Water Weekly No. 4

Welcome to our fourth?edition of #WaterWeekly , your go-to weekly newsletter on all things Water.?

Let’s dive in to this week’s stories!?

Making a Splash – Top Story of the Week?

Wastewater collaboration seems to be the story of the week with several examples of water companies being selected to provide services to plants or cities.?

The future of wastewater recovery and treatment, Haliotis 2, the largest project in France and one of the largest in Europe, was unveiled by the mayor of Nice and Sabrina Soussan , chairman and CEO of SUEZ . This new factory, which represents a market worth €700 million, will satiate community requirements as well as future environmental and health norms. It will handle the wastewater treatment for 26 municipalities totalling 680,000 people. ?

In Sweden the upgrade of the K?ppala wastewater treatment plant, owned by the K?ppala Association in Liding?, will be supported by the renowned space-saving and capacity-increasing solution from Veolia Water Technologies ’ subsidiary AnoxKaldnes , the world leader in moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) based solutions. The facility manages the sewage from 11 member municipalities north and east of Stockholm, which total more than 500,000 residents. Furthermore, in order to handle an incoming load equivalent to 900,000 in 2050 and to comply with the new emission permit that will go into effect in 2026, the WWTP plans to expand the plant's capacity.?

On the African continent, four high-speed single-stage integrally geared blowers as well as a control system will be provided by Howden, A Chart Industries Company ,?premier global supplier of mission critical air and gas handling products, technologies and services, for the new Athlone Wastewater Treatment Works (WWTW) in Cape Town, South Africa. Due to population growth and migration, the City of Cape Town is expanding quickly, necessitating an update of the WWTW to meet the increased demand for the water to be cleaned and made safe before being released into the environment.?

In other news:?

?? Yokogawa Saudi Arabia, has received an order from the Saline Water Conversion Corporation to supply control systems for the ‘One Million Project’ which will implement seawater reverse osmosis (RO) technology at the Al Jubail desalination plant, a large-scale facility with a water production capacity of 1 million cubic metres?per day.?

?? Evoqua Water Technologies , released?its 2022 Sustainability Report, with highlights including: progress toward ESG goals, sustainability progress recognition by the Sustainable Markets Initiative,?and the implementation of initiatives designed to further embed inclusion and diversity into the culture.?

??The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (Metropolitan) has chosen Black & Veatch , world leader in critical infrastructure solutions, to provide preliminary design services for the first reach of the Pure Water Southern California (PWSC) conveyance system.?

?? South West Water was fined more than ￡2 million for a string of environmental violations that occurred over the course of four years in Devon and Cornwall. The amount of the fine is the highest ever for environmental infractions in the area.?

?? Aquionics Inc. , Berson UV-Techniek , Hanovia UV and Orca have been brought together as a new name in the sector: Nuvonic . Managing Director, Alex Langston said, "As the first of our kind in the sector, we're thrilled to open the door for new and cutting-edge solutions that will revolutionise the market and establish a new benchmark for excellence in full-facility disinfectant."?

??In acquisitions, The OCU Group is set to acquire Northavon Group and Surrey-based telemetry company, Metasphere acquired Meniscus Systems Ltd ?in a move that will strengthen their Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning competencies.?

??In appointments, and for the first time, Jersey Water appointed two new non-executive directors to its Board through an anonymous recruitment procedure. The chosen candidates joined the Board this month, including Donna Abel, Chief Executive Officer of Jersey Cheshire Home, and Jo Dow , Chief Executive of Scottish Water Business Stream Limited. Congratulations to both!?

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Our featured guest this week is Victor OLLIVIER , Managing Director of the French company? Purecontrol .?

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Purecontrol provides analytics and intelligent automation solutions to Utilities, water operators, EPCs, and municipalities. By using artificial intelligence (AI), the solution integrates an unlimited number of influencing factors and constraints to reach operator’s pre-defined objectives with regards to water discharge regulatory compliance, overflow reduction, energy consumption reduction, storage level, water demand, GHG reduction and related process optimisation.

The Purecontrol solution combines AI and operational expertise and can be summarised in five steps: First, it collects and processes real-time operational and external data. Second, it creates a digital twin (DT) of the process by understanding how the equipment and installations behave in their environment and respond to parameters change. Third, it performs predictive analysis using data from real-time monitoring, analytics, and DT simulations. Fourth, it delivers real-time equipment control using the optimised solution calculated in step three. Finally, the algorithms in the Purecontrol solution can self-learn and continuously improve, enabling them to perform better as they analyse new data.?

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What or who do you think is the greatest threat to water resources??

‘I think today the biggest threat would be population growth and climate change/pollution putting the most stress on water resources. It is impacting the broader trends?of the water industry. This is impacting the water security and the water quality and the water industry trends even more. It is not just one threat, but instead it is much more broad than that!”?

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What is the greatest change you want to see in the water industry over the next 5 years??

‘I would love to see greater and faster adoption of digital and AI based solutions. It is the only way to be resilient and reduce the carbon footprint and energy consumption. This will help continuously optimise the operations of plants. It would be great to see the Utilities embrace the innovation and adopt these new solutions. Try them, compare them and adopt them! We have all of the solutions, we just need them to take them on!”?

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Why do you choose to be in the water industry? What advice do you have for others looking to join??

“I am an Environmental engineer background and was always looking to work in a sector that will help people and the world. Water is essential for all. The needs, issues, and challenges change depending where you are which is fascinating. The innovation also makes it very attractive, which allows for some work for everyone and something to explore. My advice for anyone getting into the water sector is to be passionate, be impactful and look for a job that helps the industry and people!”?

I hope you enjoyed this week's newsletter, let me know what you think in the comments! Please subscribe for next week's edition of #WaterWeekly !