead of the curve and to get the vibe of the current and future 

market trends and how we can take advantage of them. 


10 | NEWS 

IWA and IDB launch digital platform 

THE International Water Association (IWA) 

and the Inter-American Development Bank 

(IDB) have jointly launched the digital 

AquaRating Community of Practice for water 

professionals at a water utilities workshop 

in Quito, Ecuador. This digital platform aims 

to promoting improvement of water and 

sanitation services through exchange of 

knowledge, experiences and good practices 

among its members. 

Specially designed for professionals who 

work to improve the performance of water 

utilities through the AquaRating method, 

it is a pioneering system of comprehensive 

performance evaluation of water and 

sanitation service providers. It allows them 

to identify improvement opportunities to 

offer quality services, ensure coverage, and 

operate more efficiently. 

Today, more than 60 water and sanitation 

companies across the world use AquaRating 

to improve their performance and efficiency 

in water resource management, and it 

is also a reference model for regulators, 

government institutions, cooperation agents 

for development, and funders, among others. 

“The AquaRating Community of Practice 

aims to capture the experience of water 

companies that have applied AquaRating so 

that other companies can learn from these 

applications and achieve greater benefits by 

using the tools that support them on their 

journey to meet the Sustainable Development 

Goals,” stated Kala Vairavamoorthy, 

IWA Executive Director. 

Hosted in the digital environment of 

IWA Connect, the online platform of the 

International Water Association, the 

AquaRating Community of Practice is open to 

water professionals committed to improving 

the efficiency of their companies, who are 

passionate about generating collective 

solutions to global water challenges. WWA 

Hong Kong appoints turns to Black & Veatch to protect 

town against floods 

The Drainage Services Department (DSD) of 

the Government of the Hong Kong Special 

Administrative Region (HKSAR) appointed 

Black & Veatch to formulate and design a 

barrage scheme to improve flood protection 

levels in Yuen Long, a low-lying town. 

The barrage scheme is part of DSD’s strategy 

to provide world-class wastewater and 

stormwater drainage services to enable the 

sustainable development of Hong Kong. 

Black & Veatch optimised the original flood 

alleviation scheme and identified a favourable 

site for the stormwater infrastructure. 

“The barrage scheme will be the first of 

its kind in Hong Kong that utilises a series 

of large-capacity pumps and tidal barrier 

for flood protection. We are committed to 

supporting our clients with leading-edge 

solutions that are versatile, cost-effective, 

resilient and environmentally sustainable,” 

said Andy Kwok, managing director, Black & 

Veatch Hong Kong. 

The scheme will comprise of a tidal barrier 

that prevents backflow of seawater from 

Deep Bay to the Yuen Long town centre 

during high tides. It will also feature a 

pumping station that conveys stormwater 

from upstream for discharge during high 

tides and high intensity rainstorm events. 

The tidal barrier can be raised to cater for 

rise in sea levels to safeguard the low-lying 

areas from flooding. 

The benefits include improving the drainage 

performance of Yuen Long Nullah – an open 

concrete stormwater channel – through 

downstream pumping during severe 

rainstorm events. 

Black & Veatch will design the barrage 

scheme to align with DSD’s revitalisation 

of more than two kilometres of the nullah 

by incorporating a green environment and 

promoting biodiversity, beautification and 

water-friendly activities. WWA 


NEWS | 11 

Co-digestion of food waste and used water sludge 

enhances biogas production for greater energy generation 

RESULTS from a trial project to co-digest food 

waste and used water sludge have shown that 

the process can triple biogas yield, compared 

to the treatment of used water sludge alone. 

Through the two-year trial, which started in 

December 2016, PUB, Singapore’s National 

Water Agency, as well as the National 

Environment Agency (NEA), explored the 

viability of collecting and transporting sourcesegregated 

food waste from various premises, 

to the demonstration facility at the Ulu Pandan 

Reclamation Plant for co-digestion with used 

water sludge. 

As part of the trial, up to 40 tonnes of used 

water sludge and food waste from 23 premises 

were treated daily at the facility. The mixture 

of used water sludge and food waste would 

then undergo anaerobic digestion, a biological 

process that breaks down organic materials in 

the absence of oxygen, to produce up to 40 

per cent more biogas for energy generation. 

“Positive results from the trial show that it is 

possible to make the used water treatment 

process in water reclamation plants more 

energy self-sufficient. We can therefore 

achieve greater synergy by co-locating the 

facilities of used water sludge and food waste 

treatment, which will be implemented at the 

new Tuas Nexus,” said Mr Harry Seah, PUB 

Assistant Chief Executive, Future Systems 

and Technology. 

“This is also in line with our continued efforts 

to innovate and leverage technologies that 

will allow us to meet future water demand at 

today’s energy footprint.” 

Co-digestion of food waste and used water 

sludge will be implemented at the new 

Integrated Waste Management Facility 

(IWMF) and Tuas Water Reclamation Plant 

(WRP) – collectively known as the Tuas 

Nexus – which are scheduled to be completed 

in 2025. The Tuas Nexus will harness 

potential synergies and reap the benefits of 

a Water-Energy-Waste Nexus to maximise 

both resource and energy recovery while 

minimising environmental footprint. WWA 


12 | NEWS 

Bentley Systems announces OpenUtilities solutions for DER 

BENTLEY SYSTEMS has launched 

OpenUtilities DER Planning & Design 

Assessment Solutions, their latest electric 

utility software offering providing decision 

support and cost-based models and 

simulations for Distributed Energy Resources 

(DER) integration. 

In partnership with Siemens’ Digital Grid 

business unit, OpenUtilities Solutions for 

DER empowers electric utilities, electricity 

suppliers, and distribution network operators 

(DSO) with software applications to analyse, 

design, and evaluate DER interconnection 

requests through desktop and cloud-based 

services, while supporting the reliability 

and resilience of network operations. 

OpenUtilities Solutions for DER can also 

create automatic network analysis models for 

Siemens’ PSS®SINCAL with the integration 

of GIS-based network data. 

OpenUtilities DER Optioneering provides an initial screening and hosting capacity analysis (HCA) to improve 

customer response time and integrate DER into grid planning, operations and long-term investment 

decisions 

With the increasing penetration of DER into 

the grid, utilities need digital applications 

to handle the increasing demand for DER 

interconnections and collaborate across 

work groups. OpenUtilities DER Optioneering 

offers a cloud-based decision support initial 

screening and supplemental screening 

mechanism to evaluate DER interconnection 

requests using validation checkpoints and 

hosting capacity analysis. 

OpenUtilities Analysis gives power system 

engineers a mechanism to reduce the 

amount of manual work required at each step 

of an impact analysis study, and also enables 

power system planners to better forecast 

and model the grid for decentralised energy 

without disrupting current operations. 

The application provides the ability 

to analyse both planned and existing 

infrastructure, optimise equipment sizing, 

and estimate materials and labour costs 

The OpenUtilities Analysis framework enables power systems planning engineers to more efficiently 

perform simulations to study the potential impacts of increased DER penetration 

for DER projects, helping utilities minimise 

design construction costs associated with 

DER and streamline the DER interconnection 

process with detailed cost estimation 

included with the impact analysis studies. 

“We are excited to provide new value 

to power utilities and industrial power 

customers with our strategic partnership 

with Siemens,” Vonnie Smith, vice president 

of energy infrastructure for Bentley Systems, 

said. “Through an open Connected Data 

Environment, these new applications will 

help utility owners and operators share 

critical information to realise the potential of 

their network models for continuous benefit 

throughout the day-to-day running of their 

organisations.” WWA 


NEWS | 13 

Grundfos honoured as Top Best Supplier for 

third consecutive year 

“We are proud that our solutions continue to rank among the top in the 

world, not only in terms of quality, but also in terms of serving the needs 

of the industries and people in the markets we operate in.” 

The M-Team first began as a collaboration between four major machine 

tools makers in 2006 with the aim of helping domestic companies boost 

product quality and help Taiwan’s machine tool manufacturers sharpen 

their international competitive edge. The M-team family now boasts over 

30 key suppliers in the machine tools industry. 

“Grundfos Taiwan has demonstrated excellence across all aspects, and 

has once again set the benchmark for other suppliers within the M-Team 

family,” M-Team Chairman and Chairman of the Quaser Machine Tools Inc. 

Mr Jui-Mu Hsieh, said. “We are confident that Grundfos Taiwan’s knowledge 

and expertise will continue to propel the local machine tool industry to 

greater heights. WWA 

M-Team Chairman Jui-Mu Hsieh (left) hands the ‘Top Best Supplier’ 

award to John Pien, Grundfos Taiwan’s Plant Director 

GRUNDFOS TAIWAN has been named by the Taiwan Machine 

Tool Manufacturers Alliance, or M-Team, as ‘Top Best Supplier’ 

for the third year running, the highest accolade recognising 

exceptional performance and industrial excellence amongst 

its members from the machine tools industry. 

Grundfos Taiwan first joined the M-Team as a supplier in 2012. 

After winning the ‘Best Supplier’ award for three consecutive 

years, Grundfos Taiwan was conferred the title of ‘Top Best 

Supplier’, first in 2016, again in 2017, and 2018. The award 

ceremony was held in conjunction with M-Team’s annual general 

meeting. 

The ‘Top Best Supplier’ award was inaugurated in 2016, with 

the aim of recognising outstanding suppliers who have won the 

‘Best Supplier’ award for three consecutive years, distinguishing 

themselves as being amongst the industry’s very best. 

“We are honoured to be recognised once again, by an 

industry alliance, as a leader in supplying pumping solutions 

to the machine tool market. This award is testament to our 

commitment in leading industry innovation by focusing on local 

infrastructure and technology development,” Grundfos Taiwan’s 

Plant Director, John Pien, said. 


14 | MARKET REPORT 

Nine Water Trends 

TO Watch in 2019 

Water is at a 

crossroad 

whereby 

historical and proven 

water and wastewater 

utility management 

practices are being 

challenged. There are 

now calls for increased 

adoption for more 

advanced solutions 

By Keith Hays, Vice President and Co-Founder of Bluefield Research 

such as digital water, 

reclaimed water uses and 

decentralised treatment, which are compelling water service providers to pay attention. 

As 2019 continues to trudge onward, Bluefield Research has identified the top nine 

trends to lookout for across the global water markets. 

THE WATER INDUSTRY 

LOOKS TO ADDRESS LEAK 

MANAGEMENT 

With leakage continue to be a key issue plaguing the water industry, 

investment in pipes continues to dominate water infrastructure 

spend. Companies are prioritising leakage management, as seen 

through increased M&A activity, highlighted by Xylem’s acquisition 

of Pure Technologies and Trimble’s partnership with Aquarius 

Spectrum. In response to regulator Ofwat’s focus on leakage, the 

large, regional utilities of the U.K. continue to lead peers in terms of 

technology adoption. Interest in digital water technology across the 

Australian water sector is scaling to match interest in metering and 

leakage management with that of wastewater network monitoring. 

FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS 

INVESTING IN DIGITAL 

WATER 

Venture capital players continue to provide a key finance mechanism 

for solutions providers. Bluefield has tracked 193 investments since 

2018, across 91 companies in 13 countries. These investments, 

now surpassing US$815 million of disclosed deals, are being 

executed in an environment in which more advanced technologies 

are penetrating a mature water sector. This activity is highlighted 

by XPV’s buyout of Metasphere, and Suez Ventures acquisition of 

Optimatics, and reinforce the water industry’s appetite for digital 

solutions. 


MARKET REPORT | 15 

INDUSTRIAL 

COMPANIES ADJUST 

WATER MANAGEMENT 

PRACTICES TO FOCUS 

ON BOTTOM LINES 

Analysis of more than 300,000 industrial facilities, across 3,000 

counties, clearly highlights the focus on wastewater reuse as a key 

focus of change in the US$12 billion U.S. & Canada water markets. 

While overall water use for industrials is declining through technology 

improvements and an evolving U.S. industrial footprint, the allocation 

of water spend is changing within this smaller pie towards more 

advanced treatment applications. 

INVESTOR-OWNED 

UTILITIES ALTER 

MUNICIPAL WATER 

LANDSCAPE 

The role of private companies in water is changing with some large 

merger and acquisition (M&A) activities, new market entrants, 

and outsiders looking in for opportunities. The ongoing rollout 

of fair market value laws and other favourable state and federal 

legislation across the United States is further driving M&A activity 

by investor-owned utilities such as American Water, Suez, and Aqua 

America. These regulations are enabling municipalities another 

path to address deficient infrastructure, increasing demand on 

capacity, and financial shortfall. 


16 | MARKET REPORT 

WASTEWATER REUSE 

CONTINUES TO PLAY 

A KEY ROLE IN WATER 

STRATEGY 

From breweries to tech firms, companies continue to invest in water 

reuse as part of their overall water strategy. Intel is completing 

a US$25 million recycling facility in Oregon, which was preceded 

by its plan to return 100 per cent of its recycled water back to 

communities by 2025. In this era of water scarcity and resiliency, 

reclaiming wastewater for reuse may hold the key to long-term water 

supply. Decentralised water and wastewater treatment will continue 

to increase in importance, as utilities work with commercial property 

owners to reclaim or reuse wastewater. 

THE CONVERGENCE 

OF INFRASTRUCTURE 

PROGRESSES 

Utilities are capitalising on synergies between water and energy. 

Water utility Aqua America had just bought People’s Natural Gas 

in a US$4.27 billion deal while natural gas utilities are also buying 

up water companies. For instance, NW Natural announced its 

expansion into the water utility sector last, buying small water 

companies in Oregon, Idaho and Washington. This came at the 

same time that Massachusetts-based gas and electric service 

provider Eversource acquired Aquarion, a water utility. 

RESILIENCE IS CRITICAL 

FOR WATER STRATEGY 

Resiliency has become a priority for utilities’ capital allocations 

due to climate change; which include algae blooms to hurricanes 

and drought. With these large storm events, more emphasis on 

wastewater and storm water impacts on the environment are 

placed. For instance, municipal water systems — from Florida to 

Oregon — are experiencing greater financial burdens due to toxic 

algae blooms threatening the safety of drinking water supplies. 

SMART CITIES DEPLOY 

NEW APPROACHES TO 

ADDRESS WATER RATES, 

FUND INFRASTRUCTURE 

IMPROVEMENTS. 

Water rates are on the rise. Across the 50 largest metropolitan 

areas in the U.S., monthly water bills average US$40.35 and 

monthly wastewater bills average US$56.00. Combined water 

and wastewater bills have increased an average of 4.07 per cent 

per year over the past five years. Cities are taking innovative 

approaches to address water rates, and infrastructure funding. 

Green bonds are also growing in popularity reflecting a broader 

shift toward innovative water infrastructure finance. 

WASTEWATER TO 

BECOME A REVENUE 

GENERATOR 

The annual operating costs at wastewater treatment plants average 

about US$151 per person served, exceeding the cost of providing 

water service by five per cent. Visionary utilities are looking to 

tap produced byproducts for alternative revenue streams. Usable 

byproducts produced from wastewater treatment processes 

include biosolids in the form of fertilisers and soil amendments, 

biogas and associated heat and power products, digester capacity 

for organic waste processing, reclaimed water, and synergies with 

an electrical grid utilising renewable power. 

About the Author: 

Keith Hays is a seasoned market insight professional with over 15 

years’ experience in the telecom and energy sectors as a management 

consultant and industry analyst. Prior to joining Bluefield, Keith built 

market insight services for Pyramid Research, Emerging Energy 

Research, and IHS in the US and Europe, providing strategy guidance 

to infrastructure investors, global energy companies, utilities, and 

equipment manufacturers. 

Mr Hays holds a BA from Columbia University in English Literature and 

Hispanic Culture, and an MBA from IESE Business School. He leads 

Bluefield Research’s team of water experts in Barcelona, Spain. 


IN PERSON | 17 

Frédéric Théry: 

“…sustainable solutions that 

addresses unique requirements” 

Water treatment is 

important and as we 

progress into 2019, 

Frédéric Théry, 

Chief Executive 

Officer, Veolia Water 

Technologies of Asia 

Pacific shares an 

exclusive interview 

on what Veolia Water 

Technologies can 

offer, and his views 

and outlook for the 

industry. 

Frédéric Théry, 

Chief Executive Officer, 

Veolia Water Technologies of 

Asia Pacific 


18 | IN PERSON 

Q: What are some of Veolia’s recently introduced/major 

sustainable water treatment technologies? 

energy used. In addition, AQUAVISTA is also able to optimise the 

life cycle costs of standard technologies and products. 

FT: Veolia is committed to delivering cutting-edge technologies and 

innovative, integrated solutions to help our clients grow sustainably. 

Our stable of water technologies enables us to help turn wastewater 

into a resource. We offer a wide range of technologies that allows 

for water to be treated for non-potable usage such as cleaning 

and washing and helps both our municipal and industrial clients to 

conserve fresh water resources. Some examples include Hydrotech 

Discfilters that we showcased at POWER-GEN Asia 2018, the Actiflo ® 

and Actiflo ® Pack high-rate sand ballasted clarifier, and membrane 

technologies offering various filtration and reverse osmosis options. 

We are also able to deliver energy-efficient water treatment services 

to clients and implement energy neutral or energy positive strategies. 

Anaerobic digestion is a proven way to produce biogas, a renewable 

energy source which can easily be converted into electricity and 

useful heat in cogeneration plants, or injected into the gas grid 

after purification using our Memgas technology. An example is 

our Memthane ® technology, an Anaerobic Membrane Bio-Reactor 

(AnMBR) which maximises renewable energy production while 

producing high-quality effluent that can be reused or discharged. 

Other advanced technologies such as thermal hydrolysis (Exelys, 

Biothelys) or co-digestion, also enable Veolia to offer clients 

energy neutral wastewater treatment plants, and our AnitaMox 

and Struvia technologies provide for sustainable treatment of, 

and resource recovery from the resulting sidestreams. 

For organisations looking for a smart solution to enhance their water 

treatment processes, our recently introduced AQUAVISTA Plant is 

a holistic digital solution comprising a suite of intelligent software 

solutions for real-time optimisation of process performance. With 

combined optimisation, the wastewater treatment plant and the 

sewer network can perform as one integrated treatment system, for 

the maximum benefit of the environment and the treatment costs 

through features offering flexible consumption of electricity (e.g. 

the module postpones the electricity consumption at the plant to 

periods where electricity can be bought at the lowest cost), reduction 

of chemical consumption and of sludge production, and reduction in 

Q: Water treatment can be energy-intensive. Is the company 

looking at offsetting the energy used for water treatment or looking 

into solving or alleviating this water-energy nexus? 

FT: Veolia’s wide range of technologies already includes several 

proven solutions for the optimisation of energy consumption and 

maximisation of gas production at wastewater treatment plants 

— creating value through the production of biogas and renewable 

energy. Some of these technologies include solar energy to power 

drinking water treatment plants in remote areas and anaerobic 

digestion combined with thermal hydrolysis or co-digestions 

(e.g. Exelys, Biothelys). 

The sludge from wastewater treatment processes is very valuable for 

energy recovery — most optimally through the production of biogas. 

Biogas is produced through the sludge digestion process and can 

be burnt in a combined heat and power system (CHP), producing 

electricity and thermal energy. Biogas can also be purified and 

injected into a city’s gas network. Another way of recovering energy 

from sludge is through sludge incineration, where energy is recovered 

in form of electricity and thermal energy — from steam or hot water. 

Hong Kong’s T-Park is a prime example of Veolia’s ability to design 

and build sustainable waste to energy solutions for our clients. The 

treatment and incineration technology used in the T-Park sludge 

incineration plant project reduces waste by 90 per cent, while 

protecting the natural environment and eliminating sea discharges. 

Heat and power are generated during sludge treatment, and used 

for the three spa pools located right next to the plant, and supplied 

4,000 households. 

The Qingdao Maidao water and wastewater treatment plant in China 

is a large coastal treatment plant featuring Veolia’s sludge digestion 

technology and a combined heat and power (CHP) system. With the 

compact waste to energy solutions used, the Qingdao Maidao plant is 

able to produce energy to meet 65 – 70 per cent of its overall needs 

— reducing the plant’s dependence on energy from the national grid, 



satisfying the municipal’s environmental priorities, and optimising 

the plant’s energy performance. 

Q: Based on Veolia’s experience, how much of wastewater can 

be treated for reuse? What are some possible ways of reusing the 

treated water? 

FT: With Veolia’s suite of technologies, up to 100 per cent of 

wastewater can be recycled and reused. The TRX sewage treatment 

plant project in Malaysia is an example of how almost all used water 

at the development will be converted for reuse for non-potable 

purposes. In addition, rather than disposing of treated wastewater 

to the environment, the TRX plant will sell the treated reuse water 

back to the commercial and domestic residents at a discounted 

rate that is lower than the cost of city water — an option that is 

both economically attractive and more environmentally sustainable. 

Increasingly, industrial clients are actively looking into maximising 

the reuse of treated effluent for different purposes within their 

production facilities, which includes using the treated effluent for 

washing and cooling towers. 

Q: How does Veolia manage traces of microbial and contaminants 

found in water and wastewater streams? 

FT: Around the world, there are growing concerns about the impact 

of trace organics, such as hormones and pharmaceuticals, in the 

water streams and the potential threats they pose on human health, 

wildlife, and the environment. Although wastewater and drinking 

water treatment solutions are designed to remove pollutants, there is 

potential for trace levels of unregulated contaminants to be present 

in treated drinking water. However, improvements in analytical 

instrumentation in recent years now enable the measurement of 

very low concentrations trace contaminants, like pharmaceuticals, 

personal care products, pesticides, and nanoparticles from both 

drinking water and wastewater. 

Veolia’s Actiflo ® Carb is equipped with a contact tank that utilises 

powdered activated carbon for the adsorption of non-flocculable 

organic matter, taste and odour compounds, pesticides, and 

emerging micro-pollutants. This is why the Actiflo ® Carb is able 

to ensure the production of drinking water of very high quality 

and is ideal for the treatment of varying polluted raw waters, as it 

makes it possible to achieve up to 95 per cent removal of pesticides 

and refractory compounds. Hence, when added to the traditional 

wastewater treatment process, the presence of phosphorus and a 

variety of trace contaminants can be greatly reduced — providing 

wastewater facilities with a way to stretch their investment while 

dramatically reducing pollution levels and achieving better water 

quality. 

Q: Is Veolia looking into seawater desalination? 

FT: Veolia Water Technologies has over 100 years of proven 

experience in desalination. Today, Veolia combines proven expertise 

with unsurpassed innovation to offer technological excellence to its 

desalination customers around the world. Within the Asia Pacific 

region, the topic of seawater desalination may not be as prominent, 

but a recent example Veolia has designed, built, and operates a 

Reverse Osmosis desalination facility in Sydney, Australia, which 

provides up to 15 per cent of the city’s daily water needs. Through 

the extended experience of its subsidiary SIDEM in both thermal 

and reverse osmosis technologies, Veolia can also offer its clients a 

combination of both thermal and reverse osmosis solutions through 

hybrid plants. Veolia is also continuously looking into innovations in 

this area to minimise the life cycle costs of membrane desalination 

plants, especially the pre- and post-treatment phases. 

Q: What are some of the challenges Veolia is facing with rising 

demand for water? 

FT: Rising demand for water have led to water scarcity issues in 

some areas. Due to this, there is more interest in solutions for water 

reuse in order to reduce the amount of fresh water needed, especially 

for industrial clients such as manufacturers. At the same time, stricter 

environmental regulations on discharge limits and limitations on 

taking up raw resources can also jeopardise a manufacturer’s license 

to operate, making it more critical to explore water reuse solutions. 

In addition, rising demand for water (both for drinking and industrial 

uses) have also led to a growing demand for compact solutions for 



wastewater treatment that can be architecturally integrated with 

ease. Veolia is receiving more requests to integrate solutions to 

existing set-ups that didn’t previously have water reuse or recovery 

plans. And that’s why compact solutions are necessary — because 

the space for them weren’t initially allocated in original facility 

designs. 

Q: How has digitalisation changed the competitive landscape for 

Veolia? Has digitalisation of water technologies driven down the 

cost of water treatment? 

FT: With the emergence of Industry 4.0, the digitalisation of 

water and wastewater treatment processes for streamlining and 

optimisation has become one of the most prominent trends in 

the industry today. The digitalisation of water and wastewater 

treatment solutions provide a clear pathway toward a more 

productive and sustainable water future. Today’s operators of water 

and wastewater treatment facilities face an array of challenges, 

including reducing operational costs, minimising costly downtime, 

and obtaining a coherent view of operating status with information 

diffused across multiple sources at any given time. Veolia offers a 

digital platform, AQUAVISTA, which provides plant personnel with 

a tool to efficiently control connected plants and water treatment 

equipment, and real-time remote monitoring of equipment data, 

dynamic alarm management, and information for operators — 

leading to improvements in efficiency and productivity. Through 

the array of offers available on the AQUAVISTA digital platform, 

customers can decide on the service level that best meets their 

current requirements. Other than the AQUAVISTA Plant mentioned 

earlier, the AQUAVISTA Portal offers clients single point of entry 

for customers with remote access & monitoring of equipment. 

AQUAVISTA Insight features a dashboard that provides key 

operational information, benchmark analysis, and KPI monitoring — 

allowing customers to make more informed decisions. And finally, the 

AQUAVISTA Assist provides customers with access to a network of 

Veolia’s process and commissioning engineers who are on standby 

to offer real-time advice. 

Q: With so many changes in the water industry, what do you think 

is ahead for the industry as a whole? 

FT: The tightening of environmental and local regulations — coupled 

with increasing water and wastewater challenges like water scarcity 

threats, climate change, and production growth in Asia Pacific 

— have led more manufacturers to acknowledge and accept the 

long-term business benefits of being socially and environmentally 

responsible. Consequently, manufacturers are starting to develop 

their own corporate environmental agendas and are more actively 

implementing new solutions to maintain a green image. Due to this, 

we foresee that companies operating in Asia Pacific will continue to 

require more savvy solutions for water and wastewater management. 

Q: What other areas of water is Veolia planning to focus on over 

the coming three to five years, if any? 

FT: Veolia will continue to offer a diverse range of sustainable 

solutions that addresses unique requirements and brings added 

value to the region. Our expanding portfolio of technologies over the 

years have enabled us to minimise the impact on the environment and 

communities while positioning us as a leading water and wastewater 

treatment solutions provider. And our specialised knowledge of 

each industry segment also enables us to apply water technologies 

specifically adapted to each client’s individual needs and to leverage 

value from water resources, regardless of the size of a project. 

For Asia Pacific in particular, Veolia will continue to contribute to 

the sustainable development in the region by providing unique 

water, wastewater, and reclaim solutions for customers from both 

the municipal and industrial sectors. We look forward to working 

in partnership with stakeholders to focus on what we do best in 

delivering results with our solutions. WWA 



IDE 

predicts 

trends in 

2019 

With 2019 beginning 

to gain momentum, 

IDE Technologies shares 

trends for the new year. 

IDE Technologies has always been one of the forerunners 

in the water industry, pinpointing trends and staying by 

them, often to unquestionably effective results – and this 

year is no different. And because 2018 came with countless 

reminders that water is an incredibly precious, yet limited 

resource, with water shortages worldwide, it also showed 

IDE the lengths needed in order to protect and conserve it. 

“It is no surprise that in 2019, we will need to actively seek 

alternative water sources in order to meet municipal and 

industrial demand,” Gilad Cohen, CEO of IDE Americas, said. 

And IDE has already begun to address these trends directly. 

Gilad Cohen, 

CEO of IDE Technologies. 

Image credited to IDE Technologies 

PREDICTIONS 

“I have been in the water industry for more than nine years and 

have seen the devastating effects El Niño can have on natural 

water resources, and in 2018, we saw some of the most drastic 

events of water shortage, such as Cape Town almost reaching 

‘Day Zero’, though above average rainfall ensured they could 

push it off for another year or so” Cohen said. 



Thus, the trends Cohen identified include 

looking for eco-friendly water solutions, 

and after another warm winter that has 

brought about less snowpack, and a need 

for controlled water demand. 

Some parts of the world are still experiencing 

moderate or severe drought, and one of the 

major factors influencing the drought is 

the form of precipitation. However, in some 

cases, snow is more beneficial than rain for 

drought relief, and a number of countries 

rely upon the build-up of a snowpack in the 

winter to melt into runoff in the spring for 

their water supply. 

But as warm weather continues to translate 

into warm winters and less snowpack fills 

natural water reservoirs, alternative water 

sources must be found yet again – especially 

with another El Niño prediction in 2019. 

CONSEQUENCES 

With industries in Southeast Asia more water 

intensive especially with the presence of the 

petrochemical, textile and food and beverage 

sectors located in the region. 

“These industries are also typically located 

within populated areas and compete over the 

use of the natural sources of fresh water,” 

Cohen pointed out. “But the price of not 

having water is also impactful on industrial 

complexes and could potentially limit water 

usage in these areas.” 

However, the water industry can, in fact, 

control demand by developing mandates for 

water reuse and conservation. Wastewater 

reuse can be a safe and sustainable source 

that reduces the need and competition over 

fresh water in municipalities. 

In addition, the industrial sector can also 

implement recycling solutions of industrial 

waste streams by adopting minimum liquid 

discharge (MLD) policies and even zero 

liquid discharge (ZLD) policies. This would 

increase water resilience and contribute 

to the reduced environmental impact the 

waste streams discharge and particularly 

the impact on fresh water resources and 

the ocean. 

SOLUTIONS 

“We have heard from our customers and 

partners that communities are increasingly 

demanding eco-friendly water solutions. 

But this isn’t just a trend that the water 

industry is seeing, but a global phenomenon 

from consumers wanting more sustainable 

products,” Cohen explained. 

IDE’s solutions, such as IDE PROGREEN, 

are environmentally-friendly and provide 

a reduced carbon footprint while also 

removing the need for chemicals in the 

seawater desalination process. 

These solutions will likely continue coming 

to the forefront, especially in Singapore as 

the country looks to the future state of its 

water and taking steps to becoming a more 

resilient and sustainable country. 

“Singapore has started by reducing the 

amount of water used by households, and 

giving each person a daily target,” Cohen 

observed. 

As the country prepares for possible 

water shortages in the future, due to 

natural weather conditions, and meeting 

the demands of growing populations, it is 

already taking the necessary steps to be 

more ecologically-friendly. 

“Continuing to find new eco-friendlier 

solutions will only benefit Southeast Asia 

and Singapore’s water sectors. By using 

eco-friendly solutions, municipalities will be 

able to provide continuous water supplies to 

residents,” Cohen continued. 

“So, for instance, waste water and brine 

discharge can be minimised to increase 

water recovery for cooling towers and power 

plants with IDE’s MAXH2O technology. The 

process also contains an RO system with 

an integrated salt precipitation unit which 

removes only the salts that can harm the 

desalination process, without the addition of 

chemicals, making it more environmentally 

friendly compared to alternatives.” 

Infrastructure solutions such as desalination 

and wastewater reuse are also viable 

options, 

“Additionally, if seawater desalination is 

already being used or is not an option, 

wastewater reuse can provide a continuous 

supply of clean, high-quality water. It is also 

a drought-proof, reliable source of water,” 

Cohen added. 

“However, before implementing a new 

infrastructure project, water managers in 

communities need to consider solutions 

that can be integrated within existing 

water systems. But an advantage is 

that by retrofitting existing systems to 

reuse wastewater, communities can have 

access to clean water and low costs for 

implementation.” 

ALTERNATIVES 

Water industries can greatly benefit from 

alternative water solutions, as it offers a way 

to provide clean drinking water to citizens as 

well as high-quality water for the industrial 

sector even as areas in Southeast Asia and 

Singapore face water shortages. 

Cohen stated, “Desalination is already being 

used in Southeast Asia and the region has 

seen notable success with this technology, 

as it provides high-quality drinking water 

for the local population.” 

There are also tremendous benefits to 

recycled water as advanced water reuse 

systems can provide a sustainable, clean 

and efficient water source for populations 

across Southeast Asia. IDE’s Eco-Reuse 

technology, for example, is already 

seeing promising results showing stable 



performance, with high RO specific flux and 

stable differential pressure, indicating that 

there is no membrane fouling. 

Though it is still in the testing phase, future 

energy savings, minimal use of chemicals 

and effective performance of the full-scale 

facility in the future have already been seen. 

There are also tremendous benefits to 

recycled water as advanced water reuse 

systems can provide a sustainable, clean and 

efficient water source for populations across 

Southeast Asia. IDE’s Eco-Reuse technology, 

for example, is already seeing promising 

results showing stable performance, 

with high RO specific flux and stable 

differential pressure, indicating that there 

is no membrane fouling. Though it is still 

in the testing phase, future energy savings, 

minimal use of chemicals and effective 

performance has already been seen. 

ADVICE 

“Eco-friendly solutions, warmer weather 

conditions and controlling water demand 

are all just some of the issues water 

leaders will continue to face in 2019,” 

Cohen said. 

According to the United Nations 

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 

report, the future of water is unnerving 

– cities will not have enough clean water 

to provide to people, water prices will 

skyrocket, and there will be ongoing conflicts 

over the little water that is available. 

“As such, water leaders need to continue 

to seek alternate water solutions before it’s 

too late to implement new technologies,” 

Cohen continued. “Now is the time to start 

thinking innovatively about the future of 

our water supply before our natural water 

sources run out.” WWA 


24 | FROM THE GROUND 

Montreal’s water supply 

system gets an additional 

pump to increase capacity 

and flexibility 

The City of Montreal turned to KSB when it initially needed pumps. But when demand 

for water rose beyond what its pumps could handle, based on past experience, they 

returned to KSB for a solution. 

By Bryan Orchard 


FROM THE GROUND | 25 

It’s always satisfying for a pump manufacturer 

to learn that its products are living up to 

expectations, even after many years of service. 

For KSB Pumps Inc., Canada, this was the scenario 

when the City of Montreal, Montreal, Canada, 

approached them in 2013 to submit a tender for 

an additional pump set in order to expand its 

Charles-J.-Des Baillets drinking water production 

plant where five KSB ME type pumps had been 

operating since 1978 and producing 1.136 million 

cubic metres of water per day. 

Accounting for 38 per cent of the total production 

capacity of the city of Montreal alone, Charles-J.- 

Des Baillets is the second largest plant in Montreal. 

The city operates six water treatment plants, with 

two major ones, namely Charles-J.-Des Baillets 

and Atwater, both of which supply potable water 

to seven subterranean reservoirs and associated 

pumping stations throughout Montreal Island and 

its outlying districts. 

HISTORY 

Fed by water from a large underground reservoir 

that is, in turn, charged by the St Lawrence River, the 

Charles-J.-Des Baillets plant purifies the water with 

a combination of filtration, ozonisation, ultraviolet 

(UV) water treatment and chlorination before 

allowing it to enter the potable water reservoir. 

Three pump sets are dedicated to one line, with the 

remaining units supplying a large reservoir located 

in the city’s boroughs. 

The city’s population has increased substantially, and 

today the water department supplies approximately 

two million residents, and both production plants 

are interconnected through sizable piping, making 

it such that in the unlikely event of one plant going 

down, water can still be supplied to the reservoirs. 

The Charles-J.-Des Baillets plant was originally 

designed to accommodate nine high-capacity 

pumps. However, only five KSB ME pumps were 

installed initially. Later, in 1990, the plant’s output 

capacity was increased with the introduction of 

another pump. 

The Charles-J.-Des Baillets plant 

in Montreal, Canada 

Although the plant was built to accommodate nine 

pumps, the water facilities could only support a 

maximum of seven pumps. However, based on their 

satisfaction with the original five pumps, the City 



The 38-ton pump with an impeller diameter of 1,905mm 

One of the original KSB ME plants that was installed when the plant was first constructed 

of Montreal requested that KSB submit a 

tender for another pump of the same design 

and capability. 

Unfortunately, after such a long interval, the 

original pumps were no longer in production. 

However, KSB circumvented the issue by 

coming up with a plan that involved making 

an updated replica – a proposal that ended 

in them winning the order. 

KSB’S MEF PUMP 

Constructed in accordance with customer 

specifications, the KSB MEF pump is a 

vertical split-case, single stage pump, that 

is an updated version of the original pumps 

supplied in 1975. 

The footprint and layout of the new pump 

resembles its older counterparts, but up-todate 

seals and optimised hydraulic elements 

have enhanced its reliability and improved 

operating efficiency. Duplicating the older 

pump configuration also simplified the 

installation of the new unit in the Charles- 

J.-Des Baillets high-pressure pump gallery. 

Having secured the contract, KSB 

manufactured the new MEF pump in Brazil, 

and shipped out the 38-ton pump with an 

impeller diameter of 1,905mm in late 2013. 

With a drive shaft measuring 5 metres in 

length and operating at a fixed speed of 400 

rpm, it delivers 4.2m³ per second at a head of 

67m. Initially planned to be used as a backup 

unit, the pump also operates in parallel 

with the existing large-capacity pumps. Due 

to its size, the pump had to be disassembled 

for shipment and reassembled on site. 

In April 2015, work commenced on the 

assembly and installation of the pump at 

the Charles-J.-Des Baillets water filtration 

plant under KSB’s supervision. Between 

May 2015 and April 2016, installation of the 

5,500 HP synchronous motor and line shaft 

was performed by the mechanical contractor. 

The next phase was the commissioning 

and configuration of the control panels and 

auxiliary electrical components undertaken 

between April 2016 and September 2017, 

with performance and acceptance tests of the 

pump conducted in October 2017. 

The hydraulic acceptance tests were 

performed on the new pump unit with 

the scope of the tests being to verify the 

contractual efficiency guarantee point of 87 

per cent at 4.2 m³/s. Summarising the key 

results, at the rated flow of 4.2m³ per second, 

the pump efficiency was 90.4 per cent; 3.4 

per cent greater than the guarantee efficiency 

of 87 per cent. The results show that the 

performance of the pump GP5 fulfilled the 

contractual guarantee obligations. 

CHALLENGES 

Installing the new pump set was not without 

its challenges, given that the area allocated 

was between two existing units and involved 

a three storey, open high-pressure pump 

gallery, and the excavation of foundations to 

accommodate the water intake pipework and 

pump volute. 

The pump gallery was constructed on three 

storeys with the motors and the control 

panels mounted on the upper floor and the 

pumps three storeys directly below on the 

bottom level. A five-metre-long drive shaft 

from the 5,500 HP motor on the upper 

floor couples to the pump below. Because 

the new pump had the same hydraulic 

configuration as its older counterparts, it was 

installed alongside them in exactly the same 

arrangement. 

KSB engineers played a significant 

role in overseeing the installation and 

commissioning of the new pump as the 

process was somewhat complicated by 

the ingress of water from the adjacent 

underground supply reservoir. Each pump 

intake was secured by two sets of stop logs, 

as compared to large gate valves, creating a 

serious problem with water infiltration into 

each intake chamber in which the pumps 

are mounted. Thus, it was necessary for 

the safety of the engineers and the 

construction personnel to continually pump 

water from the foundations during the 

construction of the intake chamber of the 

new pump. 

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION 

According to an engineer from the City of 

Montreal’s water department, the addition 

of the new pump provides more redundancy 

to the system. 



Installing the new pump involved the excavation of foundations to accommodate the water intake 

pipework and pump volute 

The motors and the control panels mounted on the upper 

floor of the three-storey pump gallery 

Under normal operating conditions, two or 

three pumps operate each morning according 

to the demand placed on the supply system. 

During the day, demand fluctuates, as does 

the number of pumps operating, and as such, 

the pumps are used at night to replenish 

water in the city’s reservoirs. 

Moreover, the department was motivated 

to stay with KSB as the pumps had 

performed very well over the 36 years since 

the original five KSB pumps had been in 

operation, with the city’s water department 

never experiencing any significant 

problems. 

“When the pumps were first installed, they 

were over-performing, thus increasing the 

load on the motors. This issue was easily 

resolved by trimming the impellers and 

since then, there have not been any issues. 

The pumps have delivered the expected 

performance and have been easy to service, 

though the importance given to scheduled 

maintenance has been a contributing factor 

in the long service,” reported the city’s 

engineer. 

“Because we know in advance when there 

The new KSB pump, installed and fully operational 

is going to be a requisite for spare or 

replacement parts, there is no need for 

us to hold any major components. With 

advance planning, KSB is able to fulfil our 

requirements.” 

All images are credited to KSB 

And with the installation and commissioning 

of the new pump, the Charles-J.-Des Baillets 

plant is now able to operate to its optimum 

design capability and with full redundancy in 

the system for the first time in 40 years. WWA 



Minconsult Sdn Bhd 

proposes Optimal Asset 

Improvement programme 

for water network system 

The project was completed within six months with Bentley’s WaterCAD 

By Cyndi Smith, Senior Industry Marketing Director, Bentley Systems 

STUDYING A MID-SIZED TOWN’S 

WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM 

When the water utility for the state of 

Pahang, Malaysia needed a comprehensive 

study conducted of the water supply system 

for a mid-sized town in the area, it appointed 

Minconsult Sdn Bhd. There were nine water 

treatment plants (WTPs) with a total capacity 

of 55,470 cubic metres per day, providing 

water to 20,186 consumers. These plants 

were old and in poor condition, containing 

antiquated and inefficient technology. 

As a result, the Pahang area faced water 

shortages and supply pressure was low 

and inconsistent, often taking one week to 

restore water supply. 

Minconsult was responsible for reviewing and 

studying water demand in the district and 

making projections of the water demand up 

to year 2030. The project team also needed 

to review and analyse the existing WTPs and 

propose upgrading works to meet water 

quality standards and increase capacity 

to serve the projected population growth. 

The organisation also examined the WTPs 

and suggested new pipeline installations 

and storage reservoir refurbishment. These 

changes to the WTPs would improve the 

facility to satisfy the projected demand. 

Additionally, Minconsult proposed new WTPs 

be erected where necessary to augment the 

water supply system, and the project team 

was responsible for surveying the land at 

these sites. The project had a short deadline 

of six months. 

PREDICTING WATER DEMAND 

Minconsult has provided multi-disciplinary 

engineering and project management 

capabilities since 1980, and is one of 

the most respected firms of independent 

project managers and consulting engineers 

in Southeast Asia. Their role in the project 

was to provide consultancy services to carry 

out the comprehensive study of the existing 

water supply system, to identify weaknesses 

and shortfalls, and to propose economic 

solutions. The project team’s study and 

recommendations would alleviate many of 

the problems with the supply system and 

ensure that water disruptions and shortages 

would not reoccur. 

The team’s objective was to evaluate, 

ascertain, and study the entire water supply 

system and provide recommendations 

for upgrading the components so that 

there would be adequate water supply to 

cater to future demand up to 2030. The 

deliverables and expected outcomes would 

include the proposed asset replacement 

and refurbishment and the cost plan with 

proposed scheduling up to 2030. However, 

the team faced many challenges, including 

a very old water network, a tight deadline 

of six months, and a limited core team of 

one team leader, one modelling specialist, 

and two engineers. Team members also 

needed to schedule asset improvements 

and construction so that funding would be 

distributed without straining the financial 

resources. 

DEVELOPING AN IMPROVEMENT 

PLAN 

To overcome these challenges, Minconsult 

leveraged Bentley’s WaterCAD to develop 

the improvement plan. To help users consider 

many different situations and possible design 

options, the team used the application to 

analyse 28 various design and operation 

scenarios and compare them using scenario 

management and graphing, improving the 

decision-making process. What-if-scenarios, 

criticality, and isolation valve features were 

instrumented in the network system analysis. 



The hydraulic network was developed from an ArcGIS spatial database and AutoCAD drawings with WaterCAD 

GENERATING A CENTRAL 

REPOSITORY FOR DATA 

One way that the Minconsult team 

incorporated successful modelling to the 

project was to ensure that the data used 

was accurate and up-to-date. This aspect 

was important because various groups 

and stakeholders needed to access the 

same database for information. By keeping 

everything in a central location, it decreased 

confusion and increased confidence in the 

data. WaterCAD allowed users to export 

and import data to and from CAD and 

spatial databases. Exchanging and updating 

data could occur quickly, without losing 

data or creating errors. Future refurbishment 

of water assets could easily be captured 

and shared across various software platforms. 

SAVING RESOURCE HOURS 

The team saved resource hours because 

WaterCAD helped reduce the time frame 

and staff input by more than half. Data 

import and export made it easy to share 

Bentley’s WaterCAD 

has an excellent 

capability to analyse 

various scenarios 

and ‘what if’ options, 

which was very 

useful to form water 

assets upgrade 

recommendations. 

WaterCAD can also 

import and export 

data seamlessly 

across various 

applications. 

Tham Yee Kiong, 

Technical Advisor, 


data across the team and with stakeholders 

while isolation valves and criticality features 

helped to quickly segment models into DMA 

zones. Leveraging WaterCAD allowed users to 

automatically develop the hydraulic network 

from an ArcGIS spatial database and AutoCAD 

drawings, eliminating the need for manual 

work. Minconsult completed the project within 

the original deadline of six months, reducing 

costs. 

IMPROVING NETWORK RELIABILITY 

By also examining water demand on the 

existing water pipe network and reservoirs, 

the projection produced more realistic 

results based on a more probable water 

growth demand and consumption. The 

simulation of the 28 different scenarios also 

resulted in a more realistic water network 

improvement. The water asset improvement 

proposal had the lowest possible cost 

to the company and a much smaller 

carbon footprint for the surrounding 

environment. 



By also examining water demand on the existing water pipe network and reservoirs, the projection produced more realistic results based on a more probable water 

growth demand and consumption 

The project also resulted in benefits for 

the local community. The project provided 

advance-planning capabilities for CAPEX 

management and planning to the utility 

company and the state government, which 

manages all its water supply networks and 

resources. The state is now quickly aware of 

any issues with the existing system and able 

to allocate the necessary resources. Effective 

water assets will be built on time, reducing 

the amount of shortages to the people and 

industries within the water network. A robust 

and reliable water infrastructure leads to 

better economic and industrial growth, 

which benefits the local community. WWA 

About the author: 

Cyndi Smith is a senior industry marketing 

director for Bentley Systems’ utilities, water, and 

communications industries. In her 16 years at 

Bentley, Smith has also led Bentley’s product 

marketing team and the global utilities solutions 

strategy as solution executive. She has an extensive 

background in the development, implementation, 

and marketing of solutions for infrastructure in 

the communications, defense, oil and gas, and 

utilities industries. 

Project Summary 

Organisation 


Solution 

Water Networks 

Location 

Pahang, Malaysia 

Project Objectives 

• Evaluate, ascertain, and study the water supply system of a medium-sized town, ensuring 

that there will be adequate supply for future water demands. 

• Propose an asset replacement and refurbishment plan scheduling up to the year 2030. 

Products Used 

WaterCAD 

Fast Facts 

• The aging water infrastructure and inefficient water system resulted in water shortages. 

• WaterCAD interoperability helped import a hydraulic network from spatial databases 

and AutoCAD drawings. 

• The Minconsult team analysed 28 what-if scenarios to assess various design and renewal 

options. 

ROI 

• The project was delivered on time within a short period of six months. 

• WaterCAD helped reduce the time frame and staff input by more than 50 per cent. 

• The new system network will improve the water supply, enabling a higher quality of life 

for the local community. 


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Powering water 

access with 

the sun 

By Leong Chee Khuan, Area Managing Director, 

South Asia and General Manager for Grundfos Pumps Sdn Bhd 

Grundfos became part of the pilot project in the 

Kahiyangan village on Pulau Tomia, Indonesia, 

providing the system to draw water from a cave 

to supply to the local community. Working with 

a local partner, Grundfos installed an irrigation 

and sinewave filter system with a renewable solar 

inverter, powered by 144 solar panels 

For many living in urban cities around 

the world, it is easy to take electricity 

for granted — turn on a power switch 

and there it is. Yet, for developing countries 

across Southeast Asia, as high as 82 per cent 

of rural communities do not have electricity. 

Access to electricity has a direct impact 

on living standards, including the ability to 

get clean water. Today, there are still many 

remote areas that lack the infrastructure to 

generate enough power to transport water, 

which highlights the demand for a system 

that is both efficient and sustainable. 

A possible solution that can help tackle 

Asia’s electrification struggle is the use 

of solar energy to power water pumping 

systems that draw water from various 

sources to meet the needs of families and 

communities in rural locations. 

WATER SHORTAGE ISSUES ON AN 

INDONESIAN ISLAND 

In the Indonesian region of South East 

Sulawesi lies a small island called Pulau 

Tomia (or Tomia Island) renowned for its 

famous dive sites and beautiful underwater 

life. The island is one of four in the Wakatobi 

Regency, and four hours away by boat from 

the capital city of Wakatobi. 

For 20 years, the Kahiyangan village on 

Pulau Tomia has had to deal with shortage 

of water, as not only is its water source far 

away, but the terrain in between a rock hill 

was difficult to traverse. The nearest water 

source is a cave - Goa Air Wali - around three 

kilometres away. In order to get to the cave, 

villagers will have to trek the distance to the 

cave, before travelling down 20 metres to 

draw water from its springs. 

The remote location of Pulau Tomia within 

the archipelago means that there are 

high logistics costs associated with the 

supply and transportation of fossil fuel. 

In addition, the extreme terrain also 

requires large investments in electricity 

infrastructure. With low levels of income, 

the villagers are not able to afford traditional 

water pumping systems that are powered 

by fossil fuel and that require infrastructure 

support. 



The Indonesian Ministry of Public Works, 

Directorate General of Cipta Karya of 

Southeast Sulawesi Province, was interested 

in a renewable solution to address the 

urgent water shortage issues faced by the 

Kahiyangan community on Pulau Tomia. 

As a global pumps leader, Grundfos was 

one of the first manufacturers to offer a 

water pumping system powered by solar 

energy. Today, Grundfos supplies close to 

1,000 solar pumps across Southeast Asia. 

Grundfos became part of the pilot project 

in the Kahiyangan village on Pulau Tomia, 

providing the system to draw water 

from a cave to supply to the local community. 

Working with a local partner, Grundfos 

installed an irrigation and sinewave filter 

system with a renewable solar inverter, 

powered by 144 solar panels. 

The Grundfos Renewable Solar Inverter 

(RSI) is an off-grid solar inverter, which 

harnesses solar energy, and converts the 

DC power output from the solar panel to 

AC power supply, for pump operations. 

The RSI can be used in both existing 

and new systems, and is suitable for 

use with a variable frequency drive. The 

inventive use of solar energy means that 

there is no operation cost involved for 

building electricity infrastructure. On top 

of that, the system can last for a long time, 

ensuring that villagers have a sustainable 

water supply. 

Pumping water from the cave into a water 

tank for the villagers, the Grundfos solution 

is able to draw 100,000 litres of water 

from the cave a day, providing clean 

water to around 1,000 people across two 

villages. 

To help provide a full end-to-end service for the 

Indonesian community, Grundfos provided 

design and technical support to install the 

water pumping system This included an initial 

free-of-charge survey of the location, as well 

as training to empower local personnel in the 

operation and maintenance of the tools 

and system. 

The Grundfos solution supplied: 

• 1 x 30kW RSI + sinewave filter 

• 1 x SP 17-38 

• 144 x SW 260 solar panels 

The Grundfos Renewable Solar Inverter (RSI) is an off-grid solar inverter, which harnesses solar energy, and converts the DC power output from the 

solar panel to AC power supply, for pump operations 



A DISTRICT IN VIETNAM LOOKS 

TO THE SUN TO ACCESS CLEAN 

WATER 

Meanwhile, Vietnam finds itself to be a 

country of water paradoxes — surrounded 

by rivers and canals that form the 

Mekong River, and yet lacks access to clean 

water. This is because its water sources suffer 

from pollution of heavy metals, chemicals 

and bacteria. The majority of its rural 

communities also do not have electricity, 

which is needed to treat and transport 

water. 

One such area is Can Duoc, a rural district 

of the Long An Province in the Mekong River 

Delta region of Vietnam. With many people 

living in scattered communities across a 

large area, installing a pipeline to treat and 

deliver clean water requires a comprehensive 

network and significant investment. As a 

result, for 40 years, families in this rural 

district have been lacking in clean water 

as it has been a challenge to raise 

enough funds to build a water treatment 

plant in Can Duoc. 

In order to help improve access to clean water, Grundfos turned to standalone off-grid initiatives, such 

as the use of solar energy to power water pumping systems 

With these infrastructural challenges in 

mind, in order to help improve access to 

clean water, Grundfos turned to standalone 

off-grid initiatives, such as the use of solar 

energy to power water pumping systems. 

Under its Water2Life programme, Grundfos 

employees chose the Can Duoc project, 

to which they donated funds for a new 

water treatment plant. Solar arrays and 

a solar control panel are used to partially 

power the plant’s safe water access and 

delivery. 

Built in collaboration with local investors, the 

Can Duoc pumping station uses a sand filter 

for water treatment, as well as a renewable 

solar inverter for the ground water pump, 

and a booster pump to adjust the water 

flow. Erected in just four months, the solar 

technology has been instrumental in saving 

energy for the pumping station. It has 

also helped lower operating costs — up to 

one-third of the electricity bill — for the 

investors. 

More importantly, this innovative solarpowered 

water treatment solution now 

serves 3,000 households in Can Duoc, 

delivering safe water to the communities 

that need them the most. 

ENSURING UNIVERSAL ACCESS 

TO WATER 

According to PwC, nearly one in five of the 

world’s population do not have access to 

electricity, with 95 per cent of them coming 

from developing countries in Asia and sub- 

Saharan Africa. 



The Grundfos booster system supplied 

includes: 

1. Three Grundfos submersible 

pumps SP77-3 (11 kw, 3 x 380V), 

with two obtaining power from the 

solar technology, and one from the 

grid 

2. Controlled by two RSI solar inverters 

and sine wave filters 

3. The control function is designed 

with an automatic switch between the 

solar and grid sources, with the 

default operation mode kept to solar 

energy. When there is sunlight, the 

system uses all solar energy. During 

the time with no or weak sunlight, the 

system will switch to grid electricity. 

In order to address the infrastructure 

challenges in the region, industry and 

government players such as Grundfos 

need to work together, and make sure that 

standalone off-grid initiatives continue to 

be rolled out. This will go a long way in 

helping to provide viable means of access 

to electricity, and therefore basic resources 

such as water. 

role in many households. In fact, renewable 

generation involves no fuel cost to run, 

bringing in both financial and environmental 

benefits. 

As we look into the future, solar-powered 

pumps will be a key part of upcoming 

projects, playing a pivotal role in powering 

reliable water access with the sun. WWA 

Increasingly, renewable sources are being 

utilised more in such off-grid solutions. This 

includes solar energy, which is playing a key 

All images are credited to Grundfos 

Erected in just four months, the solar technology 

has been instrumental in saving energy for the 

pumping station. It has also helped lower operating 

costs — up to one-third of the electricity bill — for 

investors 



Early leak 

detection 

significantly 

reduces 

repair 

cost 

By Gary Wyeth, 

Southeast Asia Regional Account Manager, 

Mueller Water Products 





Sooner or later, every water distribution 

system will leak — both in remote 

rural areas as well as dense urban 

cities. The consequences of a pipeline 

leaking in a forest, forming a small stream 

that appears to be part of the natural 

surroundings, may not necessarily justify the 

need for leak detection systems in remote 

areas. However, permanent leak monitoring in 

high density areas can reduce the disastrous 

impacts of pipe bursts which can trigger a 

tsunami of costs far beyond the expense of 

the pipeline repair alone. 

The key is being prepared to minimise the 

costs and complications related to those 

leaks. This starts with mapping the utilities 

water distribution system using a solid 

Geographic Information System (GIS), and 

adding important details such as pipelines, 

including material, age and burst frequency. 

By using a GIS system, the utility can then 

develop a plan for managing its pipelines, 

which would include pipe rehabilitation, pipe 

replacement, pressure management and leak 

detection activities. 

PREPARE FOR THE INEVITABLE 

There are two basic leak-detection 

strategies to take — periodic surveys 

(ad hoc or scheduled) and permanently 

installed monitoring solutions — but a 

combination of the two is what works best. A 

periodic survey will reveal active leaks, but it 

cannot tell exactly how long a leak has been 

active. As a result, there is no accurate way 

to quantify the volume and subsequent cost 

of the water lost. By contrast, a permanently 

installed monitoring system can track the 

progression of a leak from the moment it 

first appears, allowing a utility to allocate 

resources based on priority of leak size and 

progression speed. 

The extent of a survey programme often 

depends on the size and scope of the water 

utility. Smaller utilities can assess their entire 

systems in a matter of days. A larger utility will 

typically conduct condition assessments and 

periodic surveys on a rolling basis (Figure 1). 

This often means that some pipelines are only 

surveyed once every year or two. 

Surveys are often prioritised around existing 

desktop hydraulic simulation models, based 

on the oldest sections of infrastructure 

(Figure 2), or on zones with the highest 

break rates. But this can still lead to teams 

surveying hundreds of kilometres to find 

just a handful of leaks. With a permanent 

monitoring system installed across broad 

swaths of the system, utility can use real time 

data to direct survey crews and pinpoint leaks 

as they form. 

A TENUOUS CONNECTION 

To demonstrate both how sensitive and 

elusive leak detection can be, Brandon 

Jacobs, an Echologics ® field project manager 

for Mueller Water Products relates a story 

from the West Coast U.S. where the utility 

was dealing with a variety of water main 

breaks and smaller failures, aggravated by 

pockets of corrosive soils. 

“We detected a water main leak in an area 

where an emergency leak repair had been 

performed just a few days prior,” Jacobs 

recalled. “When we first got there, we had 

a tough time pinpointing the leak, because 

a home about 30 metres away had a water 

heater leak where the constantly spinning 

water meter put out a louder sound than the 

water main leak.” 

Once the homeowner shut off the water 

through the meter, the engineer was able to 

locate the actual water main leak, but that 

was not the end of the story. 

“A couple of days later, a repair crew went 

out to fix the water main leak we had 

pinpointed,” he related. “They excavated 

dry dirt with a backhoe down to the point 

where they had cleared enough space to 

work. A worker went down into the pit as 

soon as wet dirt appeared, so he could hand- 

Report 

Segment 

Distance 

(ft) 

Pipe 

Material 

Internal 

Diameter 

(in) 

Client Max. 

Acceptable 

Break Rate 

(brks/mile/yr) 

Calculated 

Break Rate 

(brks/mile/yr) 

Remaining 

Service Life 

(yrs) 

▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ 

1 345 Spun Cast 8 2.0 0.293 20 to 29 

2 565 Spun Cast 8 2.0 0.454 20 to 29 

7 622 Spun Cast 8 2.0 0.289 30 to 39 

18 343 Spun Cast 6 2.0 0.102 40 to 49 

19 487 Spun Cast 6 2.0 0.008 50+ 

35 605 Spun Cast 6 2.0 0.069 50+ 

45 523 Spun Cast 6 2.0 0.425 20 to 29 

49 489 Spun Cast 6 2.0 0.336 20 to 29 

50 684 Spun Cast 6 2.0 0.028 50+ 

51 577 Spun Cast 8 2.0 0.807 10 to 19 

59 323 Spun Cast 6 2.0 0.102 50+ 

64 301 Spun Cast 8 2.0 0.688 10 to 19 

67 337 Spun Cast 8 2.0 0.062 50+ 

68 411 Spun Cast 10 2.0 0.008 50+ 

Figure 1. Detailed pipeline assessment surveys generate statistical input that can be used to generate reasonable estimates of remaining service life, 

by pipeline segment, to help utilities prioritise pipe replacement schedules 



chamber half way between the two points we 

were testing, and thought that might be the 

location. We started bushwhacking, crossed 

a creek and fought our way uphill toward the 

third chamber we knew was located between 

our test locations. When we got there, we 

discovered an air valve inside the chamber 

had completely rusted off and fallen off the 

pipe. That was when we realised that the 

“creek” we crossed to get there was the leak 

from this water main, running down the hill 

through the forest.” 

Figure 2. Portable acoustic equipment deployed on an ad hoc basis is used to survey targeted 

pipeline segments for leaks 

BEAT THE LEAK: PLAN AHEAD 

New leaks form continually. The only way to 

get ahead is to work faster (and smarter) 

than the leaks. Echologics ® EchoShore ® 

leak detection technology from Mueller Water 

Products uses mobile data transmission and 

remove the restrictions of distance associated 

with radio communications between sensors. 

Multiple sensors deployed along a main are 

remotely triggered to synchronise and capture 

data. The data is automatically transmitted to 

the cloud platform where it undergoes a multistaged 

automatic analysis, breaking down the 

various dimensions of the data, and analysing 

for potential points of interest. All this can be 

achieved in a matter of minutes. 

shovel enough space to install a full-circle 

repair clamp on the main. As he dug down, 

he found a piece of wood used as a shim 

to level the pipe during installation. He hit 

the shim to remove it, and suddenly this 

hole started filling up with water and a 

river of mud started running down the street.” 

Once the water main was shut off and the 

pipe inspected, the crew understood exactly 

what had happened. The wooden shim 

was supporting a 15 cm flap of pipe attached 

by roughly one cm of solid material at one 

end and surrounded by a series of 

corrosion pits that essentially created 

one big crescent shape. The flap blew out 

when the shim was removed. Despite the 

brief deluge, everyone recognised the 

value of catching that condition in its 

infancy. 

“They essentially took what was a 3.7- 

lpm leak and created an 1,892-lpm leak in 

seconds,” said Jacobs. “Can you imagine the 

problems there would have been if that flap 

had given way in the middle of the night when 

no one was around to react?” 

IF A PIPE LEAKS IN A FOREST… 

An example of the value routine pipeline 

assessment provides for discovering “hidden” 

leaks comes from an Echologics experience 

with an 80-year-old, 122 cm steel pipeline 

that ran across an entire county — downtown 

city centres, suburban countryside and 

heavily wooded forests. 

“We detected a big spike right in the middle 

of a section between two chambers we were 

evaluating in the thickest woodland,” Jacobs 

explained. “We knew there was another 

The resulting benefit to the user is high speed 

accurate analytics for leak detection crew 

to make informed recommendations to best 

allocate repair crew. Multiple sensors working 

simultaneously over large distances, instant 

and timed remote triggering of recordings, 

and automatic deep data analysis are all 

completed within minutes. These powerful 

factors combine to allow rapid progress 

to be made each day, saving more water 

and reducing the cost of each leak found. 

EchoShore technology can analyse thousands 

of kilometres of pipe per year, helping utilities 

save millions of litres per day. WWA 

About the author: 

Gary Wyeth is SE Asia Regional Account Manager 

for Mueller Water Products with over 25 years 

of experience in the water industry, primarily in 

South-East Asia. He is a member of the Chartered 

Institution of Water & Environmental Management 

and the IWA Water Loss Specialist Group. 


40 | INSIGHT 

It’s in the Mix: Rotamix ® Mixing Systems 

Improve Process Performance 

What sets Rotamix apart from the rest is an absence of moving parts in its unique mixing system, 

which creates an even distribution of mixing energy. How does it work? 

As biogas production capacity 

continues to increase, Vaughan 

Rotamix ® stands ready to provide 

reliable, efficient hydraulic mixing to 

maximize biogas production from anaerobic 

digestion. In addition to digesters, Rotamix is 

the solution for mixing all tanks in the solids 

handling process. Unlike most other means 

of tank mixing, which have mechanical 

components in the process, Rotamix has no 

moving parts in the tank, ensuring maximum 

performance and minimal maintenance 

requirements. 

THE SYSTEM 

Vaughan Rotamix is an engineered system 

of floor and wall mounted nozzles with flow 

supplied by a Vaughan Chopper Pump ® . 

The nozzles provide evenly distributed 

flow throughout the tank volume, ensuring 

complete mixing of the tank contents, while 

the Vaughan Chopper Pump continually 

conditions the digester contents, while 

providing industry-leading efficiency. This 

combination results in lower operating costs 

A Rotamix 20-metre cone, with arrows to show 

how it moves 

than conventional draft tubes or mixers, 

with a more efficient breakdown of organic 

solids and increased biogas production. For 

smaller applications, like Fats, Oils, & Grease 

(FOG) tanks, Rotamix also offers externallymounted 

nozzles which minimise piping and 

maximise mixing volume. 

THE PROCESS 

Rotamix incorporates several basic 

principles of physics and hydraulics, 

including uniform field of flow, vortical 

field of flow, induced flow and surface 

contact. Combined together, this unique 

mixing system optimises solids and bacteria 

contact while creating an even distribution 

of mixing energy. Dual-Zone Mixing ensures 

even mixing velocity across the entire crosssection 

of the tank, which produces an 

even flow field that creates a homogenous 

volume, ensuring an even distribution of 

solids and constant temperature. This 

improves digester performance and prevents 

settled solids from reducing process 

volume. 

Each Rotamix design is 

unique, varying based on 

many factors including sludge 

rheology, tank geometry, 

and process considerations. 

Vaughan uses state-of-theart 

Computational Fluid 

Dynamics (CFD) modeling to 

design each system and can 

accurately model not just 

the tank geometry, but also 

piping and other obstructions 

to ensure proper mixing. 

A Rotamix nozzle 

FOAMBUSTER 

In many digesters, foaming can be a major 

operational challenge. This is why Vaughan 

has developed the Foambuster mixing 

assembly, which can be added to any Rotamix 

system or provided as a standalone system. 

The Foambuster mixing assembly works by 

using an integrally mounted splash-plate to 

produce a field of droplets which suppress 

foaming at the surface before it can interfere 

with process operation. 

ROTAMIX REDUCED ENERGY 

ADVANTAGE 

Vaughan Rotamix can be paired with a 


INSIGHT | 41 

Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) to further 

reduce energy requirements without 

sacrificing mixing power. For a typical 

system, mixing energy can be reduced for 

22 hours a day with the remaining two hours 

being at full power to resuspend heavier 

solids and promote biological contact. By 

varying the mixing energy this way, energy 

savings of over 50 per cent can be achieved. 

RO2MIX 

Rotamix is not just for anaerobic digesters 

anymore, and Vaughan Company is proud to 

offer Ro2Mix aerobic mixing systems. Ro2Mix 

uses the same quality mixing assemblies and 

dependable Vaughan Chopper Pumps as 

Rotamix, but has been adapted for aerobic 

processes. Aeration is provided either 

through integral venturi aerators or separate 

conventional bubble diffusers. Aeration 

requirements can be drastically reduced by 

providing separate hydraulic mixing, and 

this means smaller blowers, or in the case of 

venturi aerators, no blowers at all. 

OTHER PROCESS TANKS 

Rotamix is not just for digesters, and the 

Vaughan Rotamix can be used in any process 

where mixing is the key to success. Rotamix 

keeps sludge blend tanks and sludge 

equalisation tanks providing a homogenous 

feed to either a digester or dewatering 

press, and prevents deposition and sludge 

dewatering in sludge storage tanks. Rotamix 

can also be applied to lagoons, aerobic 

basins and anoxic zones, equalisation basins, 

and more. 

to biogas production directly translate to 

operational savings for the facility in the 

form of decreased power cost. The digesters 

each measured 29 metres in diameter with 

a total volume of about 500 cubic metres 

and received primary and thickened waste 

activated sludge from the facility, with 

equivalent volatile solids loading. 

After the Rotamix system was operational, 

both digesters were monitored for a period 

of eight months to determine if the Rotamix 

system had showed improved performance 

over the existing gas mixing system. At 

the end of eight months, the data showed 

the digester with the Rotamix system had 

managed to produce 31 per cent more 

methane from identical volatile solids loading, 

while using 12 per cent less operational 

energy. This provided for a combined 49 per 

cent increase in overall digester efficiency. 

CONCLUSION 

The process of producing biogas from 

anaerobic digestion is undoubtedly important, 

and Vaughan Rotamix promises reliable yet 

cost-effective mixing performance. 

Furthermore, unlike most other means of tank 

mixing, which have mechanical components 

in the process, Rotamix has no moving parts 

in the tank, ensuring maximum performance 

and minimal maintenance requirements. WWA 

All images are credited to Vaughan 

CASE STUDY 

At the Fairfield-Suisun Sewer District (FSSD), 

located 35 miles (56.3 kilometres) Northeast 

of San Francisco in the United States, 

Vaughan installed a Rotamix system in one of 

two identical anaerobic digesters to allow for 

the facility to directly evaluate if the Rotamix 

system provided any improvement over their 

existing gas mixing system. The FSSD uses 

biogas produced in the anaerobic digesters 

to power generators which supplement plant 

power use, meaning any improvements 

Velocity plots have proven that small diameter nozzles producing high velocity provide more complete 

mixing than larger diameter low-velocity nozzle designs using equal amounts of energy. 


42 | INSIGHT 

A cornerstone 

in Singapore’s 

water industry 

Dr Adil Dhalla, Chairman of the Steering Committee, 

SG-MEM, Singapore’s National Membrane Consortium 

With a globally recognised research and 

development ecosystem in Singapore’s water 

industry that is rapidly expanding to translational 

activities, it is no surprise that the country is formalising 

its water value chain. 

Although Singapore is already known 

as a global hydrohub, according 

to Dr Adil Dhalla, Chair of the 

Steering Committee for Singapore’s National 

Membrane Consortium (SG-MEM), it is only 

the beginning. 

Membranes have always been a cornerstone 

of water treatment and purification, and they 

are fast becoming an intrinsic part of process 

technology, not just for the water industry, but 

others, such as the energy and petrochemical 

industries. 

Seeing the opportunities for membranebased 

systems, with various companies either 

specialising in or needing certain membranes, 

Singapore’s National Research Foundation 

(NRF) came up with the idea of SG-MEM, a 

consortium created with the sole purpose of 

bringing all related institutions and industries 

into one ecosystem. Dr Dhalla and Professor 

Gary Amy (National University of Singapore), 

who chairs the Technical Management 

Committee, were asked to set up and lead 

the consortium. 

DR DHALLA 

A cheerful, unassuming man with a razorsharp 

intellect and clear vision for SG-MEM, 

Dr Dhalla was first tasked with setting 

up a translational facility for Separation 

Technologies in 2015. This was the genesis 

for what has developed into the Separation 

Technologies Applied Research and 

Translation (START) Centre, which he and his 

team have built up since its launch in 2016, 

and which he leads as its Managing Director. 

“I had been in General Electric for 15 years 

and had been heading GE’s water research 

centre by the time I decided it was time to 

make my next career move – which I had 

originally thought would be within GE. 

“Around that time, one of the things I was 

excited to hear from PUB and Singapore’s 

Economic Development Board (EDB) was 

that they were very interested in taking 

some of the early-stage water-related 

inventions in Singapore and bring them to 

full scale products and processes. Given the 

significant platform of innovation in the area 

of membranes and separations, it was a great 

opportunity to create new technologies with 

benefits to communities in Singapore and 

beyond,” he explained. 

“At the time, we were in a situation where 

Singapore was known for its inventions, but 

we also increasingly wanted to be known 

for our products and processes, not merely 

discovered, but also developed here in 

Singapore. 

“A laboratory discovery is typically in a 

very early stage of technological readiness. 

The proof of concept might be there, but in 

order to bring this to a full scale product is a 


INSIGHT | 43 

huge undertaking and and with with unique 

challenges, which are undertaken in the 

START Centre.” 

SG-MEM 

The first step on the way to translation is 

a thorough techno-commercial analysis. 

While it is possible to scale the technology 

up, commercially it still has to be viable two 

years in the future when the product is ready 

to hit the market. 

Ann Polytechnic, led by Ms Tham Li Phin, 

these four centres together constitute 

Singapore’s institutional Research 

and Innovation ecosystem for membranes. 

“NRF wanted to set up SG-MEM as 

an umbrella organisation to foster a 

vibrant academic and industrial ecosystem 

in the field of membranes,” Dr Dhalla 

continued. 

Dr Dhalla and Professor Amy’s vision for 

industrial membership of SG-MEM was broadranging, 

from chemical manufacturers whose 

products went into membrane fabrication, 

to the end users of membrane technologies. 

This vision is reflected in the current 

membership, which is 23 and growing, with 

members including large companies, global 

multinational corporations, small and medium 

enterprises (SMEs), and even start-ups. 

“Singapore is privileged to be home to two of 

the best sets of membrane research faculties 

and facilities at NUS and NTU. The team at 

NUS is made up of a number of professors 

who have come together under the auspices 

of the Membrane Science and Technology 

Consortium (MSCT), led by Professor Amy,” 

he said. 

“At NTU, we have the Singapore Membrane 

Technology Centre (SMTC), led by Professor 

Wang Rong. SMTC is part of Nanyang 

Environment and Water Research Institute 

(NEWRI), ranked among the world’s leading 

institutes in its field.” 

Coupled with the START Centre and the 

Environmental and Water Technology 

Centre of Innovation (EWTCoI) at Ngee 

1 

2 


44 | INSIGHT 

WWA 

3 

Photos 1-3: Testing and scaling up products in the START Centre laboratory, a crucial step in 

de-risking new technologies 

BENEFITS 

“Oftentimes, we have found that companies 

become members of many consortiums and 

organisations and I think there’s a kind of 

fatigue involved,” Joanne Sim, programme 

manager, SG-MEM, explained. 

“The differentiating factor of SG-MEM is that 

we have the presence of two translational 

centres within our ecosystem that are able 

to translate cutting-edge technology in the 

lab to actual real world applications. This is 

an immense boon provided to our industry 

partners who benefit from the upscaling 

facility and this largely reduces the cost 

and risk of bringing new and promising 

technologies to market.” 

“Larger companies generally have the 

resources to de-risk their own technologies, 

although they are always looking for new 

innovations, but start-ups and SMEs, which 

are typically much more resource-limited, 

would really benefit from having not only a 

wide selection of new inventions, but also 

translational facilities to help them take new 

products to commercialisation,” Dr Dhalla 

added. 

“Novel technologies and processes are the 

lifeline of start-up companies, and one of SG- 

MEM’s mandates is to foster a more vibrant 

start-up culture in Singapore. I would love to 

see one of the start-ups we are privileged to 

partner with growing to take pride-of-place 

in the membrane ecosystem.” 

Members of the consortium, apart from 

gaining much-needed exposure and access 

to new business opportunities, get to link 

up with the entire ecosystem, and even 

get access to some of the world’s leading 

researchers in the field of membranes. 

“We are an end-to-end one-stop hub because 

SG-MEM incorporates all of Singapore’s 

world-class membrane expertise and facilties. 

Being a member gives them preferential 

access to these, as well as the valuable 

business and collaborative connections to the 

key players across all domains,” added Sim. 

“These are the benefits, and I think because 

of them, in such a short time, we managed to 

get quite a number of companies – and we’re 

just getting started.” 

THE FUTURE 

Though Singapore is already known and 

respected for its water solutions and as a 

global hydrohub, for Dr Dhalla, stopping to 

rest on successes is not an option, and he is 

always planning his next step to maintain and 

expand expertise in Singapore. 

“We are known for our inventions in the 

area of membranes, separation and water, 

so our next step is to have some of the 

world’s best products and processes in the 

field coming from Singapore, and that is our 

most important goal, irrespective of whether 

they are commercialised through start-ups 

or SMEs or even larger companies. I just 

want the world to see the best invented, 

developed and commercialised products are 

from Singapore,” said Dr Dhalla. 

“I am confident this will lead to products 

actually made and coming out of Singapore, 

and this will help the ecosystem not only 

in terms of economic benefits, but also a 

workforce constantly upgrading its skills 

and efficiencies, and novel technologies 

providing solutions to Singapore and the 

world. Moreover, my dream is that there will 

be an increasingly number of products and 

processes where someone using it anywhere 

in the world will say ‘this was discovered, 

designed and developed in Singapore’.” WWA 

All images are credited to SG-MEM 


46 | INSIGHT 

The Internet: People, 

innovation and assets 

What is the true impact the Internet of Things has had on the water industry? 

ranging from influencing innovation, to changing workplace culture 

and asset management. To figure out just how great the impact 

was, Water & Wastewater Asia sat down with Mr Shanmugavel 

Subramaniam, Segment Leader, Water & Wastewater Segment from 

Schneider Electric Asia. 

INNOVATION 

Innovation has a very large hand in a number of key areas, and asset 

management is just one of them. 

“But when you look at water utilities today, the biggest concern is 

how efficient or how optimised their assets are in operation,” Shan 

pointed out. “They want to use innovation in this area.” 

As asset management usually translates into a very unscheduled 

method of replacing assets as and when they have failed, 

innovation helps with scheduled asset management, and also 

gives utilities better insights into the health of the equipment prior 

to taking action, allowing them to better plan their investments 

and operational expenses, a huge boon considering up to 

80 per cent of a utility’s capital investment can be in the pumps 

and pipes. 

But another area innovation has positively affected is the financial 

aspect. 

When the Internet of Things (IoT) first burst into the 

water scene, it made a huge splash. With this sudden 

breakthrough of innovation, utilities made drastic 

changes, switching from reactive maintenance to predictive 

maintenance and even changing training methods, moving on to 

virtual and augmented reality training sessions. 

“With the growth and enhancement of IoT, technology and the IT/ 

OT acceleration – and we are mostly on the OT platform in the water 

industry – water utilities can look at what’s happening within their 

operation and business performance in terms of dollars and cents,” 

he noted. 

CHANGES 

With so many changes in the water industry and change management 

becoming one of the biggest players in water utilities, it is not of any 

surprise that people are one of the biggest factors in play. 

But as IoT settled into water networks and made its presence felt, 

leaders began to understand the full impact IoT has had on utilities, 

“The expectation is on the people,” explained Shan. “For example, 

Generation Z will be the future engineers and operators of our plants. 


INSIGHT | 47 

You have to understand their mentality – 

they are all fast, and they are all people on 

their smart phones. If they are given a plant 

to operate, they will expect technology to 

be there.” 

And the generation gap is not more defined 

than by how the knowledge is being passed 

down to the younger generation. 

“The knowledge and know-how of the older 

generation, the hands-on people, has to be 

transferred on to technology because the 

younger ones are less hands-on but more 

technologically-savvy,” he elaborated. 

“This is where digital twins come in, where 

we take events happening in real-time and 

putting it into the virtual world and use it 

for training.” 

IMPACT 

The effect of IoT on the water sector cannot 

be denied, having an impact on more than 

just introducing virtual training and passing 

on know-how with digital twins. In fact, they 

are changing actual process knowledge, 

know-how and skills. 

“A lot of developing countries are now also 

developing on a larger scale, and when you 

take into account that utility boards are 

also public boards that are governmentregulated, 

you get different governments 

looking at upscaling them,” Shan continued. 

But one of the biggest impacts IoT has made 

is arguably in smart pumping. 

“We are currently driving smart water, and 

there are a lot of initiatives around smart 

water,” he expounded. “But now, the area 

that we are going to begin looking at is 

smart pumping.” 

The impact would not only be on energy, 

but would also optimise the operation of 

the pumps, fully utilising the functions of 

the pumps. 

“Utilities usually oversize them, and then use 

them as and when – there’s no scheduled 

pumping. It’s understandable because you 

need to balance the demand from consumers 

as well as production capacity.” elaborated 

Shan. 

“But for that, your pump has to react 

accordingly because if you pump too much 

or too fast, the velocity and pressure can 

increase to the point that the pipe can burst. 

If you don’t pump enough, the pressure is 

too low and consumers don’t get water.” 

The easy way is to oversize the pumps, but 

the cost of running the pump would be far 

higher as energy consumption increases. 

“With smart pumping, we will be able to tell 

them what are the best and most optimised 

ways to run the pumps while also helping 

them improve on the future designs,” Shan 

concluded. 

CHALLENGES 

Though IoT is cutting-edge and designed 

with optimisation in mind, it is not only 

designed for developed countries like 

Singapore, or even developing countries 

like Malaysia and Thailand. It also looks at 

countries like Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar 

that get a lot of funding from financial 

institutions such as the World Bank or the 

Asian Development Bank. 

“But there are a few areas you have to look 

at if you want to implement this in your 

utility: Is the technology ready? Is the 

infrastructure of the country ready and able 

to support the technology? And lastly, are 

the people ready?” Shan said. 

Singapore is ready in terms of technology, 

infrastructure and people, he highlighted, 

though he also noted that some countries 

may be ready in terms of people and 

technology, though the infrastructure was 

not. 

“There are even some countries where 

infrastructure and technology are not ready 

though the people are trying to get there 

with their own technology,” he interjected. 

“But there are groups of Generation Z 

in these countries – countries such as 

Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar – who are 

ready. And a lot of the relevant authorities 

are taking action to develop these groups 

of youngsters to influence the rest of the 

people.” 

THE FUTURE 

The issue many utilities face around the 

world is with the dollars and cents, and water 

has never historically been an industry where 

much money is invested due to it being a 

public service. Moreover, the price of water 

cannot be raised unnecessarily simply to 

cover the cost, as is done in other industries. 

“So look into the budget, and also look 

into innovation, IoT and at moving onto the 

platform,” Shan advised. 

Another area water utilities will have to pay 

close attention to in the future is change 

management as equipment and systems 

become smarter and smarter. 

“When you change equipment and systems 

to be smarter, you need to be ready for your 

people to change,” Shan continued. “So be 

ready for the change management.” 

Shan also advised leaders to do their work 

and closely look at players in the market 

focusing on IoT on a larger scale. 

“I’m not putting down other players, but 

some company profiles say that they do 

some part of this, or a bit of that,” he 

explained. “And you’ll end up working with 

as many companies as you have applications, 

and integration issues will begin popping 

up.” 

But one thing is for sure – water utilities will 

be relying on IoT and smart equipment more 

and more in the future. WWA 

Image credited to Schneider Electric 


‘Day zero’ 

looms for 

Kailash Desai, 

Chief Operating Officer, 

Endress+Hauser India 

India 

The water crisis in India is a 

ticking time bomb as reports 

and experts predict that the 

country’s taps will run dry by 

2020 if nothing is to be done. 

By Kailash Desai, 

Chief Operating Officer, 

Endress+Hauser India

OPINION | 49 

India is facing its worst water crisis in 

history. And according to NITI Aayog’s 

(National Institution for Transforming 

India) latest report, the government ‘think 

tank’ in providing both directional and 

policy inputs, 21 Indian cities will run out of 

groundwater by 2020. 

Water in India plays a strong role in the 

nation’s progress towards social and 

monetary developments. As the second 

most populous country in the world, with 

more than 1.2 billion individuals (Census, 

2011), India’s national assets are under 

huge pressure — “water” being the most 

fundamental. The growing population has 

dwindled the per capita surface water 

availability from 2,309 cubic metres (Sharma 

and Bharat 2009) in 1991 to 1,588 cubic 

metres in 2001 (CWC, 2010). And it has 

been projected to further reduce to 1,000 

cubic metres by the year 2025 due to the 

ever-growing population and its demand, 

which will prompt a water crisis. 

While India does not currently fall into the 

water scarce category, the country is still 

classified as being water stressed. Many 

Indian towns are battling with water stress 

where, ironically, water is available but the 

quality is a serious issue. 

As the country continues to develop rapidly, 

the increasing purchasing power of the 

people along with the higher standard of 

living can lead to the deluge of population in 

urban areas, destitution and more, causing 

bigger constraints on water assets. Severe 

climate change which result in the Himalayan 

glaciers receding as well as the increasing 

dry spells and decreasing precipitation can 

impact water resources and place pressure 

on the country’s water assets too. 

According to the Composite Water 

Management Index’ (CWMI) in the NITI 

Aayog report, nearly 600 million Indians 

face high to extreme water stress and 

about 200,000 people die every year due 

to inadequate access to clean water. In 

fact, more than 40 per cent of the country’s 

annual water supply is used unsustainably 

every year and the situation is likely to 

worsen as the demand for potable water will 

exceed the supply by 2050. 

In a report by the ASSOCHAM (Associated 

Chambers of Commerce and Industry of 

India) and Skymet Weather Services, as the 

number of sweltering days continues to rise, 

the water shortage conditions are turning 

into Latur-like water emergency situation 

too. The report also noted that nine Indian 

states are reeling under the dry season due 

to the rise in temperature annually. 

NON-REVENUE WATER SYNOPSIS 

Non-revenue water (NRW) is water that has 

been created and lost before it achieves or 

reaches the client or the end user. Some 

reasons that causes NRW are spillage 

because of maturing funnels, burglary 

through unlawful associations and illegal 

fiddling with water meters. Hence, water 

management network needs to revamp and 

implement process automation in order to 

track leaks and spills on an immediate basis. 

As the country advances, issues with NRW 

should decrease. But water companies and 

utilities are not able keep up with the pace of 

development in population and urbanisation, 

which have brought about increased water 

wastage. 

Japan’s NRW percentage across the country 

is under 10 per cent — astoundingly 

low for global standards. This is an 

indication of the country’s thriving 

water management as the Japanese are 

fastidious in finishing their work and have 

confidence in their innovation as well as the 

perseverant to deal with issues. In India, 

urban communities with a population of one 

million individuals require 210 litres/day 

per capita but could only receive a supply 

of 25 litres/day per capita due to spillages, 

of which 35 per cent of the time the reasons 

are unknown. 

YEAR 2019 VISION: TARGETING 

24X7 WATER SUPPLY 

In the Union Budget 2017-18, numerous 

policies were introduced such as UDAY, 

amendments in National Electricity Act, new 

solar RPO target for states, bio fuel policy, 

small hydro policy, offshore wind policy and 

new hydrocarbon policy. These would have, 

in a way, helped boost the eco system and 

attract global investors to India. However, 

the country was fraught with water mismanagement 

issues and clashes over water 

resources between states. 

Reforms are needed this year with a focus 

on reducing NRW, collecting groundwater 

and taking steps to control water wastage. 

In the CWMI report, 21 Indian cities including 

Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad, 

will run out of groundwater by 2020, which 

will affect 100 million people. This can lead 

to about 40 per cent of India’s population 

having no access to drinking water by 2030. 

Therefore, it is important to study and 

evaluate the aspects of water risk and water 

management at various touch points such 

as watershed, river basin level or catchment 

area. The time has come for a joint meeting 

with water management bodies across the 

states to discuss about IIoT and AI, which 

can help to reduce NRW in India. 

The only way to tackle this frightening water 

issue is to take strategic action. Otherwise, 

it will be too late when the country’s water 

resources have run dry and no drop of water 

is left! We need to adopt new technologies, 

co-innovate and integrate it to achieve the 

goal of REDUCING WATER WASTAGE. WWA 


50 | OPINION 

Liquid analysis: 

The key to efficient, 

economical desalination 

By Ryo Hashimoto, Director, Emerson Automation Solutions, and Vishal Thakkar, Business Development Manager, 

Emerson Automation Solutions 

Desalination plants are a major 

industrial operation throughout 

Asia Pacific. Two major technologies 

are used for desalination — membrane 

separation (reverse osmosis or RO) and 

distillation. Because distillation is energy 

intensive, most major markets employ 

membrane separation. That fact means all 

water professionals who are concerned with 

RO, including those who use reverse osmosis 

in more traditional water plants, must 

become experts in the “care and feeding” 

of their costly RO membranes. That, in turn, 

means they must understand the analytical 

measurement of water. While conductivity 

measurement is key to analysing the ongoing 

condition of the membranes, in fact many 

other water analytics are required to prepare 

water for RO and to ensure the water is ready 

for drinking. Knowing what measurements 

to use and when will optimise efficiency and 

compliance in desalination facilities. 

THE SENSITIVE MEMBRANE 

In the RO process, raw seawater or brackish 

groundwater is pumped at high pressure 

against a semi-permeable membrane. 

The membrane lets water pass through 

but it blocks and rejects dissolved solids 

as concentrated brine. Up to 99 per cent 

of the dissolved solids in the feedwater 

are separated out by RO membranes. RO 

membranes, however, can be fouled or 

degraded by solids in the raw water. Fouled 

membranes can be cleaned, but irreversible 

fouling can also occur. Permanently fouled or 

chemically degraded membranes have to be 

replaced at a significant investment, so steps 

need to be taken to protect the membrane. 

PRETREATMENT 

The first line of defence against fouling 

and degrading the membrane is in the 

pretreatment process, which removes 

harmful chemicals, filters out suspended 

solids and controls scale formation. Scale 

forms when slightly soluble salts concentrate 

and precipitate as the water passes through 

the RO module. Pretreatment systems 

typically measure pH and ORP (oxidation 

reduction potential). In some plants, free 

chlorine measurement and turbidity may 

also be included in pretreatment. 

RO membranes are highly sensitive to 

feedwater pH and degrade rapidly in an 

alkaline environment, particularly in the case 

of cellulose acetate. The feedwater should 

be maintained at approximately pH 5 and 

monitored continuously for cellulose acetate 

membranes. Aromatic polyamide composite 

membranes are more resistant to pH, and 

may tolerate any pH between 2 and 10, 

however, they are damaged by chlorinated 

water. While chlorinated water is avoided 

in systems with polyamide membranes, in 

some cases, the risk of biological fouling 

is so high that chlorine has to be added. It 

must then be removed, usually by treatment 

with a dechlorinating chemical. A convenient 

way of monitoring removal of chlorine is to 

measure ORP, which is a capability on many 

pH analysis systems. Other plants may 

choose to use a free chlorine or total chlorine 

analysis system. 

Stopping scale formation is another 

important goal of pretreatment. There are 

a number of different control strategies for 

scale, but in some cases, simply adding acid 

to lower the pH is effective. This becomes 

another important reason to perform 

continuous monitoring of pH to prevent 

overfeeding or underfeeding of acid. 

MAINTAINING MEMBRANE 

HEALTH 

The measurement most associated with the 

separation process itself is conductivity. 

Conductivity is a measure of how well a 

solution conducts electricity. To carry a 

current, a solution must contain charged 

particles or ions, and the solids in seawater 

or brackish water are primarily ionic, so 

conductivity is an inexpensive and easy 

way of measuring membrane performance. 

Typically, the conductivity of both the 

feedwater and permeate are measured, 

allowing continuous calculation of 

percent solids rejection by the membrane. 

Unexpected changes in performance 

immediately alert the operators to a problem. 

There is more than one type of conductivity 

measurement, such as contacting (or two 


OPINION | 51 

Rosemount 400 general purpose contacting conductivity sensor from Emerson 

electrodes) and toroidal (or inductive) 

conductivity. In desalination processes, the 

preferred method, in most cases, is contacting 

conductivity. Inductive measurement has 

several benefits. The sensor does not need 

to touch the sample, so it can be encased 

in plastic and used in solutions that would 

corrode metal electrode sensors and it can 

tolerate high levels of fouling and be used 

in solutions containing suspended solids. 

However, inductive conductivity sensors 

perform best in higher conductivity samples 

and therefore, are not recommended for 

measuring low conductivity solutions such 

as permeated water, boiler water and so on. 

Thus, contacting conductivity is ideal for RO 

permeated seawater measurements. 

POST-TREATMENT 

Since desalinated water is widely used in 

both municipal and industrial applications, 

post-treatment of water from RO systems 

is dependent on the application. Generally, 

however, post-treatment consists of 

disinfection and conditioning (i.e., blending 

and remineralisation) to reduce the 

aggressive nature of the treated water. These 

processes have the potential to introduce 

microbial and chemical contaminants into 

the water, so this has to be taken into 

consideration. 

Disinfection in desalinated water is relatively 

straightforward because of the low total 

organic carbon and particle content, low 

microbial loads, and minimal oxidant 

demand after desalination treatments. 

While most biological contaminants are 

removed during pretreatment, some viruses 

can pass through RO membranes, and 

potential damage to the membrane can 

allow passage of both biological and 

chemical contaminants, therefore plants 

use chlorination as secondary disinfection 

in the final treatment step. Today, chlorine 

is added as chlorine gas (Cl2), sodium 

hypochlorite (NaOCl), or chlorine dioxide 

(ClO2) as the secondary disinfection agent. 

Secondary disinfection prevents the regrowth 

of certain pathogens that may enter 

the treatment plant or be introduced by 

back-flow contamination. When chlorine 

is added to water, free chlorine forms a 

mixture of hypochlorous acid (HOCl) and 

hypochlorite ion (OCl-). The relative amount 

of each is dependent on the pH, and the total 

of HOCl and OCl- is defined as free chlorine. 

For disinfecting water, HOCl is not only more 

reactive than OCl-, but is also a stronger 

disinfectant and oxidiser. HOCl is 80 to 100 

times more effective than OCl-. 

The use of chlorine and/or monochloramine 

in disinfection creates a need for free 

chlorine or monochloramine analysers in 

post-treatment. Turbidity analysis is also 

required because lime is often used to 

improve water quality, especially for water 

softening and arsenic removal. 

CONSIDER BENEFITS OF 

WIRELESS 

A key trend in water treatment plants in 

general around the world is the use of 

wireless analytical technologies. In some 

areas, such as western Australia, other 

protocols have been standardised for 

desalination that may make the use of 

the WirelessHART ® protocol inappropriate, 

but for many desalination plants, wireless 

is a cost saving option. Wireless pH 

and conductivity transmitters can be 

integrated into a plant’s network, making 

the adoption of wireless easy and painless. 

New adaptor technologies allow wireless 

technologies to be added to HART ® -enabled 

analysers without the need for software 

upgrades, batteries, or additional hardware, 

making the move to wireless systems 

cost-effective, scalable and simple. This 

approach reduces installation costs for 

plants by up to 90 per cent. In addition, the 

wireless analysers can transmit both process 

variables and diagnostic data back to the 

central system, reducing the workload 

of field personnel and maintenance. New 

systems feature onboard data logging 

capabilities, permitting the transfer 

of process data and events to a USB 

memory device for PC analysis, making the 

systems even more flexible for desalination 

plants. 


52 | OPINION 

CONCLUSION 

Considering that 94 per cent of the earth’s 

water is saltwater, the need to desalinate 

salt and brackish liquid seems obvious. But 

desalination is not without its challenges. 

Finding economical ways to convert 

saltwater without excessive cost in energy 

needs a careful application of technology. 

Virtually all of that involves the appropriate 

use of liquid analytical instrumentation. WWA 

About the Authors: 

Ryo Hashimoto is director of Emerson Automation Solutions, and Vishal Thakkar is 

business development manager of Emerson Automation Solutions. 


NUS-SWA industry water tech workshop 

22 January 2019, NUS Engineering Auditorium 

NEWSLETTER 

OF THE 

SINGAPORE 

WATER 

ASSOCIATION 

BRINGING 

A NEW VIBRANCY 

TO SINGAPORE’S 

GROWING 

WATER INDUSTRY 

The NUS-SWA Industry Water Tech Workshop, 

jointly organised by Singapore Water Associaon, 

NUS Faculty of Engineering (FoE), NUS Membrane 

Science and Technology Consorum (MSTC) and NUS 

Environmental Research Instute (NERI) was well 

aended by 110 parcipants and aracted opmisc 

feedback and comments. 

Mr Harry Seah, ACE of Public Ulies Board (PUB), 

delivered the keynote topic on “Singapore as a Water 

Technology Innovaon Hub” while industry leaders 

joined in a panel discussion on “Water Technology 

Innovaon Needs, Regionally and Globally.” 

Addionally, EWTCOI and START shared on “Water 

Technology Translaonal Research Capabilies.”

Digital transformaon for water industry SMEs 

29 January 2019, PUB WaterHub Auditorium 

Co-organised by SWA, Microso and SME Digital Tech Hub, the inaugural event was aended by 65 parcipants 

from various SMEs and local setups. 

Ecolab and Iconics were also invited to share on Smart Water Management Soluons while PUB introduced the 

Smart Water Programme. 

UPCOMING SWA ACTIVITIES 

TRAINING COURSES IN Q1 2019 

S/N 

Training Courses 

No. of 

Days 

Dates 

1 

Design of Used Water Treatment Plant & Processes 3 

25 - 27 

Feb 

2 Design & Operate Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) Plants 

3 

25 - 27 

Mar 

3 Desalinaon: Thermodynamics & Engineering 3 

3 - 5 

Apr 

For more informaon, please contact SWA office: Ms Cecilia Tan via email: cecilia@swa.org.sg 

or tel: (65) 6515 0812.

SINGAPORE PAVILION AT OVERSEAS TRADE SHOWS 

WATER PHILIPPINES 2019 

20 to 22 March 2019, Manila, Philippines 

DIALOGUE SESSION WITH WORLD BANK AND IFC 

5 March 2019, Marina Bay Financial Tower 2 

The Singapore Water Associaon is organising a three-hour dialogue session on the 5 th of March 2019, Tuesday, with 

The World Bank and Internaonal Finance Corporaon in order to provide a sharing plaorm amongst SWA members, 

industry players and finance providers on available assistance and overview on the water industry and projects. 

If interested, please register by 25 February 2019 with jasvinder@swa.org.sg. 

SWA WELCOMES NEW MEMBERS 

ORDINARY MEMBERS 

Water & Environment Soluons 

Sterling C&S Consulng Engineer Pte Ltd 

Finetek Pte Ltd 

Lanxess Pte Ltd 

China Harbour (Singapore) Engineering 

Hager + Elsaesser Asia Pte Ltd 

ASSOCIATE MEMBERS 

Nihon Suido Consultants Co. Ltd 

Stan-in Pte Ltd 

Perma-Liner Industries (S) Pte Ltd 

Grundfos Singapore Pte Ltd 

Integrion Technologies Pte Ltd 

Liquinex Group Pte Ltd 

NSF Internaonal 

INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS 

Dr Chen Hui 

IMAGINE H2O ASIA 

A path-to-market for innovators solving Southeast Asia’s water challenges 

Imagine H2O, the global water innovaon accelerator, is launching its first hub outside the United States. In 

collaboraon with Enterprise Singapore and Singapore Water Associaon, Imagine H2O Asia will feature a Singaporebased 

accelerator and regional customer validaon plaorm for promising water technology start-ups to deploy their 

soluons across Southeast Asia. 

Opportunies are available for leading ulies and businesses for sponsorship, mentorship and parcipaon in the 

program’s customer and advisory networks. Contact singapore@imagineh2o.org to learn more about how Imagine 

H2O Asia can advance your organisaon’s innovaon priories and technology needs. 

PUBLISH YOUR ANNOUNCEMENTS OR ADVERTISEMENT 

Members, who have any press releases or corporate announcements to share with the public, kindly contact the 

SWA secretariat at enquiry@swa.org.sg. SWA reserves the right to edit the submied text. 

INTERESTED TO JOIN SWA? 

We welcome all organisaons who are acvely involved and interested in the water and wastewater industry to join 

the Singapore Water Associaon as either Ordinary, Associate, Instuonal or Individual members. Sign up at www. 

swa.org.sg/membership/sign-up-online.

58 | TECH ROUND UP 

Agilent paves 

the way in water 

testing 

Professor Shane Snyder, Executive Director, Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute and 

Dr Tarun Anumol, Global Environment Market Manager at Agilent 


TECH ROUND UP | 59 

In a time when more and more emerging 

and unregulated contaminants are being 

discovered every day in water, Agilent 

Technologies has become a pioneer in the 

field of water testing. 

CATCHING CONTAMINANTS 

When recycling water back to drinking 

water, a tremendous amount of water 

treatment technology alongside multiple 

barriers removes essentially all pathogens 

and nearly all contaminants, making 

recycled water cleaner than ambient water 

from natural sources. 

Widely recognised as the 

industry leader in analytical 

instrumentation for water 

testing and environmental testing in 

general, Agilent Technologies has 

maintained a presence in the Southeast 

Asia market for more than four decades, 

working closely with environmental 

researchers, water testing agencies 

as well as governments to look at 

regulated and unregulated water 

contaminants. 

“Now, with the Memorandum of 

Understanding we have signed with 

Professor Shane Snyder, we have the goal 

to advance our footprint in the market, 

and we will also be specifically focusing on 

a few areas like analysing volatile organic 

chemicals in the water,” Dr Tarun Anumol, 

Global Environment Market Manager at 

Agilent, explained. 

“We’re also potentially looking at biological 

assays and measurements and how they 

can be related to water safety and water 

quality monitoring.” 

EMERGING CONTAMINANTS 

“Public awareness of emerging 

contaminants being identified in the 

environment is definitely rising, and 

requirements to measure these 

compounds such as disinfection byproducts 

like nitrosamines are also being 

considered,” Dr Tarun explained. 

“Emerging contaminants are definitely a 

challenge, and the chemical synthesis is 

greatly outpacing the ability to develop 

standards” added Professor Shane Snyder, 

Executive Director, Nanyang Environment 

and Water Research Institute. 

“And with 15,000 new chemicals being 

registered in the chemical abstracts (CAS) 

every day, the ability to create a standard 

or a health level for each of those as fast as 

they are developed is impossible.” 

While testing is a regulated component 

and some chemicals are regulated and 

some have to be monitored for compliance 

testing, there is also a large aspect of 

testing of unregulated and emerging 

contaminants that may not be required 

from the compliance side, leaving a large 

figurative gap in the field of water testing. 

In fact, Professor Snyder, who took a 

dive into unregulated contaminants 

not covered by compliance, was one of 

the pioneers in the field of testing for 

emerging contaminants, and identified 

some hormones present in water, helping to 

drive the industry to look into unregulated 

contaminants. 

“In the near future, and even now, we 

are working with Professor Snyder to link 

changes in biological measurements in 

water through bioassays – to the chemicals 

that cause them,” Dr Tarun said. 

“One of the goals in the MOU is to identify 

new methods or new techniques to test 

water quality because just measuring 

regulated contaminants may not ensure 

water quality or water safety.” 

“In water recycled to produce drinking 

water, we have not detected pathogens or 

contaminants in the water, and there is no 

health risk in consuming recycled water,” 

elaborated Professor Snyder. 

There are challenges in catching the 

contaminants and pathogens, though, as 

each have their own unique characteristics, 

and rendering the capture of every possible 

contaminant extremely difficult and 

requiring multiple barriers. 

“We generally combine a series of treatment 

trains and treatment processes to catch 

everything,” Professor Snyder said. 

New standards are always in development, 

and that number is constantly increasing 

though the process is slow. At present, 

the World Health Organisation (WHO) has 

standards for approximately 200 different 

contaminants, and each country normally 

has their own. 

“It usually starts with detection, so once 

somebody begins to detect a chemical in 

water, we go through the evaluation of the 

health consequences,” Professor Snyder 

explained. “But we think the future is going 

to be in using in-vitro bioassays to monitor 

water quality, which will be overtaking 

regulations, because we can’t build the 

regulations fast enough.” WWA 



ANDRITZ launches Metris 

addIQ control systems 

INTELLIGENCE FOR MACHINE AND 

PROCESS CONTROL IS JUST THE 

TIP OF THE ICEBERG FOR ANDRITZ. 

International technology group, ANDRITZ, 

has successfully launched Metris addIQ, a 

state-of-the-art digital control system for 

separation applications. Not only does it 

provide added value by enhancing availability, 

it minimises production costs through 

increased equipment efficiency and fewer 

operating errors. 

Metris addIQ control systems, part of the 

ANDRITZ digital solutions offered under the 

Metris technology brand, enable users to 

analyse and optimise processes. Features 

like predictive analysis allow operators to 

optimise availability and take preventive 

action to avoid downtime. 

Capacity and quality are easy to control and 

enhance with customisable systems – the 

Metris addIQ control system is based on 

the latest Programmable Logic Control and 

Human Machine Interface technologies and 

even has an integrated fail-safe system. 

Easy-to-read icons diminish intercultural 

barriers and minimise translation and training 

efforts. What’s more, mobile connectivity 

features and a smart analysis function 

combine to guarantee operational accuracy 

from any location every hour and every day 

of the week. 

Each package has individual specifics that are 

directly connected to the type of machine it is 

used for and can be combined with optional 

add-ons, such as addIQ Monitoring or addIQ 

Optimising. 

EXTENDING EQUIPMENT 

LIFETIME 

The Metris addIQ control system is not 

only available for new machines, plants and 

processes, but can also be installed in existing 

facilities with minimal disruption. This makes 

it an ideal option for any business looking 

to reap the benefits of new technologies 

as well as for producers with outdated 

components that have reached their end of 

life and operations suffering from limitations 

in automation system capacity. 

Precise planning and painstaking preparation 

facilitate a dramatic reduction in downtime and 

allow production to keep flowing, even while 

changes are being made. The upgrade can be 

carried out in several steps to accommodate 

any production schedule; it is also platformindependent, 

and existing technology can be 

incorporated or replaced as required. 

What’s more, everything that’s needed is 

provided from a single source – ANDRITZ 

supplies the engineering, hardware, software, 

and equipment, as well as safety concept 

evaluation and implementation through to 

explosion zone investigations. WWA 

CUSTOMISABLE PACKAGES 

There are various Metris addIQ packages 

offered, thus allowing every business involved 

in solid or liquid separation to optimise 

its performance – from a huge municipal 

wastewater operation to a niche brewery. 

All packages come with widescreen touch 

panels and an intuitive HMI. The overall 

usability concept of the HMI takes the 

different requirements of the operating staff 

into account and enables operators with 

different levels of experience to fulfill their 

tasks at the same time. 

The intuitive user interface of Metris addIQ control systems. 

Image credited to ANDRITZ 


TECH ROUND UP | 61 



WesTech extends package 

product line 

WesTech Engineering, Inc. has 

debuted RapiSand Plus, a 

recent addition to its line of 

package treatment plants for municipal and 

industrial water and wastewater. 

The RapiSand Plus package treatment plant 

provides both clarification and filtration 

within a single tank, and is designed to 

meet customer demands for a compact, low 

cost, high-performance system capable of 

treating high-solids and high-color influents 

to produce high-quality effluents. Moreover, 

because both the clarification and filtration 

processes are from a single provider, it also 

meets the need for flawless integration 

between processes. 

RapiSand Plus’s two-stage system is simple 

and versatile. The ballasted flocculation 

system in the first stage mixes coagulated 

raw water with microsand to create a 

ballasted floc that settles rapidly. The mixedmedia 

filter in the second stage removes 

turbidity, remaining suspended solids, color, 

iron, and manganese to produce a highquality 

effluent. 

“The RapiSand Plus water treatment 

plant is the most advanced product of its 

kind because it combines the ballasted 

flocculation technology from our RapiSand 

clarifier, which clarifies flashy waters of up to 

1,000 NTU turbidity, with the mixed media 

filter technology from our Trident ® package 

plants, producing up to 1,400 gallons (5,300 

litres) per minute of high-quality drinking 

effluent,” explained WesTech Product 

Manager Jayme Tuomala. 

This innovative all-in-one treatment plant 

is an ideal choice for customers with tight 

space constraints. The RapiSand Plus fits 

into a standard-sized building, making it 

comparatively easy to install. It also offers 

quick start-up times, reaching steady-state 

operation in as little as 15 minutes from 

power-up. And it delivers high performance 

while saving on installation and operationsenergy 

costs. These benefits make the 

RapiSand Plus a cost-effective choice for 

municipal and industrial applications. WWA 

RapiSand Plus package treatment plant. 

Image credited to WesTech Engineering, Inc. 


EVENTS CALENDAR 2019 

JANUARY 

WFES Water 

14 to 17 January 

Abu Dhabi, UAE 

https://www.worldfutureenergysummit.com/ 

wfes-water 

InterAqua Tokyo 2019 

30 January to 1 February 

Tokyo, Japan 

https://www.interaqua.jp/eng 

FEBRUARY 

World Water-Tech Innovation Summit 2019 

26 to 27 February 

London, UK 

https://worldwatertechinnovation.com 

MARCH 

Water Philippines 

20 to 22 March 

Metro Manila, Philippines 

https://www.waterphilippinesexpo.com 

Pumps and Valves Indonesia 2019 

29 to 31 March 

Jakarta, Indonesia 

https://www.pumpsandvalves-indonesia.com 

APRIL 

Global Water Summit 

8 to 10 April 

London, UK 

http://www.watermeetsmoney.com 

IE expo 


Shanghai, China 

http://www.ie-expo.com 

WQA Convention and Exposition 2019 


Las Vegas, USA 

http://www.wqa.org/convention 

MAY 

IFAT Munich 

4 to 8 May 

Munich, Germany 

https://www.ifat.de/index-2.html 

OZWATER’19 

7 to 9 May 

Melbourne, Australia 

http://www.ozwater.org 

JUNE 

Aquatech China 2019 

3 to 5 June 

Shanghai, China 

https://www.aquatechtrade.com/china 

ASEAN Sustainable Energy Week 2019 

5 to 8 June 

Bangkok, Thailand 

http://www.asew-expo.com 

Pumps & Valves Asia 2019 

5 to 8 June 


http://www.pumpsandvalves-asia.com 

Thai Water 2019 

5 to 8 June 


http://www.thai-water.com 

12 th IWA International Conference on 

Water Reclamation and Reuse 

16 to 20 June 

Berlin, Germany 

http://www.iwa-network.org/events/12 th - 

iwa-international-conference-on-waterreclamation-and-reuse 

International Young water Professionals 

23 to 27 June 

Toronto, Canada 

https://iwa-youngwaterprofessionals.org 

JULY 

Trenchless Asia 2019 

17 to 18 July 


https://www.trenchlessasia.com 

INDO WATER 2019 

17 to 19 July 


https://www.indowater.com 

VietWater Hanoi 2019 

Hanoi, Vietnam 

24 to 26 July 2019 

https://www.vietwater.com/en-us 

SEPTEMBER 

Asian Utility Week 2019 

3 to 5 September 

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 

http://www.asian-utility-week.com 

OCTOBER 

Myanmar Water 2019 

Yangon, Myanmar 

https://www.myanwater.com 

MyanWater 2019 

11 to 13 October 

Yangon, Myanmar 

https://www.myanwater.org 

IDA 2019 Water Congress on Desalination 

20 to 24 October 

Dubai, UAE 

https://wc.idadesal.org 

8 th IWA-ASPIRE Conference & Exhibition 2019 

31 October to 2 November 

Hong Kong 

http://www.iwa-network.org/events/iwa-aspire 

NOVEMBER 

VietWater Hi Chi Minh 2019 

6 to 8 November 

Ho Chih Minh City, Vietnam 

https://www.vietwater.com/en-us 


64 ADVERTISERS INDEX WATER & WASTEWATER ASIA March / April 2019 

31 ANDRITZ Pumps 

https://www.andritz.com/pumps-en 

FC 

IBC 

ANDRITZ Separation 

https://www.andritz.com/separation-en 

China Lesso Group Holdings Ltd 

http://en.lesso.com 

5 Danfoss 

https://www.danfoss.com/en 

11 Diehl Metering S.A.S. 

https://www.diehl.com/metering/en 

IFC 

9 Estruagua 

https://www.estruagua.com/en 

Grundfos 

https://sg.grundfos.com 

63 Harbin Firstline Environment Technology Co., Ltd 

http://www.firstline.com.cn/index.php 

13 IE expo 

http://www.ie-expo.com 

53 IndoWater 

https://www.indowater.com 

7 LACROIX Sofrel 

http://www.lacroix-sofrel.com 

57 LaoWater 

http://www.laowater.org 

OBC 

61 Pump & Valves Indonesia 

https://www.pumpsandvalves-indonesia.com 

Tsurumi Manufacturing Co., Ltd 

https://www.tsurumipump.com 

3 Vaughan Co., Ltd 

http://www.chopperpumps.com 

1 Vontron Technology Co., Ltd 

http://www.vontron.com 

45 Water and Wastewater Asia 

http://www.waterwastewaterasia.com 

23 Water and Wastewater Asia – Social Media 

http://www.waterwastewaterasia.com 

PABLO SINGAPORE 

Publisher 

William Pang 

williampang@pabloasia.com 

Associate Publisher 

Pamela Buckley 

pamela@pabloasia.com 

Editor 

Pang Yanrong 

yanrong@pabloasia.com 


Sarah Si 

sarahsi@pabloasia.com 


Natalie Chew 

natalie@pabloasia.com 


Szeto Hiu Yan 

hiuyan@pabloasia.com 

Graphic Designer 

Edwin De Souza 

edwin@pabloasia.com 

Admin & Circulation Manager 

Shu Ai Ling 

circulation@pabloasia.com 

Business Development & Marketing 

YanJun Pang 

yanjun@pabloasia.com 

PABLO BEIJING 

General Manager 

Ellen Gao 

pablobeijing@163.com 

PABLO SHANGHAI 

Deputy Executive Editor, 

Chinese Edition 

Wendy Wei 

pabloshanghai@163.net 

Published by 

Pablo Publishing Pte Ltd 

3 Ang Mo Kio Street 62 

#01-23 Link@AMK 

Singapore 569139 

Tel: (65) 6266 5512 

E-mail: info@pabloasia.com 

Website: www.waterwastewaterasia.com 

Company Registration No: 200001473N 

Singapore MICA (P) No: 120/05/2018 

REGIONAL OFFICES (CHINA) 

Pablo BEIJING 

Tel: +86 10 6509 7728 / +86 10 6509 7548 

Fax: +86 10 6509 7719 

Email: pablobeijing@163.com 

Contact: Ellen Gao 

Scan to download 

WWA March/April 2019 eBook 

Pablo SHANGHAI 

Tel: +86 21 5238 9737 

Fax: +86 21 5238 9736 

Email: pabloshanghai@163.net

Water & Wastewater Asia March/April 2019

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