Water & Wastewater Asia March/April 2021

MARCH / APRIL 2021 

www.waterwastewaterasia.com 

HITACHI: Smarter and holistic approach to 

water management 

Optimising wastewater and sludge treatment 

Desalination plant in Singapore begins with 

Nijhuis Saur Industries DAF pre-treatment

We bring colour into view! 

Compact pressure sensor switches with 360° custom-colour status display 

NEW! 

Status display 

also for two-wire 

sensors. 

256 colours 

Individually selectable: 

Measurement in progress 

Sensor switching 

Process malfunction 

Compact design 

15 cm 

Hygienic 

adapter system 

Adjustment via 

smartphone 

VEGA Instruments (SEA) Pte Ltd 

sales.sg@vega.com 

www.vega.com/vegabar

CONTENTS 

18 

15 

26 

CONTENTS 

04 Editor’s Note 

06 The News 

55 SWA Newsletter 

63 What’s Next? 

64 Advertisers’ Index 

5 MINUTES WITH 

15 HITACHI: Smarter and holistic 

approach to water management 

18 Optimising wastewater and sludge 

treatment 

ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT 

22 China’s PFAS problem 

IN THE FIELD 

26 KSB Sewatec pumps contribute to 

Lake Ontario clean-up 

30 Waridi supports socio-economic 

development in Tanzania 

33 Desalination plant in Singapore 

begins with Nijhuis Saur Industries 

DAF pre-treatment 

36 Battery recycling company saves 

cost, reduces maintenance with 

Rosemount 5408 

2

WATER & WASTEWATER ASIA | MARCH/APRIL 2021 

59 

33 

FOCUS 

37 Data down under 

42 It’s a dirty job but wastewater risk 

management relies on good screencare 

to avoid spill and downtime 

44 Har Ghar Jal: Water for all 

VIEWPOINT 

47 Well water mysteries unravelled 

52 Identifying the right circular vocabulary and 

stakeholders 

ON OUR RADAR 

59 WEHRLE introduces new products 

for leachate treatment 

60 New Sievers TOC analysers for 

online ultrapure water monitoring 

61 MICRODYN-NADIR introduces 

BIO-CEL® EASY 

RECAP 

62 VEGA Webinar: Because clear 

drinking water requires reliable level 

and pressure monitoring 

HOTSEAT 

54 WABAG: Leading the way 

3

FROM THE EDITOR WATER & WASTEWATER ASIA | MARCH/APRIL 2021 

PABLO SINGAPORE 

William Pang • Publisher 

williampang@pabloasia.com 

It’s the second issue for 2021! 

ROLLING 

DEEPER 

INTO 2021 

Pang Yanrong • Senior Editor 

yanrong@pabloasia.com 

Natalie Chew • Assistant Editor 

natalie@pabloasia.com 

YanJun Pang • Business Development Manager 

yanjun@pabloasia.com 

Goh Meng Yong • Graphic Designer 

mengyong@pabloasia.com 

Shu Ai LIng • Circulation Manager 

circulation@pabloasia.com 

PABLO BEIJING 

Ellen Gao • General Manager 

pablobeijing@163.com 

It feels like yesterday when we started the first issue of the year. We’re still partially 

working from home but have figured out a routine. I’m sure the same can be said for many 

in the industry. 

As we delve deeper into 2021, we explore with Hitachi on smarter and holistic approach 

to water management (p.15). Water quality in Asia, especially South East Asia, is severely 

lacking which can lead to devastating diseases for the human bodies. We spoke to Mr 

Ong Yen Tar, general manager, Water Treatment Division (Standardized Solutions) of 

Hitachi Aqua-Tech Engineering Pte. Ltd, who shared about the water solutions available 

from Hitachi. 

Alfa Laval also shared their engineering solutions based on key technologies of heat 

transfer, separation and fluid handling which helps in reducing environmental footprint 

while optimising wastewater and sludge treatment (p.18). 

Singapore’s fourth desalination plant, the Keppel Marina East Desalination Plant 

(KMEDP), has commenced commercial operation. A unique feature is its large-scale, dual 

mode for the treatment of both freshwater from the Marina Bay Reservoir, or seawater. 

In fact, for the pre-treatment of the seawater, contractor Nijhuis Industries has provided 

eight high-rate dissolved air flotation units for removal of solids. In this article, the 

company shows how its product ensures a total plant recovery rate of 98% (p.33). 

And then there’s Xylem, where we spoke to Rajul Mehrotra to find out exactly what 

Xylem’s Smart City and Smart Infrastructure programme can do to ensure a 24/7 water 

supply (p.44). 

As we continue to bring you more news from the industry, please feel free to send your 

feedback on what you would like to hear from us. We will always welcome the comments! 

Cheers, 

Pang Yan Rong 

let's connect! 

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All rights reserved. Views of writers do not necessarily reflect the views 

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Water & Wastewater Asia is the official 

publication of the Singapore Water Association 

4

NEWS 

GRUNDFOS LAUNCHES 

INVESTMENT-FREE 

GUARANTEED ENERGY 

SAVINGS PROGRAMME 

FOR THAI BUSINESSES 

Grundfos, a leading pump and water 

solutions manufacturer, has launched 

a new service model in Thailand that 

can help local businesses cut energy 

consumption by more than onethird, 

achieving greater sustainability 

at a lower cost while supporting 

the country’s goal of reducing 

greenhouse gas emissions by at least 

20% by 2030. 

Grundfos Energy Earnings (GEE) 

is a new shared energy saving 

programme where Grundfos absorbs 

the investment cost of replacing 

customers’ current equipment 

with new environmentally friendly 

solutions, as well as installation and 

ongoing maintenance. Under this 

new self-funding service model, 

Grundfos and customers will share 

the realised savings from GEE for five 

years. 

Products offered through GEE 

include LS pumps, controllers and 

energy-efficient motors. 

Pumps account for 10% of global 

energy consumption. Switching 

to newer technology can have a 

significant positive impact. Advanced 

pump solutions, which can be used 

for various applications across 

diverse segments, are especially 

suitable for the hospitality industry 

where hotels, entertainment arenas 

and other facilities play a critical role 

in supporting the Thai economy. GEE 

can also help municipal electricity 

authorities reduce their energy 

consumption. 

Grundfos is dedicated to supporting 

Thai efforts to reduce energy 

consumption, in line with a growing 

domestic environmental movement 

where consumers and businesses 

are becoming increasingly concerned 

about how human activity is damaging 

the country’s natural and urban 

environments. 

Mr Lewis Brown, regional service 

business developer of Grundfos Asia 

Pacific region, said, “Sustainability is a 

very important part of Grundfos’ DNA. 

The pandemic this year has reaffirmed 

the importance of achieving our 

climate ambitions, as we are reminded 

of the impact human activities have on 

the environment. We are committed to 

helping our customers to reduce their 

water and energy consumption to limit 

their carbon footprint. 

“At the same time, we aim to 

demonstrate that financial and 

environmental goals are not 

mutually exclusive. Our GEE model 

showcases the benefits of replacing 

energy-intensive equipment with our 

pioneering technology that can reduce 

both environmental and financial 

costs.” 

Grundfos this year launched GEE with 

Ramayana Water Park in Pattaya, 

replacing the existing pumps at 

Thailand’s largest water park and 

enabling it to reduce its energy 

consumption by 31%. The project 

will exceed 1,000,000 kWh in 

savings and 450 tonnes of CO2 

emissions — about the same as 

permanently removing 170 cars off 

the road. 

Financial savings for a customer 

can reach up to 1.5 million baht per 

year of cost saving. 

“GEE has the potential to deliver 

real financial savings. Customers in 

the hospitality industry, who have 

been pressured by the COVID-19 

pandemic, can benefit from 

developing greater resilience to help 

them overcome challenges caused 

by the pandemic while helping them 

on a path to a more sustainable 

future in the longer term. 

“These savings will have a 

significant impact on our customers’ 

bottom line, as well as our 

commitment towards sustainability 

and the environment. We forecast 

to reach 30 Asia Pacific customers 

within the next five years,” said Mr 

Brown. 

Grundfos Energy 

Earnings (GEE) 

is a new shared 

energy saving 

programme where 

Grundfos absorbs 

the investment 

cost of replacing 

customers’ current 

equipment with new 

environmentally 

friendly solutions, as 

well as installation 

and ongoing 

maintenance 

6


LANXESS: EBITDA PRE 

EXCEPTIONALS FOR 

FOURTH QUARTER 2020 

Specialty chemicals company LANXESS expects to achieve 

fourth quarter 2020 EBITDA pre exceptionals that considerably 

exceeds average market expectations and previous year’s 

level. 

EBITDA pre exceptionals for the fourth quarter 2020 is 

estimated to amount to €200 million, which exceeds average 

market expectations of €181 million by 10%. 

“Q4 2020 is expected to be the strongest final quarter we have 

seen in eight years. The fact that we achieved this even during 

the global Corona pandemic shows: Thanks to our stable setup, 

we are resilient even and especially in times of crisis,” said 

Matthias Zachert, chairman of the Board of Management of 

LANXESS AG. 

The fourth quarter result was positively influenced by a 

stronger than expected increase in demand especially from 

the automotive industry particularly in the month of December. 

LANXESS supplies this industry mainly through its Engineering 

Materials segment. The Advanced Intermediates and Specialty 

Additives segments also recorded a business development 

above expectations. The Consumer Protection segment 

performed well, as expected. These positive developments 

also more than offset the effects of an unplanned production 

shutdown in Belgium in the Engineering Materials segment 

and adverse currency effects from the US dollar. 

In the prior-year quarter, LANXESS EBITDA pre exceptionals 

reached €197 million. 

LANXESS will release its final results for the fourth quarter 

2020 and the fiscal year 2020 on March 11, 2021. All figures 

provided in this release are preliminary and unaudited. 

Matthias Zachert, chairman of 

the Board of Management of 

LANXESS AG 

7

NEWS 

look to increase access to fresh water, we 

believe that closed circuit reverse osmosis 

will prove to be a more sustainable way to 

purify, conserve and reuse water, including 

saltwater.” 

DUPONT RECEIVES $1.3M GRANT TO 

APPLY CLOSED CIRCUIT REVERSE OSMOSIS 

TECHNOLOGY TO INCREASE SUSTAINABILITY 

OF DESALINATION FOR CLEAN WATER 

DuPont has been awarded a three-year grant 

from PUB, Singapore’s national water agency 

on behalf of National Research Foundation 

(NRF) Singapore to shape the future for how 

Closed Circuit Reverse Osmosis (CCRO) 

technology can be applied to desalination 

processes to make the purification of 

seawater more energy efficient, flexible and 

reliable. 

DuPont Water Solutions, a leading 

manufacturing of reverse osmosis and 

desalination membranes, obtained the 

globally patented and unique CCRO process 

technology with the acquisition of Desalitech 

(Inc.) in January 2020. CCRO leverages a 

standardised design, a smart software, and 

standard components to help customers 

purify and reuse more water through higher 

recovery rates, lower energy consumption 

and reduced maintenance compared to 

traditional reverse osmosis. CCRO has proven 

to deliver up to 90-98% water recovery with 

reduced energy usage and superior fouling 

and scaling resistance for the purification 

and reuse of brackish water within industrial, 

municipal, and wastewater applications. 

This grant will allow DuPont to continue to 

advance the CCRO technology for additional 

applications, including desalination. Through 

this project, the CCRO technology will be 

optimised for seawater desalination systems 

to operate at 15% or lower energy than 

conventional reverse osmosis systems using 

energy recovery devices. The project also 

intends to demonstrate additional benefits 

of minimizing maintenance through fewer 

cleanings, and the ability to automatically 

adapt to variable salinity feed source. 

The goal of this project is to expand the 

application of CCRO technology to bring 

its benefits to desalination process and 

make it commercially viable for seawater 

reverse osmosis systems. Closed circuit 

reverse osmosis desalination systems, as 

more autonomous, data-driven solutions, 

will be well suited to support the clean water 

needs of regions with limited access to water 

operations and affordable energy. 

“DuPont is working to help solve global water 

challenges with a sense of urgency,” said 

HP Nanda, global vice president & general 

manager, DuPont Water Solutions. “As we 

“We look forward to working with PUB, 

Singapore’s national water agency, to 

advance CCRO and membrane technologies 

to enable a seawater reverse osmosis 

(SWRO) desalination system with recordsetting 

lowest energy consumption,” said 

Gary Gu, global technology leader, DuPont 

Water Solutions. “DuPont is fully committed 

to supporting Singapore in our shared 

sustainability journey through innovation and 

collaboration.” 

The award, not to exceed $1.3m, is part 

of Singapore’s Competitive Research 

Programme (Water) that supports research 

and development (R&D) for technologies 

with great potential to transform the water 

industry. 

DuPont Water Solutions (DWS) is a leader in 

sustainable water purification and separation 

technologies, including ultrafiltration, reverse 

osmosis (RO) membranes and ion exchange 

resins. DuPont designs and produces 

the most widely used RO membrane 

technology in the world — trusted globally 

by municipalities, industries, manufacturers, 

commercial markets, and families requiring 

clean, safe water. 

Desalination membranes remove salt and 

other chemicals from water, a process critical 

to the health of society, cleaning billions 

of gallons of water for agriculture, energy 

production and drinking. Reverse osmosis 

membranes work by applying pressure to 

the salty feed solution on one side. The 

minerals remain in the feed while the water 

passes through. Although more efficient than 

non-membrane desalination processes, this 

process still takes a large amount of energy 

in water treatment plants and improving the 

efficiency of the membranes through the use 

of CCRO could reduce that burden. 

8


ABU DHABI LAUNCHES “INTEGRATED WATER 

RESOURCES MANAGEMENT PLAN” 

His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed 

Al Nahyan, the Ruler’s Representative in Al 

Dhafra Region and chairman of the Board of 

Directors of the Environment Agency - Abu 

Dhabi (EAD), announced that the integrated 

water resources management is fundamental, 

in light of the tremendous developmental shift 

in the emirate of Abu Dhabi. 

His Highness Sheikh Hamdan explained the 

importance of water resource for economic, 

social, and environmental development, 

increasing the population and ensuring food 

security. His Highness also stated that the 

scarcity of water resources is one of the main 

challenges facing governments in dry areas, 

including Abu Dhabi, in the absence of natural 

renewable water sources, such as rivers, 

freshwater lakes and low levels of rain. As a 

result, the government of Abu Dhabi resorts to 

the usage of unconventional water resources, 

which are a high-cost resource. 

His Highness Sheikh Hamdan statement 

came on the occasion of the launch of the 

Integrated Water Resources Management 

Plan 2021-2030, which was launched by 

EAD at a virtual event organised under the 

patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan 

bin Zayed Al Nahyan. 

His Highness Sheikh Hamdan, said, “It is in 

our framework as an agency to be concerned 

with the groundwater management in the 

emirate of Abu Dhabi. Since its inception, 

EAD has been passionate about working 

towards clear strategic and automated plans, 

in cooperation with strategic partners. We are 

working on both water supply and demand 

to chart a way forward to reach an integrated 

management system for the sustainable 

development of water resources in Abu Dhabi 

for a sustainable future, in order to preserve 

this precious resource for future generations. 

Over more than 20 years of serious and 

purposeful work, EAD, in cooperation with 

its partners, has conducted comprehensive 

research and studies for water resources 

in the emirate and explored the future 

challenges it faces by preparing advanced 

numerical models and continuously 

Photo credit: Anshul Hari / Unsplash 

monitoring the change in the quality and 

quantity of the underground stock.” 

His Highness expressed the importance for 

people to spread awareness about preserving 

water resources, reducing waste, paying 

attention to water demand management, 

by reusing treated sewage water, adopting 

modern agricultural methods, and cultivating 

local plants that are resistant to climatic 

factors. 

9

NEWS 

VEOLIA WATER TECHNOLOGIES TO SUPPLY 

53 PACKAGED BIOLOGICAL WASTEWATER 

TREATMENT UNITS THROUGHOUT KUWAIT 

Veolia Water Technologies Gulf was awarded 

a contract by Mohammed Abdulmohsin 

Al-Kharafi & Sons (Al-Kharafi) to supply, 

supervise, install and commission 53 

AnoxKaldnes Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor 

(MBBR) packaged sewage treatment plants. 

This order is the largest ever received by 

Veolia for this type of packaged plants and 

will allow for 40,000 m 3 of water to be reused 

each day in water-scarce Kuwait. 

The compact and packaged sewage 

treatment units will be installed at various 

locations throughout the country where 

they will compensate a shortage in sewage 

handling. A major advantage of these smaller, 

packaged units when compared to one big 

wastewater treatment plant is that the size of 

the network is vastly reduced as it is possible 

to spread the units in various parts of the 

housing development or city. Capital costs 

are lowered while more flexibility is gained. 

Following treatment, the effluents will 

be reused for irrigation, therefore saving 

freshwater that would otherwise have been 

desalinated at high cost, particularly in terms 

of energy. 

In Sabah Al Ahmad City, a planned 

community located 80km south of Kuwait 

City in Khiran Kuwait, 23 AnoxKaldnes 

MBBR package plants with a total treatment 

capacity of 17,000 m 3 /day will be added to 

existing sewage treatment installations. In 

West Abdullah City, new sewage treatment 

installations will be built and will include 27 

package plants totalling 23,000 m 3 /day. 

Finally, three more units will be installed as 

provisional items at other locations. 

Veolia Water Technologies will also supply 

pretreatment and UV disinfection as well as 

proprietary Veolia technologies Multiflo for 

clarification and Hydrotech Drumfilters for 

tertiary treatment. Veolia’s digital solution 

Hubgrade will also be provided to support 

the operational teams in their daily monitoring 

with a proactive, data-driven service and 

remote reporting. 

Thierry Froment, CEO of Veolia Water 

Technologies Middle East, said, “2020 has 

proven a very challenging year in many 

aspects, but it has also brought us some 

great successes. This project exemplifies the 

benefits of combining our expert technologies 

available throughout Veolia’s network of 

business units with our digital services to offer 

our customers the best possible solution.” 

The first units will be delivered early in 2021, 

with all 53 units delivered in less than 12 

months. 

BALMORAL’S GLASS 

FUSED TO STEEL 

TANKS TO AID GREEN 

ENERGY REVOLUTION 

Following a $25m investment in state-ofthe-art 

manufacturing facilities at its South 

Yorkshire facility, Balmoral Tanks has 

introduced a new range of glass fused to steel 

(GFS) liquid storage tanks. 

Part of Aberdeen-based Balmoral Group, 

Balmoral Tanks manufactures a broad 

portfolio of storage tanks for the water, 

wastewater, anaerobic digestion and 

processing markets. 

Providing a new level of excellence in glass 

enamel coating technology, Allan Joyce, 

managing director at Balmoral Tanks, said, 

“The latest addition to our market-leading 

range of liquid storage solutions enhances 

our capability to provide clients with exactly 

the right product for every project.” 

Mr Joyce, continued, “International markets 

require technology which allows their 

economy to thrive while being mindful of the 

impact on the environment. 

“Against this background, we have 

established ourselves as a global player in the 

design, manufacture and installation of bulk 

liquid storage tanks to support the anaerobic 

digestion green energy revolution.” 

10


SANITATION AND WATER FOR ALL ANNOUNCES 

NEW GLOBAL LEADERSHIP COUNCIL 

The Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) 

partnership recently announced the formation 

of a Global Leadership Council (GLC), a highlevel 

group of appointed SWA leaders who will 

advocate for universal water, sanitation and 

hygiene in the lead up to 2030, the deadline 

for achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable 

Development Goals. 

The Global Leaders represent a 

geographically diverse group of esteemed 

politicians, executives, and advocates, 

including Kevin Rudd, former Australian 

Prime Minister and current President of the 

Asia Society; Laura Chinchilla, the Former 

President of Costa Rica; Henrietta Fore, 

UNICEF’s Executive Director; Alan Jope, 

CEO of Unilever; and Kumi Naidoo, former 

Secretary-General of Amnesty International 

and former Executive Director of Greenpeace. 

The GLC has been formed to advocate for 

and mobilize wider political commitment 

to the prioritisation of water, sanitation and 

hygiene, build better governance structures 

and institutions to achieve SDG6 by the 

year 2030, and enhance the visibility of 

sanitation, water and hygiene both globally 

and nationally. 

In their new roles, the Global Leaders will 

draw upon their experience and network 

of contacts in government, business, UN 

agencies, and civil society, to campaign for 

a multi-stakeholder approach in the political 

dialogue, and a unified front to overcome the 

challenges of achieving universal water and 

sanitation by 2030. 

“As the current pandemic has shown, access 

to water and sanitation is absolutely vital for 

public health and global development, as it is 

also for the achievement of other development 

goals, such as effective action on climate 

change and for realizing human rights in 

general,” said Catarina de Albuquerque, 

CEO of SWA. “I am confident that our Global 

Leaders will be instrumental in advocating 

for and mobilizing wider and higher political 

commitment to the Guiding Principles and 

aims of the SWA partnership.” 

Leachate Treatment 

DIRECT-RO 

Reverse Osmosis container plant for leachate treatment 

Successfully delivering to the WWT sector in the UK for many 

years Balmoral now exports to a significant number of markets 

that have established a renewable energy sector as part of 

their future infrastructure plans. 

Demand for the company’s products is driven by 

environmental legislation put in place at national, regional 

and local levels across the world. There is barely a country 

in the world that will not be impacted by energy transition 

requirements and pressure is on governments to improve their 

climate policies. 

flow 

All-on-Board plants for quick start-up 

Available in 3 different sizes + extras 

Variable throughput to optimize OPEX 

NEW PRODUCT 

“Bulk liquid storage tanks used in the AD sector require well 

designed and engineered products. Exporting products 

across the world demands quality and performance levels of a 

standard that is built around a zero defects philosophy. 

“Achieving such performance levels takes investment, 

foresight and a willingness to believe in what your market 

research is telling you,” concluded Mr Joyce. 

www.wehrle.asia 

11

NEWS 

communities to achieve water security by 

providing innovative solutions, and we look 

forward to advancing this even further as we 

continue our partnership.” 

Through its partnership with Planet Water, Xylem sponsored AquaTower systems and hygiene education 

programs at schools in 14 countries, including India and Mexico, where students often miss class due to waterrelated 

illnesses 

XYLEM AND PLANET WATER FOUNDATION 

PROVIDE MORE THAN ONE MILLION PEOPLE 

WITH CLEAN WATER AND HYGIENE EDUCATION 

Xylem, a leading global water technology 

company, and its long-time partnership with 

Planet Water Foundation has provided more 

than one million people with access to safe, 

reliable drinking water and hygiene education. 

The milestone was achieved through 10 years 

of partnership centered on a shared mission 

to create stability and equity for communities 

that lack access to clean water. 

Through the partnership, Xylem has 

sponsored the deployment of over 500 clean 

water projects in 14 countries across Asia 

Pacific and Latin America. Over the last 

decade, more than 1,600 Xylem employees 

have served as Planet Water project 

volunteers to install AquaTower systems and 

engage local residents in WASH education 

programmes. Most recently, Xylem 

supported natural disaster responses in the 

Philippines after super typhoon Goni, and in 

Honduras following hurricanes Eta and Iota. 

Commenting on the announcement, Austin 

Alexander, vice president, Sustainability 

and Social Impact at Xylem, said, “Our 

partnership with Planet Water allows us 

to support communities that are in critical 

need of clean water. The fact that, together, 

we have now improved water access for 

one million people demonstrates the impact 

we can have when we partner together 

to solve the world’s water challenges. We 

have a unique opportunity to empower 

Planet Water’s work centers on bringing 

clean water to the world’s most impoverished 

communities through the installation of 

community-based water filtration systems 

and by implementing water health and 

hygiene education programs, with a specific 

focus on schools, children, rural areas, 

and disaster response. Recently, Xylem 

sponsored AquaTower systems and hygiene 

education programs at schools in India and 

Mexico, where students often miss class due 

to water-related illnesses. 

Planet Water’s AquaTower solution filters 

contaminants from local water sources and 

can supply up to 1,800 people with their daily 

drinking water requirements. 

Mark Steele, founder and CEO, Planet Water 

Foundation, commented, “To reach the one 

million milestone in 2020 is a testament 

to the hard work and dedication of our 

volunteers who have worked tirelessly to 

improve access to safe drinking water to 

countless communities over the last ten 

years. Water health and hygiene education 

is pivotal for the communities we serve, 

and we look forward to reaching the next 

big milestone through our partnership with 

Xylem, leveraging innovative technologies 

and unrivalled experience to help 

communities around the world.” 

BLACK & VEATCH APPOINTS SATHYAMOORTHY 

TO NEW LEADERSHIP POST 

water and wastewater treatment, sustainability, 

energy efficiency, solids and organics 

management, and digital water, analytics and AI. 

Black & Veatch recently announced that 

Sandeep Sathyamoorthy, an industry expert 

with a track record of successfully leading 

applied research in wastewater treatment and 

reuse, has been named global practice and 

technology leader for innovation and applied 

research in the company’s water business. 

In the newly created position, Dr 

Sathyamoorthy will lead the business’s 

collaborative research with professional 

organisations, independent research services 

and operation of its Innovation Platform. The 

move centralises Black & Veatch’s innovation 

and applied research practice in the areas of 

“Black & Veatch has been at the forefront of 

applied research for many years,” said Cindy 

Wallis-Lage, president of Black & Veatch’s 

water business. “Centralising our research 

practice under the leadership of Sandeep, who 

has great skill and experience accelerating 

the development and adoption of innovative 

12


GRADIANT POSTS ROBUST 2020 GLOBAL 

PERFORMANCE WITH 30 PROJECT WINS 

GRADIANT has also introduced 

SmartOps - an innovative asset 

performance management service 

capable of managing plants remotely and 

on-site. Additionally, SmartOps will 

incorporate artificial intelligent controls 

to monitor equipment health, proactively 

manage maintenance, optimise costs, and 

provide customers with real-time updates 

for any digital device. 

GRADIANT Corporation, a technologydriven 

end-to-end wastewater treatment 

solution provider, recently announced 

that it has secured 18 new project wins 

in the second half of 2020 across its Asia 

Pacific (APAC), Middle East and US offices. 

Fourteen projects were secured with APAC 

based organisations following 12 projects 

previously awarded to the company 

across the region in first half of 2020. To 

meet evolving customer requirements, the 

company has also introduced its latest asset 

management platform, SmartOpsTM which 

will be part of GRADIANT’s plants around the 

world. 

The 18 projects include both Design-Build 

(DB) and Design-Build-Own-Operate 

(DBOO) projects in pharmaceutical, latex, 

food and beverage, seawater desalination, 

mining, steel and chemical industries, and 

range from the treatment of seawater to the 

treatment of highly contaminated industrial 

effluent for reuse. The DB projects secured 

have a total contract value of approximately 

US$10m, while the remaining DBOO projects 

secured have a US$11m average revenue 

and a total contract value of US$190m. Thirty 

projects were secured by GRADIANT over 

the course of 2020, delivering a combined 

contract value of over US$400m. 

“The acquisition of 30 new projects continues 

GRADIANT’s multi-fold year-on-year growth 

in Asia Pacific, and enables the company 

to enter the new year in a market leading 

position despite challenges arising from 

COVID-19. This milestone was further 

boosted by the launch of various solution 

suites and further expansion into key Asia 

Pacific markets, placing the company in 

an optimal position to better service the 

region’s water treatment market, valued at 

more than US$5 billion according to Global 

Water Intelligence,” said Prakash Govindan, 

co-founder and COO, GRADIANT. “We are 

optimistic that this growth momentum will 

continue in 2021 with an increasingly global 

focus on sustainability, and we look forward 

to working with more like-minded partners 

across the globe to achieve our vision of 

sustainable growth,” he added. 

“We have observed a digital transformation 

trend for operations and maintenance 

among our customers’ sites in recent years. 

In response, GRADIANT has established 

SmartOps to empower adopters with 

better asset management capabilities. It 

incorporates a merge of technology and 

people ‘smarts’ that can help organisations 

more effectively optimise water and 

wastewater assets over their lifecycle via a 

real time, data-driven approach, bringing 

about cost and efficiency savings in the 

long term” said Hiep Le, VP, Process & 

Applications Engineering, GRADIANT. 

Supported by a talented workforce 

numbering more than 250 people 

throughout APAC and five cutting-edge 

testing and R&D labs in Singapore, Ningbo 

China, Boston USA, and Chennai India, 

GRADIANT is on track to accelerate its 

expansion into the eastern hemisphere 

over the next few years. This builds 

on GRADIANT’s already established 

operations in Australia, China, India, 

Malaysia and North America. 

concepts and technologies, allows us to 

strategically evaluate, test and pilot treatment 

advances and deliver optimized solutions 

at full-scale, creating value for our clients, 

projects and industry.” 

Sathyamoorthy, who has a Ph.D. in 

environmental and water resources 

engineering, has implemented innovative 

facility solutions that deliver long-term 

operational and environmental benefits. 

He served for nearly six years as principal 

process and innovation leader in Black & 

Veatch’s Water Technology Group, where 

he played an instrumental role creating 

the company’s Innovation Platform, which 

performs full-scale testing, treatability 

testing and technology evaluations, 

and designs of demonstration facilities. 

Collaborating with clients, vendors, water 

industry organisations and partners 

in academia, the practice focuses on 

practical resource recovery strategies and 

technologies. 

Recent applied research projects by Black & 

Veatch include the evaluation of Membrane 

Aerated Biofilm Reactor (MABR) technology 

at the City of Hayward’s Water Pollution 

Control Facility in California’s Bay Area and 

mainstream and sidestream deammonification 

technology at the Hyperion Water Reclamation 

Plant in Los Angeles. 

13

NEWS WATER & WASTEWATER ASIA | MARCH/APRIL 2021 

Photo credit: Li Yang / Unsplash 

Shanghai, China. 

capacity of 25,000m 3 per day, the WWTP 

leverages SUEZ’s industrial park operation 

and management expertise to monitor the 

wastewater discharge of enterprises at all 

times. In future, the WWTP will further expand 

into water recycling and smart water services, 

providing a strong foundation for Zhuhai’s 

integration into the Guangdong-Hong Kong- 

Macao Greater Bay Area. 

SUEZ STRENGTHENS PRESENCE IN 

CHINA WITH 21 NEW CONTRACTS 

Over the past six months, SUEZ has 

signed a series of contracts for water and 

wastewater treatment expertise, equipment 

and management services in China for total 

revenues of approximately €266 million 

($321.4 million). These new contracts cover 

numerous Chinese provinces and cities, 

including Beijing, Shanghai, Shaanxi, 

Guizhou, Liaoning, Shandong, Jiangsu, 

Zhejiang and Guangdong. The Group has 

also entered into a strategic agreement with 

the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, to 

provide smart environmental monitoring and 

management services. 

HELPING CHINA NATIONAL 

PETROLEUM CORPORATION (CNPC) 

TO ACHIEVE ZERO LIQUID DISCHARGE 

(ZLD) OF PETROCHEMICAL EFFLUENTS 

SUEZ has signed two new contracts with 

China National Petroleum Corporation 

(CNPC). The signing of these contracts 

builds on the CNPC and SUEZ’s successful 

collaboration since 2007 on numerous 

wastewater treatment projects across various 

locations. One is in Yulin, Shaanxi Province, 

where SUEZ will provide end-to-end 

wastewater treatment solutions that include 

saline wastewater treatment, reverse osmosis 

concentrated water pre-treatment, and a high 

efficiency reverse osmosis and crystallisation 

unit. These innovations enable CNPC to be 

able to, for the first time ever, achieve zero 

liquid discharge of petrochemical effluents. 

The other contract is at Dalian Petrochemical, 

in Liaoning Province, where SUEZ will 

deliver high-salinity concentrated water 

treatment solution for CNPC’s benchmarking 

concentrated brine treatment project. 

WATER MANAGEMENT SERVICES TO 

INDUSTRIAL PARKS TO ENABLE THEIR 

GREEN TRANSFORMATION 

Following a 15-year hazardous waste 

treatment contract with INVISTA Nylon 

Chemicals (China) Company Limited, 

SUEZ and INVISTA have signed a 25-year 

contract for wastewater treatment and 

water supply services in Shanghai Chemical 

Industry Park (SCIP). The contract targets to 

satisfy the services request from INVISTA’s 

full production line in SCIP. This project 

marks another successful partnership 

between SUEZ and INVISTA since their first 

collaboration in 2014. It provides a safe and 

stable wastewater treatment and water supply 

solution, tailored to INVISTA’s industrial 

wastewater profile across multiple streams of 

discharge. 

The first centralised industrial wastewater 

treatment plant (WWTP) in an industrial 

park in Zhuhai invested, built and operated 

by a SUEZ joint venture, was recently 

commissioned in the Zhuhai Gaolan Port 

Economic Zone. With a daily treatment 

QUALITY DRINKING WATER TREATMENT 

SERVICES TO IMPROVE QUALITY OF 

LIFE 

In Panjin, in the Liaoning province, 

(northeastern Chinese province), SUEZ 

has increased its investments in a major 

petrochemical centre, reinforcing its 

partnership with Panjin Water Group to jointly 

operate a drinking water treatment plant with 

a daily treatment capacity of 180,000m 3 . With 

investment now totalling €39 million ($47.1 

million) and a total daily treatment capacity 

of 290,000m 3 , the Panjin joint venture will 

continue to provide quality drinking water 

treatment services for 600,000 local residents 

for the next 20 years. Furthermore, SUEZ and 

Panjin Water Group are expected to extend 

their partnership to other areas, such as 

industrial water supply, industrial wastewater 

treatment and smart water solutions. 

SMART ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICE 

SUPPORT ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT 

IN INNER MONGOLIA 

In the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the 

Inner Mongolia Environmental Group signed 

a strategic cooperation agreement with 

the Group to collaborate on environmental 

activities such as water ecosystem treatment 

and water recycling, solid waste-toresource 

utilisation, smart environmental 

management, and asset management. 

SUEZ will fully leverage its technologies and 

strengths in smart environmental services 

while supporting the development of local 

environmental technology service platform 

partnerships. The goal is to propel Inner 

Mongolia, and its surrounding areas, towards 

its anti-pollution objectives and fortify this key 

ecological shelter in northern China. 

14

5 MINS WITH WATER & WASTEWATER ASIA | MARCH/APRIL 2021 

HITACHI: 

Smarter and holistic 

approach to water 

management 

Water quality in Asia, especially South East Asia, is 

severely lacking which can lead to devastating diseases 

for the human bodies. Water & Wastewater Asia spoke 

to Mr Ong Yen Tar, general manager, Water Treatment 

Division (Standardized Solutions) of Hitachi Aqua-Tech 

Engineering Pte. Ltd, who shared about the water 

solutions available. 

What is the current state of water contamination in South East 

Asia? 

Water contamination remains to be a serious issue in South East Asia. 

The region hosts multiple rivers which have historically been a source 

for fishing, consumption and agricultural needs. Unfortunately, rivers 

have also become a disposal area for waste and garbage. 

We see water contamination issues in many cities in this region, 

and some examples of this would be in Vietnam, where 90% of 

wastewater is released back into the environment without getting 

treated. We also see similar issues in places like the Philippines, 

where sewage contaminates natural water bodies. 

With such issues, local governments and organisations 

have continually been working to tackle these environmental 

challenges, and Hitachi has been working with both public and 

private organisations in the region to work on water solutions 

that can help with this challenge. 

15

5 MINS WITH 

Photo credit: Rilsonav / Pixabay 

As far as treatment for water 

contamination is concerned, what 

are some challenges faced? 

In many cities where rapid 

urbanisation is taking place, the 

speed of growth and development 

is often not parallel with the existing 

mechanism and infrastructure. 

More wastewater is discharged 

to the natural water bodies as 

general activity increases — water 

contamination increases with more 

establishments such as factories, 

offices and restaurants being 

introduced, affecting sanitation levels, 

as well as the marine life ecosystem. 

We see a general lack of effective 

wastewater treatment systems, and 

when this is combined with a lack 

of financial support behind water 

sanitation initiatives, it becomes 

a key challenge in wastewater 

management. Wastewater 

mismanagement has led to the 

rise of serious health issues within 

native populations, especially 

those living in rural areas, or 

those downstream, as they are 

denied access to fresher water 

and often have to contend with the 

byproducts from more developed 

cities upstream. 

Are these challenges specific to 

the South East Asian region? 

These challenges are not just 

specific to the region, but they 

appear in places undergoing rapid 

development and urbanisation. This 

is why it is especially prominent in 

South East Asia (SEA). Only a small 

margin of wastewater is treated in 

countries within the region; 10% 

of wastewater is treated in the 

Philippines, 14% of wastewater in 

Indonesia and 4% in Vietnam to 

name a few. Another challenge is 

the pressure on food and water 

supply. 

16


Over 100 million people throughout 

SEA do not have access to potable 

water, which further emphasises 

the need for better wastewater 

management, to cater to this segment 

and reduce the chances of diseases. 

How can water utilities and 

operators overcome these 

challenges with regard to treating 

water contamination? 

The involvement of more 

intergovernmental bodies monitoring 

key water channels will definitely 

help in assessing pollution levels 

and identifying the right solutions 

to implement. On a more localised 

level, greater collaboration between 

the public and private sectors geared 

towards improving current water 

management infrastructures can yield 

better solutions. Lastly, educational 

outreach to communities living in rural 

areas on the importance of managing 

water resources wisely. 

How can digital solutions aid in the 

treatment of water contamination? 

Artificial intelligence can be 

incorporated to analyse accumulated 

operational data and resolve clogging 

problems associated with reverseosmosis 

filters, a key component in our 

revolutionary seawater desalination 

system using treated water that 

is deployed in regions like Middle 

East, Africa, Asia, and parts of North 

America. This will help to achieve 

significant cost savings and a 30% 

reduction in power consumption as 

compared to conventional seawater 

desalination plants. 

“E-REX” is also another solution that 

Hitachi offers – it is a high recovery 

seawater desalination reverse osmosis 

system that can help in power saving. 

We are continually looking into 

providing solutions for desalination 

and treatment plants to treat 

wastewater. 

How do we address the 

disparities between countries in 

the South East Asian region with 

regards to implementing digital 

solutions? 

Every country or city has unique 

challenges of its own, and we have 

to keep in mind varying factors 

when want to implement any sort of 

solution. Tailoring different solutions 

to fit each city can provide the 

best possible outcome based on 

the constraints we have to work 

within. Doing so then allows us to 

customise and implement suitable 

digital solutions in a variety of 

places, and look at what the most 

effective solution for the particular 

area is. 

We’re interested to know more 

about Hitachi’s collaborative 

project with Filinvest for 

wastewater treatment in the 

Philippines - could you share 

more information about it? 

In the Philippines, wastewater is 

discharged into the sewers and has 

begun to contaminate natural water 

channels (e.g. Manila Bay). 

Photo credit: LuAnn Hunt / Unsplash 

With governmental efforts and 

new regulations implemented from 

2016, more stringent standards 

have to be applied on sewerage 

discharge (establishments 

are given five years to comply 

- including factories, offices, 

restaurants, etc). These 

establishments have to change and 

upgrade their existing wastewater 

treatment systems by 2021. 

To treat wastewater in the 

Philippines, we are working together 

with a major conglomerate in the 

Philippines to build a pilot plan for 

wastewater treatment and we are 

now looking at implementing this on 

a larger scale. 

17

5 MINS WITH 

OPTIMISING 

wastewater and 

sludge treatment 

Alfa Laval is a leading global provider of specialised products and 

engineering solutions based on its key technologies of heat transfer, 

separation and fluid handling. Its innovative technologies reduce 

environmental footprint — maximising water reuse, minimising energy 

consumption and recovering valuable resources from waste streams. 

Photo credit: erde estremera / Unsplash 

18


Better water treatment is a top 

priority at Alfa Laval. Through 

its comprehensive portfolio of 

equipment for municipal and industrial 

wastewater, and sludge treatment, Alfa 

Laval helps treatment facilities produce 

cleaner effluent for discharge or water 

reuse, recover and reuse waste heat, 

and reduce energy and waste disposal 

costs. 

Solid-liquid separation is critical to 

proper wastewater management. With 

more than 60 years of experience in 

decanter centrifuge technology, Alfa 

Laval is no stranger to optimising 

the removal of solids from industrial 

and municipal effluent. The company 

offers a complete range of decanter 

centrifuges for wastewater for 

sludge thickening and dewatering 

applications, and constant innovation 

is a hallmark of Alfa Laval ingenuity. 

“Our customers continue to challenge 

us and request ways to reduce 

their operating expenses and meet 

regulatory requirements by reducing 

costs and improving separation 

capability,” said Taha Suria, global 

sales manager, Water and Waste, 

Alfa Laval. “That’s why we always 

challenge ourselves, always pushing 

the boundaries of decanter centrifuge 

design and performance to new 

heights.” 

ALFA LAVAL ALDEC G3 VECFLOW: 

30% ENERGY SAVINGS 

Imagine enabling operators of 

wastewater treatment plants to 

realise a 30% savings in power 

consumption. That’s exactly what 

the Alfa Laval ALDEC G3 VecFlow TM 

decanter centrifuge does. Unveiled in 

September 2020, the decanter features 

an innovative VecFlow feed zone that 

accelerates the sludge tangentially 

when it enters the bowl thereby 

minimising turbulence in the bowl. 

SLIMLINE: IMPROVES ENERGY 

EFFICIENCY FURTHER 

The VecFlow is not the first time Alfa 

Laval has introduced a more energyefficient 

decanter. Proof of Alfa 

Laval’s commitment to continuously 

raising the bar on sludge dewatering 

performance is the Slimline conveyor, 

introduced nearly a decade ago. 

Reducing the conveyor diameter 

makes it possible to deepen the pond, 

thereby increasing the decanter’s 

sludge-processing capacity while 

slashing power consumption further. 

POWERTUBES: RECOVERING 

ENERGY 

This patented energy-saving feature 

reduces the speed of the discharged 

1 

1 Alfa Laval Slimline conveyor 

2 Alfa Laval PowerTubes 

3 Alfa Laval Connected Services, a 

suite of digital services to ensure the 

availability and optimal performance 

of the company’s wastewater decanter 

centrifuges 

2 3 

19

5 MINS WITH 

4 

5 

effluent as it leaves the bowl, 

recovering energy and eliminating 

the need to keep spare plate dams of 

different sizes. This also makes it much 

easier to change pond depth. Adding 

the PowerTube feature to the Alfa 

Laval ALDEC G3 VecFlow drastically 

reduces power consumption. 

CONSTANT DECANTER 

INNOVATION 

Innovation is part of Alfa Laval’s 

heritage and its DNA. The company 

was established in 1883 based on a 

single brilliant invention and continues 

on its journey of discovery to make 

the world better, every day. With more 

than 3700 patents, the company 

invests approximately 2.3% of its 

sales in research and development 

and launches between 35 and 40 new 

products every year. 

Proof of the company’s commitment 

advancing sustainable wastewater 

4 Alfa Laval G3 

VecFlow TM 

decanter for 

dewatering 

and thickening 

applications 

5 Condition Alert TM : 

Maintenance 

assessment 

of decanter 

components based 

on their real time 

condition 

treatment is the Alfa Laval Innovation 

& Test Centre for decanters in 

Søborg, Denmark, northwest 

of Copenhagen. Here the next 

generation of decanters is being 

developed, tested and optimised. 

“We recognise that owners and 

operators of wastewater treatment 

plants are facing huge challenges,” 

said Suria. “There are pressures to 

ensure more sustainable operations 

by reducing energy and water 

consumption and minimising the use 

of natural resources while complying 

with more rigid environmental 

legislation. Working with plant 

owners and operators also enables 

us to develop relevant digital 

solutions for current and future 

requirements.” 

CONNECTED SERVICES: 

DIGITAL DECANTER DATA 

Thinking about taking a step toward 

Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities? 

You’re not alone. 

Beyond decanter hardware, there 

are digital solutions that can help 

you make informed predictive 

maintenance decisions that secure 

availability and boost uptime. 

“We developed Alfa Laval 

Connected Services for Wastewater 

Decanters to maximize reliability, 

availability and efficiency while 

reducing total cost of ownership for 

our customers,” said Suria. “This 

suite of services includes remote 

support and monitoring, condition 

monitoring, predictive maintenance 

and process optimisation. You can 

choose one service or combine 

them in any way.” 

• Remote Support & Monitoring: 

Connect your wastewater 

decanter centrifuge to the Alfa 

Laval monitoring system through 

the internet. This provides Alfa 

Laval experts continuous remote 

access to decanter data, enabling 

them to provide maintenance 

advice, service planning, process 

optimisation, and faster, more 

accurate troubleshooting. 

• Cost Calculator: An add-on to 

Remote Support & Monitoring, 

this tool provides an immediate 

snapshot of how changes that 

result from Remote Support & 

Monitoring impact your operating 

costs. Specially developed 

algorithms calculate operating 

costs in real time based on actual 

operating data and other factors, 

such as relevant electricity and 

polymer prices. 

• ConditionAlert TM : This condition 

monitoring system for Alfa Laval 

decanter centrifuges collects, 

20


Photo credit: mrjn photography / Unsplash 

analyses and shares data with wastewater plant 

operators, enabling them to make informed 

predictive maintenance decisions and optimise 

service intervals. This increases reliability and 

reduces service costs. 

• Constant Solids Load and Adaptive Polymer 

Control: This process optimisation system 

optimises flocculant dosing for Alfa Laval 

wastewater decanter centrifuges, thereby reducing 

overall operating costs. Choose between two 

modes, Constant Load mode or Adaptive Polymer 

Control. 

Constant Solids Load, as its name suggests, 

continuously adjusts the flow rate of the feed to 

keep the concentration of solids in the decanter at 

a constant level. This makes it easier to optimise 

operation, such as ensuring the proper flocculant 

dosage, thereby reducing costs. 

Adaptive Polymer Control, on the other hand, 

maintains a constant feed rate while adjusting 

the amount of flocculant added based on 

measurement of the solids concentration in 

the feed. Continuously adjusting the dosage of 

flocculants optimises flocculant consumption and 

cuts operating costs. 

LOOKING AHEAD 

Better water treatment becomes reality through 

constant innovation and a keen eye on sustainability. 

The current and future portfolio of Alfa Laval 

decanter centrifuges provide wastewater treatment 

plant owners and operators with advanced and 

sustainable solutions that deliver water and energy 

savings and reduce, make it easier to adapt, control 

and optimise processes, minimise costs, and 

maximise uptime. It therefore comes as no surprise 

that the company’s future portfolio has the same 

focus. 

“Sustainability is at the core of our business,” 

Suria added. “We are constantly exploring how to 

improve decanter centrifuges in ways that contribute 

to people, planet and profitability. The Alfa Laval 

ALDEC G3 VecFlow represents the most recent 

iteration of our efforts, and we are determined to 

continue to deliver innovative decanter solutions – 

today and tomorrow.” 

21


CHINA’S 

PFAS problem 

PFASs were a chemical boon that changed the world 

– until they weren’t. Countries are phasing out the usage of 

the most toxic PFASs, but a new report has revealed that 

millions of people in China could be at serious risk. 

By Natalie Chew 

Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl 

substances (known as PFASs) are 

extremely useful, to say the least – 

they have been manufactured and 

consumed worldwide since the 

1950s, and their use in industries 

around the globe has only increased 

in exponential amounts since then. 

PFASs are characterised by their 

unique physico-chemical properties, 

which lend themselves to a wide 

range of uses from stain-resistant 

textiles to greaseproof food 

packaging, personal care products, 

nonstick cookware, firefighting foam, 

pharmaceuticals and pesticides. 

However, there’s a darker side to 

these useful substances: They’re also 

dubbed “forever chemicals”, and 

their persistence in the environment 

and human body means that they 

accumulate instead of breaking down 

over time – a chilling thought when 

faced with evidence that exposure to 

such chemicals can lead to adverse 

animal toxicity studies linking exposure 

to perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA, or 

C8 – on account of its eight carbon 

atoms) to adverse health effects on 

PFASs – namely PFOA and 

perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) 

– exposure and health issues, 

including an increase in cholesterol 

Effects of exposure 

to PFASs on 

human health. 

Image by European 

Environment Agency 

human health effects. 

fertility, pregnancy and other organs 

and liver enzymes, increased 

and systems. 

incidence of testicular and kidney 

Indeed, PFASs have been recognised 

cancer, reduced fertility, immune 

as environmental contaminants of 

Epidemiological studies have 

suppression and thyroid disorders, 

high and emerging concern, with 

also found a connection between 

among others. 

22


PFAS: IT’S EVERYWHERE 

PFOS and PFOA were listed in the Stockholm 

Convention as Persistent Organic 

Pollutants (POPs) in 2009 and 2019 

respectively, and have been banned by an 

increasing number of countries. However, 

studies conducted over the past decade 

have shown that these substances are 

frequently detected in drinking water 

around the world, in countries including 

the US, Japan, Ghana, Turkey, Australia 

and China. 

An increased understanding of the effects 

PFAS exposure can have on human health 

has led to stricter regulation in several 

countries: In 2016, the US Environmental 

Protection Agency published a nonenforceable 

70 ng/L health advisory (HA) 

for the sum of PFOA and PFOS. 

Territories including Denmark, Canada, 

Sweden, Australia, Germany and Italy 

have also been proposing their own 

regulatory guidelines for PFAS since 

2006, and the end of 2015 saw PFOA and 

other long-chain PFASs phased out from 

the US and Europe. 

South and South East Asian countries 

including Indonesia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, 

Thailand and Vietnam have added 

PFOS to their global restriction lists after 

becoming a Party to the Stockholm 

Convention, but other PFASs remain 

unregulated. 

Similarly, Singapore’s National 

Environment Agency (NEA) has listed 

PFOA and PFOA-related compounds 

as hazardous substances, and has 

banned the manufacture, import and 

export of PFOA, its salts, PFOA-related 

compounds, and other products 

containing these substances as of 12 

February 2020. 

However, not everyone is out of the 

danger zone just yet. 

ENTER THE DRAGON 

Certain PFASs may have been phased 

out in North America and Europe, 

but what this has meant is that other 

parts of the world have picked up 

the manufacturing and production of 

these substances. Following a rapid 

increase in PFAS production and 

usage in China over the past 20 years, 

it is no exaggeration to say that China 

currently stands as one of the largest 

manufacturers and consumers of 

PFASs in the world. 

In 2019, a study published in 

Environment International suggested 

that China could adopt health advisory 

values of 85 ng/L for PFOA and 47 

ng/L for PFOS, after analysing the 

relationship between blood PFAS 

Figure 1: Spatial 

distribution of PFASs 

in drinking water 

in China (Liu et al. 

2021) 

23


% 

Figure 2: Profiles of 

PFASs in drinking 

water in different 

Chinese cities (Liu et 

al. 2021) 

concentration and drinking water 

exposure. However, there are currently 

no guidelines for PFASs in drinking 

water in China (as for most transition 

and developing economies) – a worrying 

statement, given that studies conducted 

have connected PFASs in drinking water 

to human health risks. 

The widespread and increasing 

production of PFASs in China has led to 

an increased risk of PFAS environmental 

releases, as well as ground- and surface 

water pollution, and the contamination 

of drinking water in China. However, 

China has not yet conducted a national 

census-like monitoring of drinking 

water, and the true extent of PFAS 

contamination in China’s drinking water 

has not yet been assessed. 

Using data from previous studies, a 

recent study conducted by a team from 

Tsinghua University monitored PFAS 

levels from 526 drinking water samples 

across 66 cities in China, covering 

approximately 452 million inhabitants. 

Published in January in Environmental 

Sciences Europe, the study: 

1. Analysed data from past studies 

to review the occurrence of PFASs 

in Chinese drinking water, 

2. Compared data to existing 

guidelines to assess the human 

health risk from contaminated 

drinking water, and 

3. Calculated total daily intake 

values to evaluate potential 

human PFAS exposure risk from 

drinking water. 

According to the study, the highest and 

lowest concentrations of PFAS were 

found in Zigong and Atushi City. The top 

10 cities found with the highest PFAS 

concentration in their drinking water 

were Zigong (502.9 ng/L), Lianyungang 

(332.6 ng/L), Changshu (122.4 ng/L), 

Chengdu (119.4 ng/L), Wuxi (93.6 ng/L), 

Hangzhou (74.1 ng/L), Nanning (64.1 

ng/L), Suzhou (61.3 ng/L), Kunming 

(60.4 ng/L), and Chaohu (59.9 ng/L) 

(Figure 1). 

The study also revealed that the 

average concentration of PFAS 

chemicals in Eastern China was found 

to be 2.6 times that of Northern China, 

mainly due to intensive industrial 

activities and high population density. 

In more remote areas such as Urumqi, 

24


Table 1: Chinese population exposure parameters via drinking water 

Type Age Daily drinking water volume per body weight (ml/kg) 

North 

China 

East 

China 

South 

China 

Northwest 

China 

Northeast 

China 

Southwest 

China 

Infants 0-3 months 25 30 38 17 20 31 

Exposure factors 

handbook of Chinese 

population. Ministry 

of Environmental 

Protection in China 

Source: Duan XL, et 

al. (2013) 

3-6 months 34 51 47 28 28 36 

6-9 months 54 79 72 44 37 57 

9 months-1 years-old 67 92 94 49 41 94 

1-2 years-old 81 87 92 55 47 85 

Childs 2-3 years-old 62 67 69 47 38 49 

3-4 years-old 59 58 66 46 36 46 

4-5 years-old 54 52 49 38 33 46 

5-6 years-old 47 48 43 38 30 44 

6-9 years-old 46 44 48 42 29 55 

9-12 years-old 39 35 39 41 24 38 

12-15 years-old 33 28 29 25 20 37 

15-18 years-old 28 26 23 19 19 39 

Adults >18 years-old 36 33 29 34 20 26 

Lhasa, and Northeastern China, the PFASs 

in drinking water were suspected to have 

originated from long-distance transport. 

The study also flagged areas with 

extreme concentrations of the toxic and 

bioaccumulative PFOA, such as Zigong 

(3165 ng/L) and Jiujiang (268 ng/L) – 

likely due to industrial point sources 

(Figures 1 and 2). The study mentioned a 

fluorochemical and fluoropolymer plant 

and multiple industries such as leather, 

textile and paper manufacturing, which use 

PFASs in their processes. 

Most notably, the study found high 

concentrations of PFASs in 16 cities 

including Wuxi, Hangzhou, Foshan, 

Chaohu, and Suzhou – suggesting that 

PFAS concentrations in the drinking water 

of more than 20% of Chinese cities have 

exceeded international guidelines, with 

nearly 100 million people at significant 

risk of exposure to PFASs in their drinking 

water. 

Infants and toddlers from nine months to two 

years of age were found to be at the highest 

risk of PFOA/PFOS exposure, due to their 

relatively higher water consumption per unit 

weight (Table 1). 

WHAT HAPPENS NOW? 

Roland Weber, co-author to the study and 

environmental consultant on POPs for UN 

agencies, stressed that the bioaccumulative 

long-chain PFASs are more dangerous 

– such as PFOA and PFOS, which have 

been linked to health risks - but that even 

the short-chain PFAS are problematic 

with unknown health risk and high water 

solubility. 

“The European Food Safety Agency recently 

highlighted four PFASs – including PFOA and 

PFOS – as particularly problematic, and set a 

low tolerable weekly intake,” he said. “Many 

PFASs are water-soluble and do not degrade 

– possibly for centuries and longer – which 

is why they are called ‘forever chemicals’. If 

you have contaminated groundwater used 

for irrigation, it will go into your plants, your 

food and your cattle.” 

Weber added that more toxicity assessment 

needed to be conducted on various types 

of PFASs in use, due to their unknown risks, 

and warned that China needed to analyse its 

drinking water, groundwater and contaminated 

sites to understand the scale of the problem, 

before drawing up plans to address the issue. 

“Europe and the United States are facing large 

challenges with monitoring and controlling 

PFAS-contaminated sites. I think now is the 

right time for China to be moving forward to 

minimise future problems, making sciencebased 

limits, cleaning the drinking water and 

controlling emissions from the industries and 

other uses. This will protect human health and 

the environment.” he said. 

References: 

Liu, L., Qu, Y., Huang, J. Weber R. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances 

(PFASs) in Chinese drinking water: risk assessment and geographical 

distribution. Environ Sci Eur 33, 6 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/ 

s12302-020-00425-3 

25

IN THE FIELD 

KSB SEWATEC PUMPS 

CONTRIBUTE TO 

Lake Ontario clean-up 

The 45-kilometre-long shoreline of Hamilton Harbour 

on Canada’s Lake Ontario has been at the heart of its 

surrounding communities for many centuries. Once a 

pristine source of fresh fish and a place of leisure for the 

local population, industrialisation and the growth of the 

City of Hamilton have had a detrimental effect on the life 

of the harbour. By the middle of the twentieth century, 

decades of toxic sediment, storm water runoff, habitat loss, 

water quality deterioration and other factors had caused 

severe damage to the Hamilton Harbour ecosystem. 

In 1987, the International Joint 

Commission (IJC) – the organisation 

overseeing the Canada-United 

States Great Lakes Water Quality 

Agreement – identified the 500-square 

km Hamilton Harbour as one of 43 

areas of concern (AOC). Being on a 

list of locations where environmental 

degradation seriously impaired the 

use and environmental health of 

the Great Lakes was wake-up call 

for the city. Over the past few years 

significant environmental engineering 

programmes have been implemented, 

the largest of which being the 

multiphase Clean Harbour programme. 

26


WASTEWATER 

TREATMENT PROJECT 

control to support wet weather and 

flooding control initiatives. Having an 

have a maximum receiving capacity 

of 1,700MLD. In order to meet this 

In 2008, the City completed the 

effective pumping station capable 

requirement, considerable effort 

Woodward Avenue Wastewater 

of handling current and projected 

had to be put into designing a highly 

Treatment Plant (WWTP) Service 

flows is essential to the functioning 

efficient pumping station containing 

Area Environmental Study Report to 

of the wastewater treatment and the 

pumps with a proven track record in 

determine a plan for upgrades to the 

prevention of overflows in the harbour. 

handling high volumes of untreated 

plant. This recommended investment 

Construction on the upgrade began 

wastewater. After due consideration 

to manage wet weather flows, 

in May 2017 and is projected to be 

of the various pump options available, 

provide treatment capacity, and meet 

completed in July 2021. 

Maple Reinders, contractors for the 

treatment objectives defined by the 

Hamilton Harbour Remedial Action 

Plan, the Ministry of Environment, 

WOODWARD AVENUE 

PUMPING STATION 

pump station, together with the City 

of Hamilton selected KSB Pumps 

Inc., Canada as its pump supplier on 

Conservation and Parks and the 

Now approaching 60 years of age, 

the basis of KSB’s technology and 

Federal Environmental Protection Act. 

the existing wastewater treatment 

knowledge of pump station design. 

plant has a rated average capacity 

Located near the southeast corner 

of 409 million litres per day (MLD) 

The design of the existing pump house 

of the harbour, it is the largest 

and peak rated capacity of 614MLD 

at Woodward Avenue is rather unusual 

wastewater treatment plant in the 

If this is exceeded, the excess water, 

in that it is a circular construction. 

Hamilton Harbour watershed and 

being a mix of industrial and domestic 

Clearly this has proved to have its 

amongst the largest in Ontario. The 

harbour also contains one of the 

largest toxic sediment sites on the 

Canadian side of the Great Lakes. 

waste and run-off from the land, 

is discharged into the harbour. To 

comply with the long-term projected 

processing requirements, the plant will 

advantages and benefits, for the new 

pump house now under construction is 

also circular, containing a circular split 

wet well located inside a circular dry 

Image 1: The new 

raw sewage pumping 

station at Woodward 

Avenue 

Because the plant is the largest single 

source of water flowing into Hamilton 

Harbour, the quality of that effluent 

has a direct and powerful impact 

on the harbour’s water quality and 

environmental health. The Woodward 

upgrade project is a multi-phase, 

multi-year process that includes a 

number of sub-projects, each of 

which has its own specification and 

timelines. 

Costing $340 million, the upgrades 

include elevating the plant’s 

final treatment process from the 

secondary level to the tertiary (third) 

level. This increases the processing 

of the plant’s treated wastewater and 

will allow the plant to reach strict 

discharge limits described by the 

Hamilton Harbour Remedial Action 

Plan for phosphorus, ammonia and 

suspended solids. A significant 

sub- project is the construction of 

a new raw sewage pumping station 

(Image 1) and collection system 

27

IN THE FIELD 

a layout for the pumps around the exterior of the wet 

well was the first issue to contend with. The answer 

was differing installation angles of pressure for the 

connection piece/inlet pipe. This in turn meant coming 

up with mountings peculiar to the configuration. For this 

KSB provided a tailor made volute casing for each pump 

with an integrated mounting flange foot, which allows 

the pumps to be anchored directly to the cast-in-place 

foundation blocks is, a concept unique to KSB. 

In order to handle the optimum flow of wastewater 

through the plant, 10 pumps would be required for fulltime 

availability, and a further two for standby demands. 

In addition, collectively the pumps had to be capable of 

handling up to 23,600l/s and a potential solids content 

size of 190mm. The third significant issue to address 

was varying flows. At times when the effluent level is low 

cavitation has to be avoided, and when storm conditions 

arise high flows have to be accommodated. By installing 

four variable frequency drives (VFDs), all the pumps 

automatically respond to the incoming flow. Finally, the 

pumps had to deliver high levels of efficiency. 

Image 2: The 

pumping station 

contains a circular 

split wet well located 

inside a circular dry 

well where 12 KSB 

Sewatec K700-950 

G1 VGW vertical dry 

pit solid handling 

pump sets are 

installed 

well where 12 KSB Sewatec K700-950 G1 VGW vertical dry 

pit solid handling pump sets are installed (Image 2). The pump 

house has a total elevation of 81m above sea level, and at 

almost 30m the subterranean wet well is much deeper than its 

predecessor. This larger and deeper wet well prevents system 

flooding and provides increased system storage. 

There are several benefits of the wet well inside the dry well 

configuration. Firstly, dry well pumps, as opposed to wet 

well pumps, enable easy access to all pump parts for in-situ 

maintenance and repair. When components need to be 

removed from the dry well, they can be easily craned to the 

surface. The split wet well design, with six pumps allocated to 

either side, allows one side to be taken off stream for cleaning 

without there being any adverse impact on the efficiency of the 

pump house. 

THE CHALLENGE 

With the pump house being of a rather unconventional design, 

KSB had to address a number of design challenges imposed 

on the configuration of the pump mountings. Formulating 

Being able to handle large solids and control flow velocity 

gives the treatment plant the opportunity to drain the 

interceptors for cleaning through the manipulation and 

control of the interceptor. On the existing plant it is not 

possible to lower the level in the wet well to control 

the velocity in the interceptors. Thus, when storms 

occur, extra inflow and increased velocity result in the 

interceptors losing the ability to contain accumulated 

sediment and this passes directly to the head works 

creating an overload condition. With the new pump house 

design, it will be possible to drain the interceptors as 

necessary and remove the extra grit load to the plant. 

THE KSB PUMPS 

All the vertically mounted Sewatec pumps are supplied 

with a 15m long carbon fibre drive shaft, 700hp motor, 

split mechanical seal, long 1050 x 750mm radius suction 

elbow and vibration monitoring system. The smooth finish 

reducing suction elbows contain a 200mm clean out 

port. The motors are at an elevated level in the dry well 

so cannot be affected by the possibility of flooding from 

the wet well. Whilst the pump is designed to operate in a 

dry environment, there is an external clean water flushing 

line for the mechanical seal. The provision of redundant 

seal technology adds an extra layer of protection that 

prevents wastewater getting out of the pump. With a 

variety of impeller options and mounting methods, the 

28


Sewatec provides the perfect answer for transporting raw 

wastewater as well as thicker mediums such as bio-solids/ 

sludge. 

“This contract required a combination of high pumping 

efficiency, good NPSH performance and the ability to deal 

with solid materials in the un-screened wastewater and 

storm run-off,” commented Marcus Henderson, Canada 

regional sales manager, KSB Pumps. Each of the pumps 

contains an 898mm non clog multi-vane radial flow K 

design impeller giving a free passage of 190mm, and has 

the capacity to pump 1968L/s at 21m.w.c. TDH. The upper 

end of the normal operating range is 26.25m.w.c. TDH and 

the lower end is 16m.w.c. TDH. 

costs. The brief required a hydraulic efficiency of 86%, with 

KSB guaranteeing 86.97% at the design duty condition, but 

when submitted to witness testing conditions at the KSB 

factory in Halle, Germany, the pumps delivered 89.1%, some 

2.1% more efficiency than we guaranteed.” 

For the mechanical seals KSB worked with the local seal 

supplier on a special configuration to accommodate the 

pump installation and shaft. Split mechanical seals were 

selected and positioned above the bearing housing, 

thereby allowing them to be accessed and replaced insitu. 

The dry well design gives the advantage of allowing 

easy access to both the seals and the bearings for 

maintenance. 

“KSB’s Sewatec pumps are an excellent choice for this 

job, with an excellent track record of providing reliable 

service in sewage treatment plants around the world,” 

said Henderson. “This dry-installed pump is fitted with 

variable-frequency drives, IE4 motors and the optimised 

hydraulic system yields high efficiency, thereby helping 

to reduce energy consumption and minimise operating 

By spring of 2020, construction of the dry and wet wells, 

including the cast-in-place foundation blocks for the 

pumps, had been completed (Image 3) and work on the 

service areas at and above ground level were underway. 

The first of the pumps had been craned into position and 

anchored to the mountings and complete installation of the 

pumps, drives and shafts is expected in early 2021. 

Image 3: The first 

of the pumps 

being installed and 

anchored to their 

mountings 

29

IN THE FIELD 

WARIDI SUPPORTS 

SOCIO-ECONOMIC 

development 

in Tanzania 

By Adrian McGrogan, Account Executive, Aquatic Informatics - a partner of Hach Ireland 

How do you secure sustainable and 

increased access to water and sanitation 

in the face of stressed water resources? 

If you had to choose between 

hydroelectricity or food security through 

irrigation, what would you do? And what 

to do about environmental integrity in 

the riparian zone with its rich flora and 

fauna? Or can we find a compromise 

and manage our river systems in a 

coordinated way that achieves most of 

our objectives? But do we accept the 

inevitable trade-offs? 

“These questions can only be answered 

if you have good and reliable water 

data,” said Bigambo Nandiga, COP 

for Water Resources Integration 

Development Initiative (WARIDI). “By 

collecting high-quality water data, 

analysing it using state of the art 

methods and producing accurate 

information, we can support better 

decisions on irrigation planning, hydroelectricity 

development, and other 

water-dependent sectors”. 

The absence of a sound understanding 

of the hydrological processes because 

of inaccurate, insufficient, or no data 

at all can lead to overly conservative 

decisions and lost potential, and quite 

possibly to resource conflicts. 

COLLECTING RELIABLE 

WATER DATA IN WAMI-RUVU 

AND RUFIJI BASINS 

Accurate information on the quality 

and quantity of the water resources 

of the Wami-Ruvu and Rufiji basins 

is required as a basis for socioeconomic 

development in these 

basins. The Nyerere Hydropower 

Project —a proposed 2,100-Megawatt 

hydroelectricity plant in the Lower 

Rufiji—and the large potential irrigation 

schemes along the Kilombero are 

just two examples of important 

water-related development projects 

that may impact the socioeconomic 

development trajectory of the entire 

nation. The two basins also have 

The Wami-Ruvu 

and Rufiji basins 

30


critical environmental value in the 

water data, as well as the confidence 

measurements were made in the early 

Ruaha, Kitulo, Mikumi, Selous, and 

we have in these data. It also made it 

1980s. The difficult terrain meant 

Udzungwa national parks, while 

possible to recover streamflow time 

that since then, no more reliable 

providing water supply for vast and 

series for some stations with very few 

measurements were conducted, 

fast-growing urban areas such as Dar 

field measurements,” said Nandiga. 

and hydrologists were unable to 

es Salaam and Dodoma. 

determine the rating curve and by 

Now that the data scarcity constraint 

association the stream flow record. 

Pressure on water resources within 

is being addressed in the Wami- 

the Wami-Ruvu and Rufiji basins is 

Ruvu and Rufiji basins, inadequate 

This measurement of the flow of the 

increasing to unprecedented levels 

knowledge of the quality and quantity 

Kizigo River is vital as it is the largest 

because of ongoing population 

of the available water resources should 

contributor to the Mtera reservoir, 

growth, food security concerns, and 

no longer delay their development 

which provides water for the Mtera 

socioeconomic development, while 

for the benefit of the people in these 

hydro-electric facility. Streamflow 

climate change is altering the rainfall 

basins. Hopefully the use of a similar 

data for the Kizigo River is needed 

pattern and availability of water 

system in the other river basins in TZ 

to plan the operation of the power 

resources. 

will follow, as the Ministry of Water is 

plant’s turbines. Yet this information 

determined to see this happening. 

has not been available with any 

It is evident that consensual 

management of a basin’s water 

resources only works across water 

PRECISION MEASUREMENT & 

ANALYSIS IN KIZIGO RIVER 

degree of confidence for the last 

three decades. 

authorities when based on facts and a 

A single precision measurement on 

River flow is one of the more difficult 

solid understanding of the hydrological 

the Kizigo River provides an example 

variables to measure on a continuous 

regime. This, in turn, requires good 

of how modern measurement 

basis, so it is commonly derived by 

water data. However, the collection 

and analysis techniques can help 

converting daily level recordings into 

of reliable water data can be difficult 

enormously with the determination of 

discharge by using a rating curve. 

and expensive in having to send out 

river flow over an extended period of 

Establishing the shape of the rating 

personnel into remote and not always 

easy to access locations. 

To overcome these hurdles WARIDI 

installed modern hydrometric 

instruments in 25 stations to facilitate 

time. 

On the Kizigo River, in a four-year 

period in the 1970s, more than 250 

streamflow measurements were 

collected, and then a few more 

curve historically requires lots of 

streamflow measurements. However, 

in this case the difficulty of accessing 

the remote station and insufficient 

funding for a field measurement 

program meant data was scarce. 

Rufiji Water Basin 

staff conduct high 

flow measurement 

for Mnyera river at 

Taveta monitoring 

station in Rufiji Basin 

using ADCP 

automatic data collection and 

processing. This put an end to timeconsuming 

and error-prone manual 

data processing, so the data integrity 

is no longer an issue for these stations. 

WARIDI also deployed Aquarius 

software for time-series data 

management and analytics, which 

provides a broad set of tools for 

effective management, quality control 

and dissemination. “The programme 

can create accurate and defensible 

rating curves with a robust conceptual 

methodology that requires far less 

field data which has substantially 

increased the accuracy of the existing 

31

IN THE FIELD WATER & WASTEWATER ASIA | MARCH/APRIL 2021 

Kizigo—which has an entrenched 

channel with a narrow floodplain 

on the right bank—had essentially 

maintained its channel shape 

since 1977, apart from a gradually 

rising riverbed caused by sediment 

load deposits, probably because 

of upstream land degradation. 

Nevertheless, the old field 

observations in combination with the 

latest measurement—and using the 

hydraulic approach facilitated by the 

AQUARIUS software—proved that 

the basic shape of the 1973-1977 

rating could be maintained. It only 

required adjustments for the rising 

Rufiji Water Basin 

staff carrying 

out high flow 

measurement at 

Mgeta gauging 

station using ADCP 

To solve this problem, WARIDI used 

Aquarius Time Series software to 

redevelop rating curves using a robust 

conceptual model that requires far less 

field data. This “hydraulic” approach 

is based on the premise that the 

parameters of the rating curve function 

can be inferred from field observations 

of river channel properties. Discharge 

measurements at the station’s control 

section then serve to calibrate and fine 

tune the conceptual model. 

river was in full flood stage. A highquality 

discharge measurement 

was conducted—the first for a flood 

event for Kizigo in over 40 years. This 

single data point proved invaluable 

in re-establishing the rating curve 

parameters and calculating the 

discharge for the entire historic data 

record. 

riverbed. 

“A single measurement provided 

the verification. Aquarius provided 

the tools. The persistence and 

commitment of the observer 

provided the basic information. 

Combined, it resulted in a 40-year 

record of highly valuable water data,” 

concluded Nandiga. 

WARIDI has supported an extensive 

field measurement program to collect 

up-to-date station data needed to 

develop the conceptual rating curve 

models: 16 stations were visited in 

the Wami-Ruvu basin and 26 in the 

Rufiji basin—including hydro station 

Chinugulu at Kizigo. WARIDI trained 

10 hydrologists from Wami-Ruvu and 

Rufiji Basin Water Board Offices on 

river flow measurements using state 

of the art Acoustic Doppler Profilers 

and on Aquarius software to improve 

rating curves and sustain application 

of both practices by Basin Water 

Office staff. 

The visit to Kizigo station took place 

during the rainy season in March. 

Water levels were high, and the 

Hydrologists collecting water data in the Wami-Ruvu basin 

32


DESALINATION PLANT 

IN SINGAPORE BEGINS 

with Nijhuis Saur Industries DAF 

pre-treatment 

Keppel Marina East 

Desalination Plant 

Singapore’s fourth desalination plant, the Keppel Marina East Desalination Plant 

(KMEDP), has commenced commercial operation. Unique is its large-scale, dual 

mode for the treatment of both freshwater from the Marina Bay Reservoir, or 

seawater. For the pre-treatment of the seawater, contractor Nijhuis Industries 

has provided eight high-rate dissolved air flotation units for removal of solids. 

With a total plant recovery rate of 98%, the Nijhuis DAF units provide a small 

environmental footprint utilising Nijhuis plate pack technology. 

33

IN THE FIELD 

rain season the plant may elect to 

draw water from the Marina Bay, 

which then requires less energy and 

fewer steps in the treatment process 

compared to desalination. 

The engineering design can draw 

water from the sea and the reservoir, 

collecting both into a dual flow 

chamber, through pre-treatment 

using flocculation and dissolved 

air flotation, then ultrafiltration; a 

two-pass reverse osmosis system; 

finally, post-treatment using ultraviolet 

disinfection. The pre-treatment 

consists of eight Nijhuis Dissolved 

Air Flotation Units followed by 

ultrafiltration. 

“With a strong focus on footprint reduction, 

the lowest possible energy and chemical 

consumption and a total plant recovery 

rate of 98%, the plant perfectly fits into our 

unique ‘reduce-reuse-recover’ philosophy.” 

- Mr Menno M. Holterman, President and CEO of Nijhuis Saur Industries 

DBOO-CONTRACT 

The desalination plant can produce 

137,000 m 3 of fresh drinking water 

per day. It has been built by Keppel 

Infrastructure under a Design, 

Build, Own and Operate (DBOO) 

arrangement with the national water 

agency, the Public Utility Board 

of Singapore (PUB). Keppel will 

operate the plant for 25 years under 

this contract arrangement. All plant 

facilities are located underground, 

with a green parkland area above the 

facility at ground level. 

TWO WATER SOURCES 

Depending on conditions such as 

high rainfall, the plant can choose to 

draw from either the Marina Bay or the 

sea in the production of desalinated 

water. When the Marina Bay reservoir 

reaches high levels during the heavy 

TO BUILD A MORE RESILIENT, 

SUSTAINABLE, AND INCLUSIVE 

FUTURE 

Mr Menno M. Holterman, president 

and CEO of Nijhuis Saur Industries, 

said, “After the announcement 

of the partnering with SAUR, the 

start of the operation of the Marina 

East Desalination plant is another 

unique moment in the 116-year 

history of Nijhuis Saur Industries. 

We are extremely proud that our 

team together with Keppel, PUB and 

other technology providers have 

successfully realized an impressive 

climate-resilient desalination plant. 

With a strong focus on footprint 

reduction, the lowest possible energy 

and chemical consumption and a 

total plant recovery rate of 98%, the 

plant perfectly fits into our unique 

‘reduce-reuse-recover’ philosophy. 

The testing and commissioning during 

the COVID-19 pandemic brought 

about some inevitable challenges. 

A big compliment must be made 

to the commitment of the Nijhuis 

Saur Industries team as one of the 

contractors to overcome these 

challenges and deliver a successful 

34


In the i-AERATION system, a part of 

the treated water is brought under a 

pressure of 5 bar, making air dissolve in 

water. By reducing the pressure down 

to 1 bar, small air bubbles of 20 to 60 

micron are formed, which quickly stick 

to the impurities in the water and cause 

a high degree of clarification. 

“We are proud of the fact that in the 

eyes of the Keppel project team they 

are pleased with both the performance 

of the high-rate DAF units and the 

service provided by Nijhuis over the 

course of the project, along with our 

continued after sales service,” said 

Duane J Schlicht, area director – Asia 

Pacific of Nijhuis Saur Industries. 

“It is a showcase installation for us 

and we are committed to ensuring 

operational performance. I would add 

that it was an excellent example of how 

well a project can be executed when 

project with Keppel. This shows, once 

again, the fulfilment and dedication 

of water professionals, even during 

these challenging times, to help to 

to 60%. Especially for the purification 

of sea and surface water above 800 

m3/hr., pre-treatment solutions must 

be compact, robust, stable, and 

The high-rate 

dissolved air flotation 

units installed at 

the Marina East 

Desalination plant 

the client and supplier work together as 

a team.” 

The company is continuing its 

build a more resilient, sustainable and 

modular at the same time. 

expansion in their Asia Pacific 

inclusive future”. 

SMALL DAF UNIT FOOTPRINT 

DUE TO PLATE PACK 

TECHNOLOGY 

INNOVATIVE AERATION SYSTEM 

The i-DAF system is based on the 

innovative i-AERATION system 

which forms fine air bubbles for 

operations to facilitate the proper 

levels of support across all countries 

in the region. This is in addition to 

expanding their market presence in 

not only industrial wastewater but 

The Nijhuis concrete High Rate 

the separation of particles ensured 

both municipal and industrial water & 

i-DAF units have plate packs that 

make particles or flocks float to the 

surface with the injection of air. The 

floating solids are automatically and 

continuously being removed by a 

by the patented non-clogging 

depressurization nozzles. Micro air 

bubbles are dosed in and before the 

inlet construction of the DAF unit. 

Side view of Nijhuis 

High Rate i-DAF at 

the Marina East 

Desalination Plant 

wastewater too. 

“It is an exciting time,” commented 

Schlicht. 

scraper mechanism. The plate packs, 

designed by Nijhuis, increase the 

separation area, and ensures that even 

the smallest flocks are removed from 

the intake water. 

In comparison to classic DAF units 

without plate packs for desalination 

plants, a DAF unit with plate packs 

reduces footprint requirements by 30% 

All images are credited to Nijhuis Industries. 

35


BATTERY RECYCLING 

COMPANY SAVES COST, 

reduces maintenance with 

Rosemount 5408 Level Transmitter 

By Varshneya Sridharan, Product Manager, Process Level & Tank Gauging, Asia Pacific 

Asia-Pacific is the largest and fastest growing 

lithium-ion battery recycling market, with 

several companies undertaking recycling in 

the region, especially in China. Moreover, the 

uptake of Electric Vehicles (EVs) is increasing 

rapidly in Japan, China, Indonesia, Vietnam, 

and the Philippines due to environmental 

concerns and strong government support. 

China recycled around 67,000 tons of lithiumion 

batteries last year, which translates to 

around 69% of all the stock available for 

recycling worldwide, according to UKheadquartered 

consultancy Circular Energy 

Storage. 

When visiting a customer who operates in the 

battery recycling market in China, Emerson was 

able to visualise the processes first-hand. During 

interviews with the customer, Emerson engineers 

identified two waste tanks used for recycling that 

required reliable level measurement devices to 

measure level and calculate volumes accurately. 

The existing level instruments in use on the 

The Rosemount 

5408 is installed 

on the metal 

waste tank 

process tanks were considered unreliable and 

therefore unsuitable. 

The recycling company agreed to install a 

Rosemount Non-Contacting Radar Level 

Transmitter with a process seal antenna on 

the tank. The Rosemount 5408 utilises FMCW 

(Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave) 

technology and provides significantly better 

signal-to-noise ratio than traditional 2-wire 

non-contacting radars. 

The Rosemount 5408 also provides early 

alerts for antenna build-up, weak power 

supply, or abnormal surface conditions, 

which is of importance in challenging 

applications with varying process 

conditions, turbulence, high temperatures 

and pressures. The process seal antenna 

was developed specifically for demanding 

applications and media such as reactors, 

mixers and solids with high condensation 

levels. All wetted parts are made from PTFE 

to maximise corrosion resistance. Signal 

quality metric diagnostics helped to detect 

when the antenna was dirty, which enabled 

preventive maintenance to be carried out. 

The Rosemount 5408 provided robust and 

accurate measurements in this challenging 

environment during post installation which 

was made easy using the quick start guide 

with descriptive process in three easy steps. 

In addition, the installation was achieved 

quickly utilising the existing wiring for the 

electrical connection with no additional cost 

to the customer. 

RESULTS 

• Cost savings of $40,000 due to reduced 

maintenance 

• Continuous, accurate measurement 

achieved without contact with product 

surface 

• Savings of 160 man hours due to 

simple installation using existing cable 

infrastructure 

36

FOCUS WATER & WASTEWATER ASIA | MARCH/APRIL 2021 

DATA 

down under 

Facing on-going influences such as climate 

change, dam owners are under increasing 

pressure to ensure the safety of their 

assets. The consequences of failure are 

becoming more significant too, in light 

of factors like downstream urbanisation. 

With asset owners integrating new 

solutions to help them rise to the 

challenge, Australia’s Hunter Water has 

turned its eyes skyward in a bid to advance its 

asset monitoring performance to the next level. 

37

FOCUS 

As dam assets age, accurate 

monitoring becomes increasingly 

important to ensure safety. With 

the impact of broad trends such as 

increasing urbanisation and global 

warming, the challenges facing 

dam owners and the potential 

consequences of failure are mounting. 

Urbanisation, for example, is seeing 

more people living downstream 

of a dam than ever before. This 

represents a significant increase 

in the consequences of failure 

and associated catastrophic risk. 

Meanwhile, global warming is 

introducing far more volatility to 

weather events, making them much 

harder to predict and manage. 

“The biggest problem with climate 

change, particularly with dams, is 

the unpredictability of precipitation, 

causing too much or too little 

water,” said Professor Mark Maslin 

FRGS, FRSA of the Department of 

Geography at University College 

London. 

the highest per capita surface water 

storage capacity, the large number 

and size of water storage assets is a 

particular challenge. Earlier this year 

recently can present problems. The 

spillway at another Queensland dam, 

Paradise Dam near Bundaberg, was 

damaged during 2013. This dam was 

An inspection at 

the Hunter Water 

Grahamstown dam 

embankment 

a leak at a privately-owned irrigation 

only built in 2005. 

“Leakage through or under a dam 

can cause blowout. But if you have 

dam in Queensland prompted 

evacuations and flood warnings at the 

ENSURING DAM SAFETY 

a sudden massive rainstorm, this 

town of Talgai after a 3.5m-wide hole 

For dam safety engineers tasked with 

can cause overtopping, and the 

appeared in the structure, which was 

developing and maintaining systems 

water spills over the top and cuts 

at maximum capacity. 

to ensure, so far as is reasonably 

down through the dam, causing 

practicable, that people downstream 

catastrophic failure. Climate change is 

Under the influence of climate change, 

are not put at risk from the dam 

already causing more intense rainfall 

Australia’s already highly variable 

owners’ business activities, the 

bursts, which are shorter and more 

rainfall is likely to become far less 

growing consequences and changing 

unpredictable and are a major worry 

predictable, with one in 20-year 

risks have prompted a reappraisal. 

for dam owners.” 

maximum rainfall events predicted to 

become one in 15 or even one in five- 

Supported by field staff, dam 

Maslin continued, “Hot, dry summers 

year events by the end of the century. 

safety engineers undertake asset 

are also creating problems. Dams 

monitoring and inspections which 

don’t like pressure to be released 

At the same time, while dams are 

include assessing if dams meet 

and lowering the level of water is also 

extremely long-lived, huge numbers 

modern standards, and making 

problematic because it starts to put a 

are already many decades old. By 

sure that any risks are effectively 

strain on the dam structure.” 

2025, nearly 75% of the 91,000 dams 

managed. Inspection and monitoring 

in the US could reach half a century in 

need to determine if there are 

In Australia, for example, which as the 

age. Nonetheless, even dams which 

any trends that might indicate an 

driest inhabited continent also has 

have been constructed relatively 

emerging problem. 

38


constructed of sand, which we 

know move quite a bit during normal 

operations. The stable portion of the 

dam is the solid clay core which is 

directly underneath a road,” said the 

dam safety engineer. 

Monitoring under these circumstances 

is costly and inconvenient for people 

trying to use the road and for local 

government. 

“If we were to install permanent marks 

on the road, then every time we read 

them, we would have to shut one 

lane at least of that road. We would 

be putting people in harm’s way by 

monitoring permanent marks on the 

road. As a result, we were only really 

monitoring the embankments by visual 

inspection, where there’s nothing that’s 

measurable,” added Turnbull. 

However, the need for comprehensive 

monitoring presents a number of challenges. 

“Dams are very large assets, 

and very high or extreme consequences 

result if they are to fail,” explained 

Daniel Turnbull, dam safety engineer 

at the New South Wales (NSW)-based 

Hunter Water. 

Among other assets, Turnbull is 

responsible for the Grahamstown Dam 

in NSW. Constructed between 1955 and 

1965, Grahamstown is Hunter’s largest 

drinking water supply dam, providing 

40% of water to the region and meeting 

up to 75% of the company’s daily 

supply requirements. It holds a reservoir 

of some 182,305 million litres behind a 

5km-long embankment. 

“You’re doing your best to monitor 

all the key points, and in terms of 

inspecting that is fine. Yet, considering 

actual reading of measurements it is 

very hard to have absolute coverage of 

a dam,” said Turnbull. 

“It’s not physically practical to monitor 

every aspect of the dam, especially 

with a dam like Grahamstown where 

we’ve got over 5km of the embankment. 

That’s one of the big challenges we 

face, making sure that our monitoring is 

targeted and effective.” 

As Turnbull said, “The first thing is 

making sure that you don’t become 

complacent about the risks that dams 

pose. We really need to make sure 

we have a good understanding of 

what the potential failure modes are 

for our particular dams and target 

our monitoring towards those failure 

modes.” 

However, Grahamstown presents a 

number of additional challenges when 

executing effective monitoring, not least 

because the top of the dam is home to 

a major road with an 80 kph speed limit. 

“Grahamstown is a bit unique in that 

the shoulders of the dam are actually 

ASSESSING ALTERNATIVES, 

INCLUDING DRONE 

SURVEILLANCE 

Faced with these challenges to effective 

monitoring and keen to ensure their 

assets are safe, Hunter began exploring 

alternative approaches to the traditional 

measurement survey and visual 

inspection. 

“We were looking at other options that 

we may be able to implement where we 

can actually get some measurements 

and start plotting trends rather than 

relying on photos or people’s opinions 

of what has changed over the years,” 

said Turnbull. 

One avenue they explored was the use 

of drones in surveying the site. 

“We had tried some drone surveys, 

which are becoming cost effective. We 

could do them multiple times a year, 

and they provided us with the required 

coverage of the embankment,” said 

Turnbull. 

39

FOCUS 

However, he added, “The issue was 

Camilla Braithwaite, product manager 

confidence that they were picking up 

the accuracies were just not as good 

at Rezatec. 

movement as well as the vegetation 

as a traditional survey. As opposed to 

vigour that they are looking at.” 

the one to two millimetres of movement 

“We use SAR to monitor ground 

that can be derived from satellite data, 

motion and multispectral data to 

As Braithwaite said, “Water level and 

they were only picking up 20 to 30mm.” 

monitor vegetation, both of which are 

seasonality can affect vegetation. 

good indicator for potential failure 

Adding these into the analysis means 

Grahamstown Dam is also located 

modes. The traditional survey doesn’t 

we can take these into account, 

very close to the end of the New-castle 

provide enough data points, on which 

and only identify observations that 

airport runway, which had to be taken 

to provide peace of mind. Rezatec’s 

are truly anomalous. Vegetation is 

into consideration. 

Dam Monitoring product uses three 

a really nice indicator for seepage, 

years of SAR data and two years of 

which is obviously a real worry for 

“Whenever we’ve got a drone in the air 

multispectral data in the retrospective 

dam owners. It’s not something they 

over that side of the dam, we’ve got 

analysis, collected at six-to-12-day 

can spot straight away very easily. 

to be in communication with air traffic 

intervals. It identifies anomalies, or 

We can provide dam operators with 

control, and take the drone down every 

observations outside the acceptable 

an understanding of what’s normal, 

time there’s an aircraft movement. It 

baseline trend from this large tranche 

benchmarking and then identifying 

wasn’t overly good for the purpose of 

of data to notify dam operators, where 

anomalies that can help direct their 

performing the work efficiently.” 

they should direct their skills and 

ground crew.” 

resources.” 

Having explored aerial surveying, 

in September Hunter Water signed 

Data from Hunter Water, such as 

SWITCHING TO SATELLITE BUT 

KEEPING PEOPLE 

a three-year contract with UK-firm, 

water level information affecting 

Despite some concerns, adopting high 

Rezatec to provide satellite-based data 

movement, is overlayed with satellite 

tech observations from space is not 

and geospatial analytics to monitor 

data to help pinpoint exactly where 

suggestive of reducing the number 

structural and environmental changes 

issues are down to a few millimetres 

of inspections and staff. Instead, it 

at Grahamstown Dam. 

of displacement. In addition to precise 

enables resources to be more efficiently 

movement, satellite data can also pick 

focused on potential problems before 

Offered in partnership with Detection 

up other indicators of problems with 

they become significant issues, as well 

Services, Rezatec will use analysis 

of satellite-derived imagery and 

geospatial data, in addition to a wealth 

of historic archive satellite data, to look 

retrospectively at changes and trends 

over time. 

EXPLORING THE PAST WITH 

FUTURE TECHNOLOGY 

dam infrastructure, such as vegetation 

moisture and vigour, using a two-year 

retrospective. 

This is a point picked up by Turnbull, 

who said, “We started off with a twoyear 

retrospective analysis and over 

that period of time we had a couple 

of areas on the dam where we had 

Hunter Water used 

drone surveys, but 

the “accuracies were 

just not as good” 

- drones capture 20- 

30mm displacement, 

while satellites 

capture 0-3mm 

as reducing the number of unnecessary 

inspections. 

The Hunter Water team still carries out 

routine daily inspections, with team 

members visually inspecting to note 

changes. 

In order to determine any anomalous 

completed some work. We installed 

behaviour in the dam structure, it’s 

a couple of pipelines through the 

important to use historical data to 

crest of the dam, so we had an open 

establish a baseline. Synthetic-aperture 

excavation for a short period of time. 

radar (SAR) is a common form of radar 

that is used to create two-dimensional 

“On another occasion, we did some 

images and present a significant 

topsoiling of the embankment to try 

amount of archived data for analysis. 

to generate some vegetation growth. 

During its retrospective analysis, 

“The retrospective data analysis is key 

Rezatec was able to pick out exactly 

to providing the client with a better 

where that work had been undertaken 

understanding of their dam,” added 

at that period of time. That gave me 

40


“We wanted something to 

complement that,” added Turnbull. 

“Previously, if they noticed an 

issue, we would either increase our 

monitoring frequency to a couple 

of times a day to try and ascertain 

if it is changing, or if we’re still not 

sure then we would undertake 

further detailed investigations where 

we might be excavating within the 

embankment to try and get some 

additional information. Now, if visual 

monitoring picks up that there’s a 

potential issue, we’re able to refer to 

satellite monitoring and reveal if there 

is something measurable to support 

that theory.” 

Professor Maslin expanded on 

this idea, “Geospatial analysis 

doesn’t replace people; it makes 

them more efficient. Instead of 

excellent engineers running around 

to make sure that they can cover 

however many dams, they can have 

a monthly check on each of their 

dams and use their skills to identify 

which structures are causing 

concern and where. 

“We know that most times, dams are 

fine. It means that you can focus your 

resources and use them as efficiently 

as possible and use the expertise 

you have. With new technology, you 

have to be absolutely sure that this 

Photo credit: ricardo gomez angel / Unsplash 

is going to improve efficiency and 

improve safety.” 

This is a point echoed by Turnbull, 

who said, “I liked the thought of 

being able to use whatever system 

we came up with to provide an early 

warning system, so the satellite 

monitoring was perfect given that 

data are being collected every 11 or 

12 days; we can start to see changes 

over that much shorter frequency. 

Another aspect was again something 

unique to Grahamstown with its 5km 

of embankment. 

“Trying to cover that embankment 

length with a traditional technique, 

there’s nothing to say that if the 

issue was to arise, it wouldn’t be 

directly between two monitoring 

points. You may not pick up any 

movement at all at our formal 

monitoring points, but the dam 

could fail directly in between them. 

Satellite monitoring, just because 

of the coverage it provides, gives 

us a more holistic view of what’s 

happening with the dam.” 

CONSISTENCY AND SAFETY 

Dams are assets that have long 

lives, with dam safety engineers 

inevitably inheriting these 

structures that other people have 

been monitoring and maintaining 

over a long period of time. 

Satellite-based geospatial data 

analysis provides a high degree of 

consistency even as the employment 

market becomes more fluid and roles 

change every few years. The use 

of frequent millimetric surveys also 

allows asset owners to go beyond 

regulatory requirements to establish 

a key measure to assess asset risk. 

“Regulations for an extreme 

consequence category dam require 

a movement survey once a year, for 

a high consequence category dam, 

then it’s every two years. We wanted 

to have a bit more scrutiny than the 

bare minimum that we’re required to 

have,” added Turnbull. 

Satellite observations also address 

the challenge to increase the 

frequency of monitoring remote dam 

assets. 

“In Australia, we’ve got some dams 

in rural areas which take several 

hours drive or flights to get there. In 

terms of being able to monitor those 

sites without having to send a team 

of surveyors out there to do it is very 

attractive,” added the dam engineer. 

More importantly, though, satellite 

observations are repeatable, 

testable and achievable at a 

much higher frequency and more 

accurately than physically sending 

a survey team out to a site. These 

key abilities are becoming far more 

significant, considering climate 

change and other megatrends like 

urbanisation. 

“With carefully thought through 

monitoring, you should be able to 

understand exactly how your dam 

or dams are performing, so you 

know what is normal and more 

importantly what is not,” said Ian 

Garside, director at project partner, 

ProjectMax. 

“Robust monitoring can go further 

and allow you to manage the risks 

across your reservoir portfolio, 

helping to drive your business 

and regulation in a targeted way. 

Possibly most importantly, though, 

good monitoring takes you from 

managing your dams reactively to 

proactively, with all the benefits 

that that will bring.” 

41

FOCUS 

IT’S A DIRTY JOB BUT 

WASTEWATER RISK 

MANAGEMENT RELIES ON 

good screencare to avoid spills 

and downtime 

to save a few dollars if there is no obvious 

problem,” said Chemical Engineer and 

Wastewater Treatment Plant Authority Michael 

Bambridge. 

“This set-and-forget approach can work for 

years – and often does, until there is sudden 

load, perhaps a storm disrupting sewage 

systems, or a screen failing. Wastewater loads 

can change markedly, sometimes from week 

to week, depending on the seasonal input. 

Sometimes the failure point can be caused by 

excess solids or hydraulic loads – or it could 

just be simple mechanical failure somewhere 

in the process. 

Screens are the first line of defence in both 

industrial and municipal water and wastewater 

treatment, so they get the dirtiest jobs. 

The screens used by wastewater treatment, 

waste management, water recycling and 

waste-to energy plants should ideally remove 

all the lumps, chunks, strands, and unwanted 

foreign objects that can foul the often 

expensive, settling, clarification, treatment, 

filtration, and waste-to-energy processes that 

follow downstream. 

And their workload is set to increase, as food, 

beverage and primary production plants 

exports rebound post-COVID while local 

councils deal with growing waste removal, 

environmental protection and recycling issues 

associated with both industrial and urban 

expansion. 

“Inlet screens don’t do anything that grabs 

your attention, so they can look pretty good 

to the casual eye. The temptation may always 

be there to occasionally check and forget, 

“Then you have a problem you really don’t 

want. Environmental spills, process and 

production disruption and clean-ups can 

become very costly. And who wants to 

explain to the boss or environmental regulator 

that a foreseeable issue was overlooked?” 

said Mr Bambridge. 

The company is one of Australasia and 

Asia-Pacific’s most experienced wastewater 

treatment specialists, having designed and 

built WWTPs for local authorities and food, 

beverage and primary producers for more 

than 40 years. Its WWTP, water recycling and 

waste-to-energy technologies are used by 

both smaller organisations – including local 

authorities in remote and environmentally 

sensitive areas – through to some of the 

42


largest municipal councils and diverse 

food, beverage and primary producers, 

ranging from small plants to major 

meat, dairy and crop multinationals. 

CST’s Services Division was founded 

to complement its design-and-build 

capabilities to ensure that WWTP plant 

operators – and the full spectrum of 

water treatment plant operators – get 

best value out of their plant for the 

longest economic time while avoiding 

process and production glitches and 

systemic failures. 

Mr Bambridge explained that such 

services thoroughly earn their place, 

because fewer organisations these 

days can afford to have specialist 

engineering staff on hand 24/7 to 

ensure compliance with hygiene, 

public safety and Duty of Care 

Regulation issues that may arise 

only occasionally – but sometimes 

expensively. This is because: 

1. Screens do have parts that 

wear over time. They may have 

a design life of many years in 

normal service – but regular routine 

service and maintenance is needed 

to keep them in peak operating 

condition. This can be particularly 

important in sandy areas (noting 

that municipal councils’ WWTPs 

serve more the 80% of Australia’s 

population living within 50km of the 

coast. Many industrial processing 

plants fall within the same heavily 

populated areas). 

2. Screen technology does evolve 

over time. What was a fine mesh 

screen 10 or 15 years ago, may no 

longer be up to the job of protecting 

newer processes downstream. It 

could be a matter of upgrading 

the screen to a finer mesh type 

now available with systems that 

can remove down to 500 microns. 

Similarly, removal of fine grit 

down to 105 microns can now be 

achieved using updated grit removal 

technologies. 

3. Asset management. Inlet pretreatment, 

including screens, is a 

robust but finite asset we all depend 

in the waste management business. 

The value of this asset should be 

maintained by regular servicing, just 

like a car. CST has some screens still 

operating after more than 25 years, 

because the companies involved 

have invested in cost-effective 

regular maintenance to extend 

product life and effectiveness. 

4. Risk Management. Because 

screens are front-line defence, they 

prevent or limit damage occurring 

in expensive processes downstream. 

These processes can be hard to 

get to if they do fail, then cause 

many more OH&S issues to rectify. 

Compounding the issue is the fact 

that many remote and smaller 

public and private waste treatment 

plants these days do not have the 

engineering manpower on hand 

to quickly rectify unexpected or 

complex and expensive events. 

“We know how important the risk 

management is, and where the 

weak spots are likely to be, because 

we engineer dozens of waste 

management (and waste-to-energy) 

processes purpose-built to minimise 

maintenance,” said Mr Bambridge. 

“Sometimes the first indication owners 

have that their wastewater plant 

screens need maintenance is when 

they are subjected to sudden heavy 

load. This is both the time that they are 

most needed, and also the time when 

the worst failures can occur if screens 

haven’t been properly maintained. 

Then, the problem becomes all too 

obvious.” 

“Raw sewage, or untreated food 

waste, can escape through plant 

and into neighbouring surroundings, 

including sensitive land and 

waterways, with potential production 

halts, OH&S clean-up risks, pointed 

questions and potentially serious 

environmental consequences for 

public and private entities.” 

“Most companies these days 

are pretty risk-aware. They know 

production stoppages are costly, 

and environmental spills can affect 

their statutory licence to operate. 

“But we still do see, reasonably 

often, some obviously poorly 

maintained plants causing issues 

for the operator. These should be 

a thing of the past, when small 

investment in yearly maintenance 

and check-ups can return good 

value and ROI throughout the long 

term - particularly as municipals and 

industry have to cope with increased 

demand on community water 

resources as the economy ramps up 

post-COVID.” 

New rotary drum 

technologies, left, 

screen out waste 

more thoroughly, 

while output from 

downstream 

technologies, such 

as KDS solid-liquid 

separators, can be 

used for wastewater, 

sludge, livestock 

manure, food waste, 

algae, grease trap 

waste Oval plates 

push down the stuck 

solid matter to keep 

the filtering zone 

clean while dewatered 

digested sludge is 

easier, cheaper and 

more hygienic to 

transport to treatment 

and recycling plants. 

43

FOCUS 

Photo credit: loren joseph / Unsplash 

“In mid-2019, 18% of India’s rural households 

had access to piped water. At least 18.97 

crore (189.7 million) rural habitations are 

getting less than 40 litres of water per capita 

per day. Additionally, there are 256 districts 

which are suffering from an acute water crisis, 

due to the depletion of groundwater. 

Most of these districts are in Telangana, 

Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh. Irrespective 

of the source of water, in most parts of rural 

India the availability of water decreases 

dramatically in the summer months as water 

levels drop and surface sources dry up.” 

HAR GHAR JAL: 

Water for all 

Water is a precious resource – and in India, 

it’s a limited one. Part two of this two-part series 

looks at Water & Wastewater Asia’s interview with 

Xylem’s Rajul Mehrotra, to find out exactly what 

Xylem’s Smart City and Smart Infrastructure 

programme will do to ensure a 24/7 water supply. 

In 2018, South Africa’s Cape Town introduced 

the concept of “Day Zero” to the world, in a 

bid to focus the public’s attention on reducing 

water usage and better managing water 

consumption. 

That same year, Indian think tank NITI Aayog 

published its Composite Water Management 

Index (CWMI), noting that India could be on its 

way to a similar fate – 14 out of 24 surveyed 

states were classified as Low Performers on 

their Water Index scores. 

Alarmingly, these states included Uttar 

Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, and Haryana – 

populous states, home to over 600 million 

people – and the CWMI suggested that these 

By Natalie Chew 

findings highlighted a “significant water 

management risk for the country”. 

The CWMI’s parallels drawn towards “Day 

Zero” would become more accurate than 

expected, with the Chennai water crisis 

in 2019 leaving officials little choice but to 

declare that “Day Zero” had been reached 

when all four main reservoirs supplying water 

to the city had run dry after two years of 

deficient monsoon rainfall. 

“AN ACUTE WATER CRISIS” 

Speaking to Rajul Mehrotra, leader of Xylem’s 

Smart City and Smart Infrastructure business 

in India, paints a bleak image of the country’s 

current water crisis. 

To alleviate the situation, India’s government 

has introduced the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), 

aiming to achieve Har Ghar Jal – piped water 

supply for all – to all rural households by 2024. 

In addition to this, Mehrotra shared, India’s 

private sector has also risen to the challenge 

and is working on long-term solutions. 

“New technologies in purification and 

auto-maintenance systems are paving the 

way to a better future; the introduction of 

IoT technology, sensors, and data-driven 

approaches in water management are 

important steps toward solving this problem. 

With IoT, the real-time tracking of water 

quality, water consumption and other 

important elements can assure safe drinking 

water. At Xylem, our end-to-end expertise in 

water supply projects and smart solutions, 

new-age water quality monitoring, and 

non-revenue water (NRW) management 

techniques means we too are helping to 

support communities tackle these serious 

water challenges.” 

HOW IT WORKS 

Xylem’s vision of Smart Cities and Smart 

Infrastructure for India includes solving 

water issues with advanced products and 

technologies, as well as a 24/7 water supply 

for everyone. Mehrotra is of the notion that 

innovation is key to addressing the world’s 

major water challenges – a topic he’s 

expounded on in Xylem’s recent One Minute 

44


In Water campaign, which highlighted 

diverse ways of innovating with 

technology, creativity, passion and 

partnerships to solve water. 

“At Xylem,” Mehrotra shared, “we 

imagine a future that has sustainable 

places to live and work. We provide 

smart connected solutions – from 

infrastructure, devices, information 

to services – today, for citizens of the 

development, willingness to change and 

reform, and resources and aspirations 

of the city residents. A smart city would 

have a different connotation in, say, 

Europe, compared to India, and even in 

India there is no one way of defining a 

smart city.” 

STEP BY STEP 

Currently, Xylem’s Smart Cities team 

is working with multiple cities in India 

For example, our monitoring and 

control systems enable smart, 

connected networks that boost 

energy efficiency and reduce 

downtime and maintenance. We 

are using artificial intelligence to 

detect and manage leakages – 

plus data analytics and remote 

oversight – to help government 

authorities deliver a reliable and 

consistent water supply.” 

Xylem’s Smart Infrastructure 

portfolio 

provides end-to-end 

answers for core 

foundational infrastructures, 

including 

Municipal and Smart 

Cities, Real Estate 

and Townships, Irrigation 

Infrastructure, 

Industrial Infrastructure, 

Mobility 

Infrastructure – and 

Smart Water 

future. Working with various partners 

on projects involving smart pumping, 

and stakeholders, we strive to simplify 

smart metering, flow measurement, 

However, the journey towards the 

living, streamline mobility, enhance 

SCADA command and control, water 

full implementation of smart infra- 

safety and security, and optimise the 

quality monitoring solutions, and leak 

structure – and through said infra- 

use of resources.” 

detection solutions. 

structure, the recognition of smart 

cities – will not be an easy one. 

He added, “We want to help our clients 

This is in line with the Indian 

incorporate innovative Xylem solutions 

government’s Smart Cities Mission, 

Said Mehrotra, “According to 

into every smart city initiative -- to 

which seeks to create different types 

India’s 2017-18 Economic Survey, 

help meet India’s long-term water, 

of smart cities in various regions and 

India will require $4.5 trillion in 

wastewater and energy needs.” 

parts of the country by focusing on 

investment towards infrastructure 

city improvement, city renewal, city 

by 2040. The lion’s share of this 

The process of converting cities to 

extension, and a pan-city initiative in 

must go to urban areas, which will 

smart cities is an arduous one, to say 

which smart solutions are applied to 

become home to 40% of the coun- 

the least, and Mehrotra emphasises 

cover larger parts of the city. 

try’s population (600 million people) 

that to create a smart city, one must 

over the next 10 years. 

first ask themselves what, exactly, a 

Mehrotra mused, “India’s plans for the 

smart city actually is. 

future are bold and ambitious, such 

The Smart City Mission is project- 

as achieving universal and equitable 

based, and as of July 2019 (four 

“There is no universally accepted 

access for all to safe, affordable 

years into the mission), 933 

definition of a smart city; It means 

drinking water by 2030. The benefit of 

projects (18% of total projects) 

different things to different people. 

applying smart infrastructure to these 

have been completed, at a cost of 

Therefore, the concept of a smart city 

water challenges is that instead of 

Rs 15,504 crore ($2.13 billion). The 

varies from city to city and country 

patching problems, you apply holistic 

progress of the mission has also 

to country, depending on the level of 

innovative solutions. 

not been geographically uniform. 

45

FOCUS 

Consider this: 54% of the completed 

projects come from just four states. What 

this shows us is that in India, it’s almost 

impossible to undertake development 

across an entire city without bringing it to a 

grinding halt. However, several developers 

have taken inspiration from smart city 

benchmarks, and are incorporating smart 

waste management, lighting and security in 

their gated townships. 

It is difficult to put a date on the 

implementation to cover pan-India, and 

this would be an outcome of multiple 

partnerships at different levels and 

factors including clearance and project 

finance. However, one thing is certain: 

Applying lessons learnt from existing 

implementations will increase the pace of 

the projects, and progress is only bound to 

increase each year.” 

According to Mehrotra, challenges 

Rajul Mehrotra, 

leader of 

Xylem’s Smart 

City and Smart 

Infrastructure 

business in India 

impeding the implementation of Smart City 

and Infrastructure projects in India include: 

1. Retrofitting existing legacy city 

infrastructure: The integration of 

formerly isolated legacy systems to 

achieve citywide efficiencies can be a 

significant challenge. 

2. Financing Projects: As these 

projects are immensely capital 

intensive, it is important to map the 

financing strategies effectively for the 

projects. 

3. Availability of master plan or city 

development plan: Approximately 

70% - 80% of cities in India lack 

master plans or a city development 

plan, which is integral to smart city 

planning and implementation. 

4. Governance issues: The successful 

implementation of smart city 

solutions depends on effective 

horizontal and vertical coordination 

between various institutions providing 

multiple municipal amenities, as well 

as effective coordination between 

central government (MoUD), state 

government and local government 

agencies on issues such as financing, 

sharing of best practices and service 

delivery processes. 

5. Untimely clearances: For projects to be 

completed in time, all clearances need 

to have online processes and be cleared 

in a time-bound manner. 

6. Dealing with a multi-vendor 

environment: Another major challenge 

in the Indian smart infrastructure space 

is that infrastructure components are 

often supplied by different vendors. 

As such, the ability to handle complex 

combinations of smart infrastructure 

solutions, developed by multiple 

vendors, becomes an important aspect 

of the project. 

Xylem’s Smart Infrastructure 

portfolio aims to offer something 

different, fulfilling various project 

requirements as just one vendor. 

7. Reliability of utility services: For 

any smart infrastructure project (in 

India or otherwise), the focus is on 

reliability of utility services - whether 

electricity, water, telephone or 

broadband services. Smart cities 

need to have universal access to 

electricity 24/7; this is not possible 

with the existing supply and 

distribution system in India. As 

such, there has been a shift towards 

renewable sources of supply and a 

focus on greener and more efficient 

technologies. 

WHAT MAKES UP A SMART CITY? 

Inclusiveness and 

affordability for all 

Health and 

education 

10 

Safety, security and 

privacy of citizens 

and stakeholders 

Sustainable 

environment 

9 

11 

8 

1 

Adequate 

water supply 

Good governance, 

especially e-governance 

and citizen participation 

Kostiantyn Stupak / Pexels 

7 

2 

Assured 

electricity 

supply 

3 

5 

4 

Sanitation, 

including solid 

waste transport 

Efficient urban 

mobility and 

public transport 

Affordable 

housing, 

especially for 

the poor 

6 Robust IT 

connectivity and 

digitalisation 

46

VIEWPOINT WATER & WASTEWATER ASIA | MARCH/APRIL 2021 

WELL WATER 

mysteries unravelled 

By Orest and Janina Protch 

is of interest to water well users no 

matter the size of the well. Not only 

can well water bring up beneficial 

chemical elements, it can also 

bring up toxic chemicals and even 

flammable gas. 

The ground below is not a solid 

Evapotranspiration 

Condensation 

Figure 1: The 

hydrologic cycle is in 

a constant state of 

flux and so the water 

chemistry is always 

changing in a well 

water system 

barrier like a steel wall. It can be 

made of soil, gravel, clay or solid 

rock that has cracks running through 

it. And all these allow water to move 

relatively freely through it. And move 

it does. 

Precipitation 

Areas like South Asia now account for 

approximately 50% of groundwater 

usage worldwide. With an estimated 

20 million wells in the area, from small 

wells supplying a small family farm to 

those that supply the requirements of 

large industries or towns and cities, 

water use is increasing yearly. 

Users of well water systems can get 

complacent with them. Just because 

they are out of sight does not mean 

that they should be out of mind. 

They need to be regularly serviced, 

disinfected and the water chemistry 

checked throughout the seasons, 

preferably at the minimum, monthly. 

WELL 

WATER 

QUALITY 

Infiltration 

We see rivers and lakes replenishing 

continuously but the water in 

underground water tables are 

constantly replenishing too. If this 

was not the case then our well water 

systems would run dry. 

No two well waters systems will give 

the same waters in terms of chemistry 

even if they are close to each other. 

Underground water will dissolve 

minerals, chemicals and nutrients. Well 

water is affected by the hydrologic 

cycle shown in Figure 1. 

Runoff 

It is what happens when water gets 

below the surface of the ground that 

Figure 2 (below): 

Cones of depletion 

form around the 

wells being pumped. 

Two wells at different 

levels may have 

cones that interfere 

with each other. 

Another nearby well 

may be in the path of 

toxic chemicals and 

the others may be 

uncontaminated. 

A well draws water from the 

surrounding three dimensional area. 

The water moves sideways and 

down-wards in through the ground 

layers by hydraulic pressure and 

gravity into the well zone. Think of 

a cone forming around each pump 

intake. If we pump water out faster 

than can naturally flow into the well 

then our pumps will cavitate. Wells in 

close proximity can create cones that 

overlap when pumping. And a formed 

cone from one nearby well can be 

in a water table zone that has water 

being contaminated from industrial 

chemical dumps or municipal dumps 

as the chemicals percolate down 

through the water table carried by 

rain water (Figure 2). 

47

VIEWPOINT 

Figure 3: Below the ground there are communities of bacteria that need different nutrients. The 

waste products of one type of bacteria feed the bacteria species below it. 

Two wells may be close together but 

the water from one may have a fresh 

taste and odour while another may 

have a discoloured cloudy appearance 

with a rotten egg odour. The factor that 

may explain it is again is the relative 

positions to each other. Underground, 

there are layers of bacterial 

communities. Each has its own strata 

level. The waste products from the 

bacteria species above feeds the 

bacterial species below it as the water 

leaches downwards through the water 

tables. This waste food continues down 

through the various bacteria species 

(Figure 3). 

The company that drilled the well 

should do a 24 hour pumping test to 

see what the maximum flow per hour 

that the well can produce before pump 

cavitation starts and also to see how 

long the pump can stay on at a certain 

rate without running out of water. They 

may flare any gasses coming out to see 

if they can be diverted for use to heat 

boilers or buildings. Some water well 

users can actually put a match near 

their taps and have not only water come 

out but have the gas burn (Photo 1). 

Well operators need to be very 

aware of any potential sources of 

chemical pollution that can affect 

the water. Groundwater chemical 

pollution can come from a variety of 

sources including farm operations, 

city dumps and industrial plants. Well 

water chemistry is always changing 

because rainfall amounts are not a 

24/7 occurrence meaning it is not 

raining the same amount 24 hours 

a day, seven days a week and so 

the chemicals it takes with into the 

groundwater table is always changing 

too. 

As the water moves through the water 

table it flows easily but any chemicals 

in it move through at different 

speeds because the chemicals get 

continuously trapped, held and 

released by the sand or rock. 

To explain this we are going to use 

an example of a hundred people 

standing on a large field spaced 

evenly apart. There is another group 

of people at one end of the field that 

are constantly throwing balls to those 

that are on the field. All of the people 

are divided into two teams, one team 

is throwing and catching yellow balls 

and the other team is throwing purple 

balls. These represent different types 

of chemicals. Both teams want to get 

their balls from one end of the field to 

the other. 

However one team catches and throws 

them slower. Eventually both teams will 

get their balls to the other end of the 

soccer field but one team will get their 

balls there faster (Figure 4). 

Now think of the balls as chemical 

molecules. The people on the field are 

like the soil or rock granules. As the 

Photo 1: Well water 

drillers may do flow 

testing to determine 

the volumes of water 

that can be pumped 

out every hour. If 

the well produces 

flammable gasses 

as well as water, 

then these may 

be collected and 

burned. 

48


different chemicals move with the 

groundwater, they will be caught 

and released by the pores in rock. 

If well water is sampled and 

analysed after it has been pumping 

for a few hours, the test results will 

show how the water chemistry can 

change. This is why the taste or the 

smell of well water can change as 

the cones of depletion bring in new 

water from areas that have varying 

chemicals dissolved in the water 

(Figures 5 & 6). 

Figure 4: Two teams on a field catching and throwing balls and trying to beat the other in a race to get all the balls to the 

other end illustrates how chemicals move through the water table. Some balls will move faster than others as they are 

caught, held momentarily and then thrown. 

Figure 7 is actual data from analysis 

showing how the constituents 

of petrol/gasoline go through a 

CATIONS 

ION mg/L mg Fraction meq/L 

Na 1,590 0.3431 69.2 

K 6.0 0.0013 0.2 

Ca 27 0.0058 1.3 

Mg 11 0.0021 0.9 

Ba 

Sr 

ANIONS 


Cl 2,035 0.4391 57.4 

Br 

I 

HCO 3 

947 0.2044 15.5 

SO 4 

18 0.0038 0.4 

CO 3 

0.00 0.0000 0.0 

Fe 

N.D. 

OH 0.00 0.0000 0.0 

Mn 

H 3 

S 

N.D. 

CATIONS 


Na 4,020 0.3859 174.9 

K 11 0.0011 0.3 

Ca 70 0.0067 3.5 

Mg 63 0.0060 5.2 

Ba 

Sr 

ANIONS 


Cl 5,613 0.5388 158.3 

Br 

I 

HCO 3 

623 0.0598 10.2 

SO 4 

17 0.0016 0.3 

CO 3 

0.00 0.0000 0.0 

Fe 

N.D. 

OH 0.00 0.0000 0.0 

Mn 

H 3 

S 

N.D. 

Figures 5 and 6: One chart water analysis after well flowing for three hours, second chart after six hours. Chemical composition changes. 

49

VIEWPOINT 

Figure 7: An 

example of how 

the constituents of 

gasoline go through 

a chemical analysis 

instrument at 

different speeds 

Photo 2: Well water 

samples were run 

through an ICP- 

OES, which gives 

elemental analysis to 

the parts per billion/ 

trillion level 

chemical analysis instrument at 

different speeds. If it was a fuel spill 

and the analysis is only for benzene 

and none is present it may be 

because it has already passed by the 

water wells. And the water may be 

declared safe to drink. But the slower 

constituents may just be arriving at the 

well inlet and they are just as cancercausing 

as benzene. 

Photo 2 shows the author running well 

water samples through an ICP-OES 

(Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical 

Emission Spectrometer) that gives 

elemental analysis to the parts per 

billion/trillion level. 

It is very easy for water well system 

managers to try and reduce costs by 

reducing maintenance budgets. 

But this can be detrimental in the 

long term. Water from wells is like any 

surface water, it can corrode metal 

piping, valves and pumps. A good 

preventative maintenance system will 

include corrosion monitoring. 

This system can include inserting 

corrosion coupons into the piping 

through special access points and 

then leaving them inserted for six 

months or a year. The inserted 

coupons are then removed and 

sent to a corrosion laboratory 

for examination (Photo 3). An 

inspection report will include the 

pitting corrosion rate of the 

system. Pitting in piping can cause 

catastrophic failures. 

All the above can be impacted by 

the season of the year. Normal 

seasonal rainfalls, monsoons, 

50


snow falls and how fast rivers 

and lakes replenishment all 

impact groundwater (Figure 8). 

Groundwater is replenished by 

the amount of water falling above 

ground. This influence can be 

close by or even hundreds of 

miles away. 

Wells can run dry because 

the water table is not always a 

straight horizontal formation. It 

can take the form of a wave as 

in Figure 8. In either case, the 

water table can migrate up and 

down through the vertical column 

according to the seasons. The 

dotted cone of depletion indicates 

that in this example the well may 

run dry or at least have reduced 

water pumping capacity in the late 

summer and winter seasons. 

In summary, well water systems 

may be more difficult to operate 

because of complacency. Many 

users believe that the water 

underground does not fluctuate 

very much in terms of chemistry. 

But it can change daily, weekly and 

Photo 3: Water 

well systems need 

a preventative 

maintenance 

programme to 

evaluate the system 

corrosion tendency 

yearly. It is not a homogeneous 

water system. It is in a constant 

flux and change. Analysis can 

give a good result one month 

but can be completely different 

a month later. But a great 

danger is in illegal dumping of 

waste chemicals let alone with 

the legal disposal or storage in 

regulated waste management 

dumps. So there is one 

important factor to remember 

when it comes to water wells: 

PROTECT YOUR WATER WELL 

AQUIFERS! 

The author retired in 2020 with his last position being 

a senior laboratory technologist for an oil company 

remote camp producing 120,000 barrels of oil per 

day. A very small part of his many duties was tracking 

water quality in over a dozen high volume fresh 

and brackish water wells. His daughter Janina is a 

chemist for a specialty analytical testing laboratory. 

Figure 8: The water 

table can change 

according to the 

season. It can get 

narrower or wider 

from top to bottom 

and change in 

depth. The delay in 

the water reaching 

the area can be 

a few weeks to 

many months, so 

the seasons on the 

chart may not match 

up with the curves 

depicted. 

51

VIEWPOINT 

IDENTIFYING 

THE RIGHT 

circular vocabulary 

and stakeholders 

Circular economy developments often focus 

on the technology, but to be successful we 

need to define a common vocabulary and 

involve the right stakeholders. 

By Stefania Munaretto, PhD, scientific researcher, KWR 

process 

other industry 

economy 

nothing 

chain 

materials circular 

sustainable 

thinking 

recycled naturalpossible 

ecosystem consumerproduct 

instead businessENVIRONMENTAL 

balance system circular 

make 

both 

energy 

more 

people 

everythingmaterial 

goods 

thought 

linearproduction 

 

 

throughDESIGNconsumption 

reusingimportant disposals ecosystem 

things 

resource services both 

waste 

recycling 

re-use better 

manufaturing 

way 

life 

all 

While not entirely new in concept, the circular economy, in 

relation to water, is still in its infancy. Scientists, governments, 

water utilities and environmental professionals around the 

world are still figuring out what it means from a technical 

perspective. 

As a result, we lack a common framing and related 

vocabulary when talking about the water in the circular 

economy. Many existing developments focus on the 

technologies as resulting products. However, water in a 

circular context is more than a product – it is a vector of 

energy, resources, and materials; it is an enabler. Because of 

these many functions granted by its unique properties, water 

is also difficult, if not sometimes impossible, to replace. Yet, 

the role of water is often misunderstood. 

Instead, several environmental initiatives are being reframed 

and labelled with a circular badge as part of the anticipated 

“Great Reset”, or “Green Recovery” from the COVID-19 

pandemic. We need to be careful here: just because we 

assign fancy labels or buzzwords, it does not mean all 

activities are truly circular. 

IDENTIFYING A COMMON VOCABULARY 

So, what needs to happen? With any collaboration, it is 

important to identify a common vocabulary and a shared 

understanding of the problems at hand. For example, for the 

EU Horizon 2020 B-WaterSmart project (grant ID: 869171), we 

52


are spending a lot of time building the 

concept of “water smartness”. 

The project is highly transdisciplinary. 

It brings together different 

backgrounds, knowledge, cultures, 

social structures through a wide range 

of stakeholders in different European 

countries. As a result, it is important 

that we co-create a common concept. 

All stakeholders can then recognise 

their own perspectives in the central 

collaboration. From this foundation, 

we can work together, each one 

contributing with their own expertise 

across the four-year project. 

This project, as other H2020 projects 

like ULTIMATE and Water Mining, 

offers an opportunity for water utilities 

to be involved at the very beginning 

in the co-design of circular economy 

solutions together with all relevant 

stakeholders, rather than simply 

implementing decisions made by 

others. 

An understanding of the history and 

cultures where we aim to embed 

new, circular water solutions is 

also vital. For example, in some 

locations, effects from past events 

may continue to erode the trust of 

the local communities today. This, in 

turn, may affect the understanding 

and acceptance of new technologies 

and solutions, thus making it difficult 

for stakeholders to come to a shared 

vision and plan of actions. 

STAKEHOLDERS AND CITIZEN 

ENGAGEMENT 

As well as defining the common 

vocabulary and language, it is equally 

important to identify the right people 

to involve. After all, these stakeholders 

will accompany you on the journey 

for four years, in the context of 

the H2020 projects! There is a risk 

that if you do not engage with the 

relevant individuals from different 

sectors and societal domains (public 

organizations, businesses, scientific 

community, resource management 

professionals, NGOs, etc.) from the 

start, you may end up with the wrong 

final product, or taking the wrong path, 

or seeing the project products being 

rejected by those for which they were 

created in the first place. 

An important stakeholder group is 

the public. Engagement with the 

public on circular water problems and 

solutions is still at an early stage. For 

communities, a key concern remains 

access to reliable, safe, and clean 

water from their taps. Energy and 

cost improvements or technological 

development, often associated with 

the circular economy, do not resonate 

with the public so much, at least not 

just yet. To connect with the public, 

you need to demonstrate that new 

opportunities provided by the circular 

economy are underpinned by robust 

science and safe processes. 

Storytelling is one of the most 

effective ways to communicate 

with the public, together with being 

empathetic. Once you know your 

audience, understand the fears or 

the doubts or the needs of the public, 

and then build a narrative and a story 

that connects. Use short videos and 

engaging infographics, which can be 

well received. 

Of course, benefits from a circular 

approach go beyond safety and have 

wider advantages for the environment. 

So, who is speaking for nature? 

These stakeholders, including nongovernmental 

officials (NGOs) also 

need to have a voice at the table. 

We are at the start of a circular 

journey. Let us ensure that as we are 

putting together the scientific and 

technical puzzles, we are not ignoring 

the equally important vocabulary, 

people, and environmental pieces as 

well. 

The key is understanding your 

audience first, by listening. Who are 

you talking to? What are you trying 

to communicate in that location? 

What are their problems? And what is 

the background and a history of the 

people you are talking to? Once that 

has been established, you can build 

a shared understanding and related 

language to communicate effectively. 

53

VIEWPOINT WATER & WASTEWATER ASIA | MARCH/APRIL 2021 

WABAG: 

Leading 

the way 

With a story 

spanning over 90 

years, VA Tech 

WABAG is no 

stranger to the 

water industry 

and the field of 

total water management. Water 

and Wastewater Asia sits down 

with Prabhakaran B, Regional 

Head at WABAG-Singapore, to 

find out more about the company 

and its offerings. 

WABAG describes itself as a 

“pure-play” company - what does 

this mean? 

We define ourselves as a “pureplay” 

water technology company 

since our key focus, core expertise 

and only field of operation is the 

water and wastewater treatment and 

management sector. 

VA Tech WABAG offers design, 

engineering, procurement, erection 

and commissioning, complete 

with operation and maintenance of 

treatment projects catering to both 

municipal and industrial segments. 

Headquartered in India, WABAG’s 

footprint is prevalent in over 20 

countries. With over 100 patents to 

its credit, WABAG is a leading player 

in water and wastewater treatment 

around the world. 

How does WABAG focus on its 

goal of achieving energy-neutral 

wastewater treatment plants 

(WWTPs)? 

At WABAG, we believe that sewage 

sludge is not a liability but a resource 

with economic value. Acting on this 

belief and leveraging on our technical 

and operational expertise, we have 

executed and are currently maintaining 

several energy-neutral and green 

sewage treatment plants (STPs), 

in which the biogas from digested 

sewage sludge is used to generate 

green power to operate the plant. 

Going forward, the issue of leachate 

pollution and sludge disposal is going 

to be a major concern especially in 

urban areas where land availability 

remains a constraint. WABAG is 

well-equipped to address this 

concern, backed by its technological 

competence and proven global 

references. 

Are there any case studies you 

could share with us about the 

green STPs in India? 

The 110,000 m3/day Kodungaiyur STP 

in Chennai, India was designed, built 

and is currently operated by WABAG. 

The plant is based on conventional 

activated sludge process (ASP) with 

anaerobic sludge digestion and biogas 

utilisation by means of a power plant 

based on a 1,317 KVA gas engine. 

The plant commenced commercial 

operations in 2006, and has been 

operated and maintained by WABAG 

ever since, completing 14 years of 

successful O&M in 2020. 

By stitching together a comprehensive 

Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), 

a sound Technical Support Team 

(TST) and continuous monitoring of 

the plant from the Network Operations 

Control (NOC) room from the Global 

HQ, WABAG has helped the plant 

maintain its exceptional performance. 

Today, the plant has set a benchmark 

by becoming the first plant globally to 

achieve 1,00,000 cumulative operating 

hours with a single gas engine over 13 

years, generating over 55,000 MwH of 

green energy and achieving 98% selfsufficiency. 

This feat gains even more prominence 

when coupled with the fact that the 

average lifetime of a gas engine is 

60,000 hours, and WABAG has been 

able to improve the longevity and 

lifetime of gas engines by more than 

70% over & above its prescribed 

lifetime - and it’s still going strong! 

The topic of micropollutants is an 

enduring one, in the water industry 

- what is WABAG’s stance on the 

issue? 

WABAG has been actively involved 

in the R&D aimed at elimination of 

micropollutants for over a decade, 

and we have innovated patented 

technologies across various processes 

proven for micropollutant removal. 

WABAG has successfully executed 

seven WWTPs having a cumulative 

capacity of over 150,000 m3/d with 

an additional 11 WWTPs under 

construction aimed at the removal of 

micropollutants. Going forward, nations 

such as Switzerland, Germany, Austria, 

Italy, France, the UK, the Netherlands 

and the Scandinavian nations are 

all already discussing, or have 

statutes regarding the elimination of 

micropollutants in water with the aim of 

safeguarding both aquatic ecosystems 

and drinking water resources. 

54

Orientation Day 2021 

8th January 2021, Complimentary, HYBRID 

NEWSLETTER 

OF THE 

SINGAPORE 

WATER 

ASSOCIATION 

BRINGING 

A NEW VIBRANCY 

TO SINGAPORE’S 

GROWING 

WATER INDUSTRY 

An awesome 82 participants (onsite & online) attended the 

inaugural Orientation Day, especially curated for the new 

members who joined us in 2020 amidst the pandemic. It was 

a great HYBRID event where we can finally meet business 

partners (although with 1m safe distancing). More one-toone 

B2B meetings could be facilitated through this event. 

Media partner, Water & Wastewater Asia, interviewed a 

few selected companies and had great exchanges. We look 

forward to a blessed and fulfilling 2021! 

Presentation decks of new members can be downloaded 

from www.swa.org.sg/swatch/ 

SWA Webinar: 

Delivering Sustainable Water Solutions 

Through Decentralization 

Jointly organised with Fluence Corporation 

12 January 2021, Complimentary, Webex 

Almost 90 participants attended the webinar co-organised 

with Fluence Corporation on 12th January 2021. Mr YONG 

Wong Jin (CEO, Fluence Asia) gave a welcome address while 

Mr Gilad Yogev (Snr Product Manager, Fluence Corp) gave 

an excellent presentation on sustainable water solutions 

through decentralisation. 

Deck and recording can be downloaded from 

www.swa.org.sg/swatch/

SWA YWP Webinar 

Career Talk with SUTD - Developing Engineers into 

Future Leaders of the Water Industry 


Career Talk with NUS - Developing Engineers into 

Future Leaders of the Water Industry 

4 February 2021, Complimentary, ZOOM 

SWA Young Water Professionals Committee 

(YWPC) organised the webinar with SUTD and NUS 

respectively on 29 January 2021 and 4 February 

2021. YWPC vice-chair, Kshitij Asthana (Associate 

Director, Aecom Singapore gave an overview of SWA, 

Singapore water landscape and the career pathways 

for engineering graduates. 

SWA Webinar: 

Minimizing Chlorate in Water Disinfection: On-site Sodium Hypochlorite 

Generation brings Safer, Sustainable and Economic Water 

Jointly organised with De Nora Water Technologies 

4 February 2021, Complimentary, Webex 

More than 100 participants got an overview of chlorate, a 

key DBP (Disinfection By-Product) and how it is regulated 

in the water treatment sector. Participants were also able 

understand what the implications of their disinfection 

systems are with regard to chlorate; learn how to 

minimise chlorate by technology options to ensure safe 

water as well as to manage water disinfection in a safer, 

sustainable and economic way from the webinar coorganised 

by Singapore Water Association and De Nora 

Water Technologies on 4th February 2021, 1030am SGT. 

Deck and recording can be downloaded from 

"http://www.swa.org.sg/swatch/" 

SWA/SgWX Water Utilities Series: Total Water Management in Hong Kong 


The Hong Kong Water Supplies Department (WSD) has 

promulgated the Total Water Management Strategy for 

sustainable use of water to ensure water security and 

support the developments in Hong Kong. This webinar 

presented Hong Kong’s water challenges and the solutions 

that WSD has implemented to ensure operational 

continuity.

SWA Webinar: 

Virtual Briefing & Update by 

PUB Water Supply Network (WSN) Department 


Sixty-six SWA members joined the 

virtual briefing and update by PUB 

Water Supply Network Engineer Mr 

Wong Jia Jie on 18 February 2021, 

11am. The session was exclusive for 

SWA members and is concised and brief 

with many sharing opportunities by the 

WSN department. 

Deck and recording can be downloaded 

from www.swa.org.sg/swatch/ 

UPCOMING SWA ACTIVITIES 

SWA/SgWX Water Utilities Series: 

Water Resources Management 

Strategy in Jakarta 


Rapid development, increasing population and climate 

change have caused environmental challenges in Jakarta. 

These require concerted efforts from both the public and 

private sectors to overcome. This webinar will introduce 

the water resource management strategy in Jakarta, the 

programmes and initiatives that have been introduced as 

well as the upcoming projects that are being planned. 

SWA Webinar: Canadian Virtual Showcase of Water Tech Companies 

Jointly organised with High Commission of Canada in Singapore and PUB Singapore Water Exchange 

4 March 2021, Complimentary, Webex 

The High Commission of Canada 

in Singapore, in partnership with 

Singapore Water Association and PUB 

Singapore Water Exchange are coorganising 

a webinar: Canadian Virtual 

Showcase of Water Tech Companies on 

4th March 2021, Thursday, SGT 9am to 

10:30am. 

This webinar introduces the Canadian 

utilities and water companies, 

presenting their water and wastewater 

technologies solution and roadmap.

SWA Webinar: ISRAELI Digital Water Technologies 

Jointly organised with Ministry of Economy and Industry, Israel and PUB Singapore Water Exchange 


Singapore Water Association and the Israel Embassy in 

Singapore are co-organising a complimentary Webinar 

on Israeli Digital Water Technologies on 24th March 

2021, Thursday, 4:00pm to 5:30pm. This event is 

supported by PUB, Singapore’s national water agency. 

Israel's Foreign Trade Administration at the Ministry 

of Economy is responsible for managing and directing 

the international trade policy of the State of Israel. 

The Foreign Trade Administration operates over 45 

economic missions in countries all over the world. Each 

of the missions has a team that is dedicated to fostering 

trade and investment between local companies and 

Israeli companies. A total of five Israeli companies will 

showcase their Smart/Digital Water Technologies and 

solutions. 

SWA [Hybrid] Event – in conjunction with World Water Day 

Behind the scene: Brave Blue World 

This event is brought to you by DuPont, Xylem and SUEZ 


‘Brave Blue World’ is a documentary 

that paints an optimistic picture 

of how humanity is adopting new 

technologies and innovations to rethink 

how we manage water. 

Executive producer and founder 

of Brave Blue World Foundation, 

Paul O'Callaghan, will be giving a 

welcome brief along with a 30 minutes 

panel discussion on the global water 

challenges and solutions after the online 

screenplay. 

SWA WELCOMES NEW MEMBERS 

(joined from January and February 2021) 

ORDINARY MEMBERS 

• GHD Pte Ltd 

• Manila Water Asia Pacific Pte Ltd 

• Rohm and Haas Electronic Materials 

Singapore Pte Ltd 

• SIIC Environment Holdings Ltd 

• Singapore Valve & Fitting Pte Ltd 

(Swagelok Singapore) 

• Keppel Seghers Pte Ltd 

ASSOCIATE MEMBER 

• Diehl Metering Pte Ltd 

• Fiber Sense Singapore Pte Ltd 

• H2O One Pte Ltd 

• Nanos Water System LLP 

• Quasset Pte Ltd 

• Ripple2ware Incubator Pte Ltd 

• Swisspro Pte Ltd / Katadyn Singapore 

2021 EVENTS CALENDAR 

2021 will be bustlingly filled with water shows, 

networking events, knowledge sharing sessions and 

webinars. We have an exciting and interesting lined 

up of water series with PUB, Singapore’s National 

Water Agency. Download from https://www.swa.org. 

sg/2021-events-calendar/ 

INTERESTED TO JOIN SWA? 

We welcome all organisations who are actively 

involved and interested in the water and wastewater 

industry to join Singapore Water Association as either 

Ordinary, Associate or Institutional member. 

Sign up at https://www.swa.org.sg/membership/signup-online

ON OUR RADAR WATER & WASTEWATER ASIA | MARCH/APRIL 2021 

WEHRLE 

INTRODUCES 

new products 

for leachate 

treatment 

suppliers around the world. Operators of 

the Direct-RO are therefore not dependent 

on a single supplier. 

Robert Koerner, head of Marketing 

at WEHRLE, said, “The Direct-RO 

extends our range of leachate treatment 

solutions, spanning from our all-rounder 

BIOMEMBRAT® MBR up to high-end ZLD 

(Zero Liquid Discharge) leachate treatment, 

now also down to basic reverse osmosis 

systems.” 

Building RO systems is nothing new for 

the leachate treatment expert: WEHRLE 

has been using reverse osmosis and 

nanofiltration membranes for over 20 years. 

So far, these plants had been individually 

designed, and tailor made for each and 

every project. With Direct-RO, WEHRLE 

standardised the product to react to the 

market’s demands for a basic treatment 

solution with quick delivery and start-up at 

an attractive price. 

Photo credit: WEHRLE 

New WEHRLE’s Direct-RO container plant for leachate treatment. 

A new product line for leachate treatment has The Direct-RO is available in three different 

been introduced by WEHRLE. 

sizes: “S” for up to 80 m³/d inlet capacity, “M” 

for up to 160 m³/d and “XL” for up to 260 m³/d, 

The “Direct-RO” is a packaged plant based each with either two or three filtration passes 

on the reverse osmosis (RO) technology and operating at 80 bar system pressure. 

with all required components on board of 

standard 40’ containers. For landfill operators The RO membranes used are the spiral-wound 

the Direct-RO is a basic and cost-effective, type arranged in a feed & bleed configuration 

quick-to-install treatment solution that offers that allows to vary the throughput while 

all the benefits of state-of-the-art technology, keeping a constant cross flow velocity. 

including a graphical, touch screen-based Spiral wound membranes are produced in 

user-machine interface and remote access. high quantities and are available from many 

But, of course, “attractive price” does 

not mean “cheap”: WEHRLE uses the 

same high-quality brand component 

manufacturers for the Direct-RO; the same 

for its other product families. A selection of 

optional packages allows upgrades for the 

basic Direct-RO system. For instance, the 

Advanced Automation Package controls 

the plant autonomously to the maximum 

performance or the OPEX Reduction 

Package that also includes an additional, 

i.e. stand-by, sand-filter – all on board 

inside the container. 

In many landfills around the globe, the 

reverse osmosis technology is used for the 

separation of leachate into clean water and 

concentrate already. For landfills where 

the leachate composition has changed 

over the years, i.e. by aging of the landfill 

or the recirculation of the RO concentrate, 

expressed in high Ammonia values, the 

Direct-RO is open for an extension with the 

BIOMEMBRAT® MBR to include effective 

biological elimination to the process. 

59


In the life sciences industry, where 

ultrapure water (UPW) is a critical part 

of assuring the safety of medications 

and devices, the Sievers M500 saves 

time during real-time release testing 

of pharmaceutical water, reduces 

costs of water analysis, and ensures 

compliance to pharmacopoeia 

standards. 

NEW SIEVERS 

TOC ANALYSERS 

for online ultrapure 

water monitoring 

SUEZ – Water Technologies & 

Solutions announced the launch of 

two new Total Organic Carbon (TOC) 

online analysers, the M500 for life 

sciences and the M500e for microelectronics 

markets. Improving on the 

robust Sievers* portfolio, these new 

models reduce analysis time by 50% 

and include digital upgrades such 

as WiFi capabilities, improved data 

transfer and management options, 

and enhanced security features to 

preserve data integrity. 

“The Sievers portfolio of TOC 

analysers - already the industry 

benchmark for accuracy, precision, 

and reliability - has gotten even 

better,” said Kevin Cassidy, 

executive vice president of 

engineered systems for SUEZ – 

Water Technologies & Solutions. 

“We are continuously working with 

our customers and listening to their 

needs as we innovate and bring new 

technology to the market. In this 

case, we were able to improve our 

analyser offering in ways that will 

help them achieve faster results, 

meet stricter regulations and make 

processes more efficient. These new 

analysers offer superior performance 

and features to help customers 

succeed.” 

For microelectronics manufacturers, 

the Sievers M500e offers stable, 

precise performance below 1 part 

per billion (ppb) TOC, as well as 

instrument-to-instrument matching 

for assurance of data. It also supports 

steam generation water systems in 

detecting the presence of sugars, 

corrosives, cleaning agents, and other 

contaminants that may affect optimal 

performance. 

The new Sievers models can help 

customers improve performance 

by reducing analysis time by 50%, 

reducing rinse down time, and 

shortening protocol duration by over 

50%. Other highlights include: 

• 50% reduction in analysis time 

facilitates utilization of real-time 

data, early detection, and process 

control 

• 10-inch color touchscreen enables 

faster and easier setup and 

operation 

• Super Integrated Online Sampler 

(iOS) 4-port sampler automates 

grab samples to increase efficiency 

• New standardised and customised 

protocols improve productivity 

• Enhanced data security features 

improve data integrity 

• Low-level calibration and verification 

protocols ensure quality and control 

• Adaptive autozero eliminates 

manual changes in autozero 

frequency 

• WiFi & Ethernet for remote data 

access 

60


MICRODYN-NADIR 

introduces 

BIO-CEL ® 

EASY 

BIO-CEL® EASY was recently 

launched by global membrane 

manufacturer MICRODYN-NADIR, 

the Membrane Solutions segment 

of MANN+HUMMEL. Equipped 

with membrane bioreactor (MBR) 

technology, BIO-CEL® EASY is a 

packaged, standalone wastewater 

treatment module and the easiest 

plug-and-play MBR experience in the 

market. 

“Airports, hotels, hospitals, shopping 

centers, and other similarly-sized 

establishments need a simple and 

efficient way to treat wastewater 

generated at their locations, and 

BIO-CEL® EASY provides that for 

them. It is made with cutting-edge 

technology and ensures excellent 

performance – and it’s extremely 

easy to use and install!” said Julian 

Klein, global product manager for 

MBR at MICRODYN-NADIR. 

BIO-CEL® EASY modules are 

a combination of ultrafiltration 

membrane sheets and a robust 

AISI 304 stainless steel frame. The 

modules offer easy assembly and 

installation; fast and simple design; 

and flexible configurations, which 

saves on installation 

costs, engineering hours, 

and investment costs. 

Each module can treat up 

to 24 m³/d for municipal 

applications and 12 m³/d 

for industrial applications. 

As an added benefit, the 

module fits perfectly in 

the optional filtration tank: 

BIO-CEL® EASY TANK. 

The module and tank design 

makes it easy to design, 

assemble, connect, move, 

and expand, depending on 

the wastewater treatment 

needs of the facility. 

“BIO-CEL® EASY has been 

designed to give everyone access 

to a user-friendly system that makes 

it possible to recover every single 

drop of water. That’s why the modules 

can be installed and used by anyone 

who cares about water recovery, even 

small quantities,” said Marco Nava, VP 

Membrane Solutions. 

BIO-CEL® EASY modules are the 

most recent addition to the BIO- 

CEL® MBR line, which also includes 

the innovative BIO-CEL® L-2 

modules for larger wastewater 

treatment projects. 

BIO-CEL® EASY was designed to be 

as its name says: Easy. It is a small 

but mighty module ideal for small to 

medium-sized projects. 

BIO-CEL® EASY. 

Photo credit: 

MICRODYN- 

NADIR 

61

RECAP WATER & WASTEWATER ASIA | MARCH/APRIL 2021 

VEGA WEBINAR: 

Because clear drinking 

water requires reliable 

level and pressure 

monitoring 

To ensure the supply of high-quality 

drinking water today and in the 

future, reliable, continuous level 

and pressure monitoring is required 

at every stage in drinking water 

production. In deep wells, rivers 

and lakes, chemical tanks and 

supply lines, VEGA sensors ensure 

correct levels and pressures as well 

as maintenance-free operation. 

VEGA experts, Ralf Höll and 

Jürgen Skowaisa, explained and 

demonstrated the advantages of 

VEGA radar and pressure sensors 

in authentic application through a 

webinar which took place on Friday, 

26 February 2021. 

the measurement is much easier and 

more accurate. 

Added benefits of VEGA radar 

sensors: 

• Optimised for the reflection 

properties of different media 

• Smallest design for the 

construction of compact sensor 

technology 

• 80 GHz technology for a very good 

signal focusing 

• High accuracy in wide temperature 

ranges 

• Low energy consumption 

optimised for level measurement 

• Integrated function monitoring 

reduces maintenance costs 

CHEMICAL RESISTANCE 

SENSORS 

With high demands on productivity, 

quality and profitability from the 

industry, VEGA has the non-contact 

level measurement with radar to 

ensure accuracy and reliability. 

The sensor sends microwave signals 

towards the medium from above and 

the surface of the medium reflects the 

signals back in the direction of the 

sensor. Using the received microwave 

signals, the sensor determines the 

distance to the product surface and 

calculates the level from it. 

From above: VEGA experts, Ralf Höll and Jürgen Skowaisa, explained 

and demonstrated the advantages of VEGA radar and pressure sensors 

in authentic application examples; Introducing the products needed in 

the water and wastewater industry; Live demonstration were also seen 

during the webinar 

A VARIETY OF RADAR 

SENSORS 

The VEGA radar sensors, shown 

by Skowaisa, come in a variety: 

compact level version, cable version 

and controller version. 

They are unaffected by temperature 

fluctuations, vacuum or high 

pressures and are insensitive to 

contamination. This is on top of 

good signal focusing which makes 

it easier to separate measurement 

and interference signals — ensuring 

Liquids and solids are commonly 

measured with this measuring 

technique. 

INTERNET OF THINGS 

With the Internet of Things (IoT) 

revolutionising the industry, VEGA 

has also been taking its products 

a step further by ensuring they are 

optimised for logistics or control 

processes. Hence, creating a 

smart product that can be provide 

measurement data any time from 

anywhere. 

62

WHAT’S NEXT WATER & WASTEWATER ASIA | MARCH/APRIL 2021 

EVENT CALENDAR 

2021 AND 2022 

FEBRUARY 2021 

World Water-Tech 

Innovation Summit 2021 

23 to 24 February 

Virtual 

APRIL 2021 

IE expo China 

20 to 22 April 

Shanghai, China 

MAY 2021 

Ozwater’21 

04 to 06 May 

Adelaide, Australia 

Global Water Summit 

16 to 18 May 

Madrid, Spain 

IWA Digital World Water Congress 

24 May – 04 June 

Virtual 

JUNE 2021 

Aquatech China 

02 to 04 June 

Shanghai, China 

Singapore International 

Water Week Spotlight 2021 

21 June 

Singapore (Hybrid water summit, 

virtual Water Convention and Water Expo) 

JULY 2021 

VietWater (Hanoi) 2021 

20 to 22 July 

Hanoi, Vietnam 

Indo Water Expo & Forum 2021 

21 to 23 July 

Jakarta, Indonesia 

WQA Convention & Exposition 

28 to 30 July 

Las Vegas, USA 

AUGUST 2021 

LANKAWATER’21 

05 to 07 August 

Colombo, Sri Lanka 

SEPTEMBER 2021 

Enlit Asia 2021 

28 to 30 September 

Jakarta, Indonesia 

OCTOBER 2021 

Pumps & Valves Asia 2021 

14 to 16 October 

Bangkok, Thailand 

WEFTEC 2021 


Chicago, USA 

LAOWATER’21 


Vientiane, Laos 

NOVEMBER 2021 

Vietwater (Ho Chi Minh) 2021 

10 to 12 November 

Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam 

MyanWater 2021 

25 to 27 November 

Yangon, Myanmar 

DECEMBER 2021 

Water Philippines 2021 

08 to 10 December 

Metro Manila, Philippines 

JANUARY 2022 

WFES Water 2022 

17 to 19 January 

Abu Dhabi, UAE 

InterAqua 2022 

26 to 28 January 

Tokyo, Japan 

MARCH 2022 

Asia Water 2020 

29 to 31 March 

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 

APRIL 2022 

ACHEMA 

04 to 08 April 

Frankfurt, Germany 

MAY 2022 

IFAT Munich 2021 

30 May – 2 June 

Munich, Germany 

SEPTEMBER 2022 

IWA World Water Congress 

& Exhibition 2021 

Copenhagen, Denmark 

63

ADVERTISERS’ INDEX WATER & WASTEWATER ASIA | MARCH/APRIL 2021 

INDEX OF 

ADVERTISERS 

ADVERTISER 

GUANGDONG LESSO TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD 

PAGE 

IFC 

HARBIN FIRSTLINE ENVIRONMENT TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD 9 

LACROIX SOFREL 7 

OVARRO CONNECTING TECHNOLOGIES 

OBC 

VEGA INSTRUMENTS (SEA) PTE LTD 1 

WATER & WASTEWATER ASIA’S HOUSE AD 

5, 64, IBC 

WEHRLE-WERK AG 11 

FOLLOW US 

@waterwastewaterasia 

64

LET US DEVELOP, 

MARKET AND 

MANAGE YOUR 

NEXT WEBINAR 

Webinar Series Development 

• Content development 

• Pre and post webinar email marketing 

• Be supported by WWA print and digital 

advertising 

• Graphics and video support 

• Hosting 

• Hardware & software provision 

• Professional moderation 

• Turnkey management 

• Speaker support 

• Documentation support 

• Audience interaction 

• Feedback gathering & analysis 

• Monitoring and reportage 

Additional Support 

Video content development 

• Concept 

• Scripting 

• Story boarding 

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• Editing and export into relevant formats 

• News and Product video bites 

• Product & service videos 

• Video ads 

• “Live” reportage 

• Monitoring and reportage 

For more informaon, contact us at 

sales@pabloasia.com 

Pablo Publishing & Exhibition Pte Ltd | www.waterwastewaterasia.com

TECHNOLOGY THAT’S TRUSTED THE WORLD OVER 

Water authorities across the globe rely on our data-driven solutions to advance 

productivity, safety, operations, sustainability and financial performance. 

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Water & Wastewater Asia March/April 2021

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