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 CONTENTS January 2019 Vol 01 | Issue 03

16 18 34 37

41 33 47

56 76

MUNICIPAL WATER CASES

Smart Water & Waste World selects 30 best case-studies where cutting-
edge water, wastewater, and solid-waste management technologies
and best practices were applied in water utilities, municipal plants and
government projects around the world.

Inside>>

06 EDITOR’S NOTE 25 PUMPS PROTECT SOUTHERN

AVENUE, KOLKATA, FROM
44 MODIFICATION OF A LEACHATE
TREATMENT PLANT FROM
66 XIGA 40 PERFORMS WELL BEYOND
EXPECTATIONS AT THE LARGEST
FLOODING OSMOSIS TECHNOLOGY TO A MEMBRANE-BASED DRINKING
08 IN THE NEWS 26 WORLD’S FIRST LANDFILL
LEACHATE MANAGEMENT AND 47
POLLUTANT-REDUCING PROCESS
LESSONS LEARNED: STARTING 68
WATER PLANT IN GERMANY
CONTROLLING THE STORMWATER
WATER RECOVERY SYSTEM USING THE FIRST ON-DEMAND, GRAVITY- RUNOFF AT NEW SOUTH
14 COLUMNS FPSTAR BOOMTUBE TECHNOLOGY POWERED CERAMIC FILTRATION
PLANT IN THE UNITED STATES
CAROLINA INTERCHANGE

29 PROCESS OPTIMIZATION AND 70 PLANTSTRUXURE SYSTEM

14 URBAN WATER REGULATION COMPLIANCE WITH 50 LEAKAGE DETECTION AND HELPS WATER UTILITIES IN
MANAGEMENT IN MUNICIPAL GERMANY AND CHINA
TOC MONITORING HELP TWO
80 WATER WISE WATER SUPPLY NETWORK
WTPS 72 WATER QUALITY IS CENTER

15 COVER STORY 30 MONTREAL’S WATER SUPPLY

SYSTEM GETS ADDITIONAL PUMP
52 A TOWN IN MAHARASHTRA
IS BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE
FOCUS FOR MICHIGAN’S GENESEE
COUNTY COMMUNITIE
- 30 TOP MU- TO INCREASE CAPACITY AND
WATER SUPPLY THROUGH
SMART WATER METERING
74 SEPTIC TANKS STRUGGLE
IN FLORIDA BUT RAPTOR
NICIPAL CASE
FLEXIBILITY
33 PE100 BLACK MATERIAL FOR PIPES 54 HELPING QUANTIFY THE GETS TO THE GRIT

STUDIES
MOST CRITICAL FLOOD-PRONE
IN LARGEST WATER DISTRIBUTION
AREAS IN PORTUGAL 76 JERSEY’S SHINING SLUDGE
PROJECT IN SOUTHERN INDIA PLANT SETS STANDARDS
34 SUSTAINABILITY AT THE HEART OF 56 A SEWERAGE TREATMENT PLANT
16 NEMMELI DESALINATION PLANT AT SALORI ALLAHABAD FOR 78 UAE’S SAFI WATER TREATMENT
- PROVIDING SUSTAINABLE TRX PROJECT PLANT BOOSTS WATER RECYCLING
UTTAR PRADESH JAL NIGAM
SOLUTIONS THROUGH 37 AFFINITY WATER SAVES £0.3
58
MARKET
24X7 WATER SUPPLY
DESALINATION MILLION BY USING DRIVES VS THE 82
SCHEME IN NAGPUR
NEXT BEST ALTERNATIVE
18 WASTEWATER TREATMENT - 60 SOCIAL BUSINESS MODEL
38 DROUGHT AND SUPPLY
DECENTRALIZED SEWERAGE
SYSTEM AT MIRA BHAYANDAR LIMITS DRIVE SUSTAINABILITY
INTEGRATING SAFE
DRINKING WATER SUPPLY 90 SUBSCRIPTION
21 A SCARCE COMMODITY
41
INITIATIVES
PLANNING LOCALLY, IMPACTING
62 RENEWAL OF SEWERAGE &
DRAINAGE INFRASTRUCTURE
FORM
22 MARLAY-TAYLOR WATER GLOBALLY - HOW WATER AND
RECLAMATION FACILITY WASTEWATER UTILITIES IN PERU 64 THE SMART CHOICE - PUTTING
ARE FACING CLIMATE CHANGE YOUR CONTROL VALVE ONLINE
LEVERAGES WATER TECHNOLOGY
TO MEET ENR STANDARDS

4 January 2019 SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD

 << editor’s note

The Curious Case of

Municipal Water
T
he first annual ‘Municipal Case Studies’ special issue is in your hands. We received an over-
whelming response this year in the form of case-study submissions. We have selected top
30 case-studies. The selection was made on the basis of relevance (municipal/ government
projects), the different segments of municipal market they represented, innovation (in technology or
process), and their actual implementation on the ground. Here, I would specially mention VA Tech WA-
BAG, Veolia, SUEZ, Evoqua, KSB, SPML, Bentley Systems, BASF, Grundfos, Pentair, Danfoss, Schneider,
UEM India, WesTech, and Andritz for their constant support and regular editorial contribution.
MAYUR SHARMA | Editor The global municipal market is still very fragmented. And if we look at the market share, the com-
petition is high with the presence of some heavy-weight companies like WABAG, Suez, and Veolia.
mayur@smartwww.in
The newcomers are also making their presence felt (for example by bidding and even winning some
@SmartWWW_IN
of smaller projects in big-budget government schemes like Namami Gange and Smart Cities in India).
They will be able to sustain only with the proper support by the local governments in terms of transpar-
ent policies, timely payments, and off-course with the cost-effective digital technologies.
As per the latest Global Outlook of Water Industry report by Frost & Sullivan, the Smart-IoT enabled
and digitalized sustainable solutions will be the key growth factors in the water industry. This is high-
lighted by an increasing stress of water resources across the globe. The municipal water market is set to
extensively adopt new communication technologies like LPWAN, which is suited to support IoT, and
explore AI and robotic solutions for process control and management.
The analysts from Technavio have predicted that the global municipal water and wastewater treat-
ment equipment market will register the growth at CAGR of 5% during 2019-2023. They say that the
Government bodies across the world are focusing on the use of reclaimed water. Hence, new regula-
Patriotism is tions will further encourage the treatment of water in municipalities. This, in turn, will drive the growth
of global municipal water and wastewater treatment equipment market.
supporting your Some other data say that the Asia-Pacific is expected to have the highest demand for municipal water
country all the time, treatment chemicals. The region is also likely to have the fastest growth.
Clearly, the new digital technologies will assist in the gathering all the data needed for proper treat-
and your government ment of a plant. On the other hand, lack of water & wastewater infrastructure will be a major challenge,
when it deserves it. as it is steadily affecting the growth of municipal water and wastewater treatment equipment market.
The 2nd edition of our annual flagship municipal event JAL SABHA 2019 is around the corner now.
- Mark Twain This year, we are organizing it from 19-20 February at Taj Fisherman’s Cove resort in Kancheepuram
near Chennai. We are working hard on making it a highly engaging municipal community event.
Our next two magazine issues will be February (Water Purification & Treatment Business - Mem-
branes, Housings, Vessels, and Pumps), and March (Reviving Our Rivers, Sewage & Sludge Manage-
ment). I welcome editorial contributions on these and all other topics which you find significant for
the water sector.
Keep sharing your thoughts, inputs, and suggestions with us.

Smart Water & Waste WorldTM Vol 01 No 3 January 2019

FOUNDER & CEO Printed and Published by Shailesh
Kailash Shirodkar Ramaswamy Iyer, B-305, Gopinath
Smruti CHS Ltd. Goddeo, Bhayander
EDITOR (East) Dist - Thane 401105 on behalf
Mayur Sharma of Beyond Expectations, Printed
at Taco Visions Pvt. Ltd. 105- ABC,
DESIGN & LAYOUT
Govt. Industrial Estate,Charkop,
Nocturnal Brains
Kandivali (W), Mumbai 400067, and
PRODUCTION Published at Beyond Expectations
Shailesh Iyer B-305, Gopinath Smruti CHS Ltd.
Goddeo, Bhayander (East) Dist,
Thane 401105 Maharashtra, India.
Pages 92
Copyright © 2018
Beyond Expectations.
All rights reserved throughout the world.
Reproduction in any manner, electronic
or otherwise, in whole or in part, without
prior written permission is prohibited.
*Responsible for selection
of news under PRB Act

Important: Whilst care is taken prior to acceptance of advertising copy, it is not possible to verify its contents. Beyond Expectations cannot be held responsible for such contents,
nor for any loss or damages incurred as a result of transactions with companies, associations or individuals advertising in its publications. We therefore recommend that readers
make necessary inquiries before sending any monies or entering into any agreements with advertisers or otherwise acting on an advertisement in any manner whatsoever.

6 January 2019 SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD

 IN THE NEWS

Dr. Mritunjay Chaubey Egis Group Appoints Sandeep Gulati as the

Receives the Most Influential Managing Director of Egis India
Sustainability Leader Award The company plans to increase its presence in
Mayur Sharma
India
DR. MRITUNJAY CHAUBEY
recently received the “Most In-
fluential Sustainability Leader
Awards” during Sustainabili-
ty Leadership Summit at Taj
Lands End, Mumbai.
On this occasion, Dr.
Chaubey also delivered a lec-
ture on “Role of Industries
to Achieve UN Sustainable
Development Goals”. He dis-
cussed the 17 UN sustainable
development Goals and Glob-
al Financial requirements to
achieve UN Sustainable de-
velopment goals. He also took
this opportunity to present the
sustainability achievement of
UPL.
Dr. Mritunjay Chaubey is
sustainability, environment
& water technology expert
of international repute. Dr.
Chaubey is currently working
as Global Vice President - En-
vironment & Sustainability
with UPL Limited. He is lead-
ing the agenda of 30% envi-
ronmental footprint reduction
of UPL in four years. He is also
a member of WBCSD Water
Leadership Group.
India and may open a Global Design Centre in India.
SWWW Staff
India
EGIS, THE PARIS headquar-
tered engineering company has
announced Sandeep Gulati as
the new Managing Director for
Egis India. Sandeep has more
than 24 years of varied experi-
ence and was previously Chief
Financial Officer (CFO) of Alca-
tel-Lucent and Huawei.
On the appointment, Remi
Cunin, Group COO & Deputy
CEO of Egis Group, who spe-
cially flew from Paris along
with other senior group mem-
bers for this announcement,
commented that “Sandeep has
shown outstanding capabilities
as a leader in his role as CFO
and then as Interim CEO and
we strongly believe that he will
take the Indian operations to
greater and profitable growth
trajectory. We have heavily in-
vested Rs. 400 crore) in India
for nearly 25 years with capital
and technology transfers.”
Sandeep Gulati, the new
Managing Director of Egis In-
dia commented, “Egis India is
one of the growth engines of
the Group and I am extreme-
ly positive about the position
we are in at the moment in
the country. We have the most
diversified portfolio of proj-
ects among our peers; having
8 metro projects, 3 airports, 2
smart cities, Chhatrapati Shi-
vaji Memorial, Statue of Unity,
Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yoja-
na, and AMRUT in Madhya
Pradesh and many other urban
projects.”

Gadkari: The Dream of Clean Aquam Makes Senior

Ganga is Now Within the
Reach
A total of 73 projects have been
sanctioned in Uttar Pradesh state under
Namami Gange for Rs. 9,934 crores, out
of which 13 projects are complete.
Mayur Sharma
India
UNION MINISTER OF India for Wa-
ter Resources, River Development and
Ganga Rejuvenation Nitin Gadkari
recently presided over the signing
of concession agreement for sewage
treatment infrastructure in Kanpur
under One-City-One-Operator con-
cept and Hybrid Annuity Mode be-
tween National Mission for Clean
Ganga (NMCG), UP Jal Nigam and the
private concessionaire - consortium of
M/S Shapoorji Pallonji and Company
limited & SSG Infratech Limited.
Appointments to Industrial Team
He emphasized on the importance
of reuse of treated water and said that
in Mathura, Indian Oil is buying the
treated water from the STP as per a
recently signed agreement. NMCG is
trying to work this out for other proj-
ects also.
Underlining the importance of
cleaning the tributaries of river Gan-
ga, he said that 11 projects are being
taken up in the National Capital for
River Yamuna. The current sewage
generation for Delhi city is about 327
crore liters per day against the exist-
ing treatment capacity of 276 crore
liters per day.
(L-R) Jon Shelton, Stuart Henderson, and Paul Henderson
SWWW Staff
UK
GLOBAL PIPELINE IN-
FRASTRUCTURE com-
pany Aquam Technolo-
gies has strengthened its
UK team for industrial
and commercial markets
with three senior ap-
pointments this year.
Stuart Henderson has
been appointed Direc-
tor - Industrial & Com-
mercial and is heading
up Aquam’s UK growth
strategy across multiple
sectors including food &
beverage, industrial pro-
cess, public sector estates,
and hotels & leisure.
The team will also
work closely with water
retailers, providing their
clients with the support
services necessary to pin-
point, fix and mitigate
leakage and corrosion in
aging pipeline infrastruc-
ture.
Paul Henderson has
also joined Aquam as
Senior Business Develop-
ment Manager and will
support businesses want-
ing to understand and
manage the risk associat-
ed with pipelines and wa-
ter management. He has
delivered programmes
of works for the mainte-
nance of critical drinking
water infrastructure for
over 20 years.
Aquam’s third appoint-
ment to the industrial
& commercial team is
Operations Manager Jon
Shelton, who will over-
see clients’ infrastructure
projects.

8 January 2019 SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD

 IN THE NEWS
Water Research Foundation Names Peter Grevatt as the New CEO
Energy Recovery Awarded
USD 2.7 Million for Mining
Desalination Projects in Chile SUEZ has also won a contract worth 520 million
SWWW Staff
Chile
ENERGY RECOVERY, INC.,
has announced total awards
of USD 2.7 million to supply
its PX® Pressure Exchanger®
technology for desalination
projects in Chile. These desali-
nation projects will be used
specifically in mining process.
Energy Recovery will supply
PX-Q300 Pressure Exchangers
for multiple facilities, which
will produce up to 148,000
cubic meters of water per day.
Energy Recovery estimates
that PX devices will reduce
facilities’ power consumption
for all projects by 12.7 MW,
Keysino Modern Water Wins an Award in China
SWWW Staff
China
MODERN WATER, THE
high-tech enterprise aiming
at sustainable development,
has been awarded the ‘Global
Partner in Clean Technology
Award’ for its successful in-
ternational cooperation with
Hangzhou Shangtuo Environ-
10 January 2019
SWWW Staff
USA
THE WATER RESEARCH
Foundation (WRF) has named
Dr. Peter Grevatt as Chief Exec-
utive Officer, effective in Febru-
ary 2019.
“We are thrilled that Peter will
be leading The Water Research
Foundation team,” said Kevin
SUEZ Appoints Bertrand Camus as the
Next CEO
saving over 110 GWh of en-
ergy/yr, and helping the facil-
ities avoid over 65,740 tons of
CO2 emissions/yr.
Energy Recovery’s President
and CEO Chris Gannon stat-
ed, “These recent awards in
Chile confirm the efficacy and
strength of the PX technology.”
Rodney Clemente, Energy
Recovery’s VP, Water, added,
“Energy Recovery has had its
eye fixed on Chile as a stra-
tegic market and accordingly
has positioned to assist these
facilities in maximizing the
overall profitability of their
operations through an in-
creased understanding of the
critical mining-water nexus.”
mental Technology Co., LTD.
This new award follows
Modern Water’s recently an-
nounced joint venture with
Hangzhou Shangtuo (trading
as Sunup), which has activat-
Shafer, co-Chair of the WRF
Board of Directors. “Through-
out his career, Peter has demon-
strated strong leadership and
exceptional communication
skills, combined with extensive
water research knowledge. He’s
an experienced and respected
thought leader throughout the
water sector and an ideal fit to
lead WRF into the future.”
euros from Toulouse Métropole to manage its
wastewater public service for the next 12 years.
ed the promotion of Modern
Water’s innovative and pro-
prietary brine concentration
technology (AMBC) through-
out China. The award recog-
nized the benefits of this part-
Grevatt has over 30 years
of experience leading the im-
plementation of public health
and environmental protection
programs including significant
national leadership experience
in the water sector. Most recent-
ly, Grevatt served as Director
of EPA’s Office of Ground Wa-
ter and Drinking Water (OG-
WDW). At OGWDW, he was
SWWW Staff
France
THE SUEZ BOARD of Direc-
tors has chosen an executive
from within the Group to
lead SUEZ in the next stages
of its development. Bertrand
Camus is currently Group Se-
nior Executive VP in charge
of Africa, the Middle East,
and the Asia Pacific.
Bertrand Camus has been
Group Senior Executive VP
of SUEZ for Africa, Australia,
Asia, the Middle East, and In-
dia since March 2018.
nership in advanced water
treatment technology.
Simon Humphrey, Mod-
ern Water’s CEO, comment-
ed: “We are very proud to be
Hangzhou Shangtuo’s ‘Keysi-
no’, meaning ‘key partner’, in
selling our innovative energy
and cost-effective All Mem-
brane Brine Concentration
Process (AMBC) - especially
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
responsible for ensuring the
safety of the nation’s drinking
water supply through the devel-
opment and implementation of
national drinking water stan-
dards, oversight and funding of
state drinking water programs,
and the implementation of
source water protection and
underground injection control
programs.
Toulouse Métropole has
awarded SUEZ the contract to
manage its wastewater public
service for the next 12 years.
Worth a total of 520 million
euros, the contract will take
effect on 1 January 2020. The
Group will manage all 17
wastewater treatment plants
and 3,700 km of wastewater
networks in the Métropole’s
37 municipalities. The new
wastewater public service
will offer all Métropole in-
habitants an attractive, com-
mon tariff (€1.37/m3 VAT
incl.).
when the need for brine con-
centration has never been
greater”. This award win for
Modern Water arrives in ad-
dition to the announcement
of its new collaboration agree-
ment with WEC Projects of
Johannesburg to promote its
All-Membrane Brine Concen-
tration (AMBC) technology
throughout Africa.
 COLUMN
A Water-Secure, Future-Proof Melbourne
By Robert C. Brears
MELBOURNE’S WATER
UTILITIES have undertaken
a range of leading initiatives
that promote water efficiency,
lower carbon emissions and
enhance resilience to climatic
extremes.
Australia’s Most
Water-Efficient Urban
Housing Development
South East Water is collab-
orating with Villawood Prop-
erties to develop Aquarevo,
Australia’s most water effi-
cient urban housing develop-
ment. The project, located in
Lyndhurst, south-east of Mel-
bourne, will contain Aquarevo
homes that are plumbed to
harness three sources of water
(drinking, recycled, and rain-
water). Combined this is ex-
pected to reduce drinking wa-
ter use by up to 70% on each
property. This will be achieved
with each Aquarevo home:
o F eaturing a high-tech rain to
hot water system for bath-
ing and showering that in-
cludes screening, filtering,
treatment, and temperature
sensing devices.
o Featuring rainwater tanks
with technology that re-
ceives weather forecasts,
enabling the tanks to release
water before heavy rainfall
to minimize overflows or
14 January 2019
flooding in local waterways.
o C onnecting to a OneBox®
device that controls the
water technology in each
home, remotely monitors
the pressure sewer, and
reads each home’s water and
energy use.
Each home will be connect-
ed to a pressure sewage sys-
tem that pumps wastewater to
a water recycling plant within
the development. The water
recycling plant will treat the
water to Class A standard and
send it back to each Aquarevo
home for use in the garden,
toilet, or washing machine.
The water recycling plant will
be designed to blend into the
surrounding landscape, with
the plant to be housed within
a greenhouse, approximately
12 meters wide x 6.5 meters
high x 20 meters long, that
uses structurally modified
containers to house the en-
gineering components of the
treatment process.
The wastewater treated at
the onsite water recycling
plant will use the Organic
Food Chain Reactor, which
is a state-of-the-art treatment
process that combines nat-
ural and artificial root envi-
ronments to provide an ener-
gy-efficient treatment process
with a low-carbon footprint.
The treatment plant will rely
on local native plants that
positively impact the micro-
organisms that form the basis
of the biological treatment
process.
In addition to each Aquare-
vo home using up to 70% less
drinking water, the new devel-
opment will create 1 million
litres of local water storage ca-
pacity in the household rain-
water tanks, lower stormwater
runoff by up to 25%, reducing
the risk of local flooding, and
save in total 60 million litres
of water each year, the equiv-
alent to 24 Olympic-sized
pools or 1.2 million showers.
Melbourne Water
Harnessing
Renewable Energy
In addition to reducing its
operating costs, Melbourne
Water’s priority is minimiz-
ing its environmental impact,
particularly its contribution to
climate change. To do so, Mel-
bourne Water has hydro-elec-
tric power stations operating
throughout its supply network,
generating renewable energy
from the flow and pressure of
moving water, with the elec-
tricity being fed back into
the grid. In addition to the
nine existing power stations,
five additional mini-hydro
plants were commissioned in
2016-2017. The plants were
delivered in pre-assembled,
self-contained units that pro-
vide simple, weather-resistant
power delivery solutions that
can be brought online quickly.
In total, the 14 hydro-electric
power stations can generate up
to 69,5000-megawatt hours of
electricity per year. By operat-
ing these power stations, Mel-
bourne Water prevents over
75,800 tons of carbon dioxide
emissions each year, which is
equivalent to the emissions of
over 14,000 households or tak-
ing more than 29,000 cars off
the road.
At Melbourne Water’s West-
ern Treatment Plant, which
serves 1.6 million people in
the central, northern, and west-
ern suburbs of Melbourne,
sewage is considered more
than a waste product, with the
utility generating electricity
by combusting biogas that is
captured under covers that are
placed over the sewage treat-
ment lagoons. The Western
Treatment Plant uses biogas
to meet nearly all its electricity
needs with 71,500-megawatt
hours of renewable energy
generated each year, which
prevents 87,000 tons of carbon
dioxide being emitted through
the burning of fossil fuels. At
times the treatment plant gen-
erates excess renewable en-
ergy which is exported to the
electricity grid to offset usage
at the utility’s other sites.
Overall, Melbourne Wa-
ter now produces more than
enough renewable energy to
power its entire water supply
operation, with the bonus of
making significant carbon
emission savings.
Blue-Green
Infrastructure
Greening the West
City West Water is offering
a Stormwater harvesting fund
to help ‘shovel ready’ projects
take off and make the city’s
west greener. The water util-
ity has identified a range of
benefits from encouraging
stormwater harvesting includ-
ing offering ‘fit for purpose’
alternative water (reducing the
need to use drinking water for
irrigation or flushing toilets
etc.), removing waterborne
pollution from waterways to
protect waterway health, re-
ducing pollution to the bay,
improving flood resilience,
improving urban landscapes
and liveability through irriga-
tion of passive and active open
space, and reducing the urban
heat island effect.
To capture these multiple
benefits, City West Water has
implemented the Stormwater
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
URBAN WATER
harvesting fund to co-fund
stormwater harvesting proj-
ects for open spaces, parks,
and sports fields with Coun-
cils, developers, and private
organizations all eligible to
apply.
With funding of between
USD 100,000 and USD 1 mil-
lion per project available, ap-
plicants must at least match
City West Water for every dol-
lar contributed. Specifically, to
receive funding, the projects
must meet a set of criteria:
o B e located within City West
Water’s service area.
o Contribute to the liveability
of the area.
o Have a commitment from
City West Water, council,
and Melbourne Water to the
ownership and maintenance
of the project assets.
o Deliver benefits to open
space greening and water-
ways.
o Have co-funding commit-
ments from partners to at
least match funding from
City West Water on a dollar
for dollar basis.
o Have the applicant’s organi-
zation committing to total
accountability for managing
the project.
o Require USD 1 million or
less in funding.
Conclusions
Overall, water utilities can
work with property develop-
ers to embed futuristic water
resources management tech-
nologies in new housing devel-
opments, harness renewable
energy to save money and the
environment, and maximize
the benefits of Blue-Green
Infrastructure to ensure a wa-
ter-secure, low-carbon, resil-
ient future.
Robert Brears is the au-
thor of Urban Water Security,
Founder of Mitidaption, and
Our Future Water.”
@Mitidaption
 COVER STORY

SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD January 2019 15

 COVER STORY MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES

Nemmeli Desalination Plant - Providing

Sustainable Solutions through Desalination
The Nemmeli plant today supplies water to over a million south Chennaites, thus
projecting an alternative, sustainable and viable technological solution for water
security which has been a challenge for decades.
By Rajneesh Chopra

The Nemmeli Desalination Plant

Challenge - Sustaining
a Water Starved City
India is the second most
populated country in the
world. With one of the highest
rates of urbanization, we are
no stranger to the water crisis.
It sustains 18 percent of the
world’s population but on the
contrary, has access to only 4
percent of the total usable wa-
ter sources of the Earth.
Due to the lack of alterna-
tives the country is majorly de-
pendent on the surface water
sources. But these are uneven-
ly distributed across its states.
Such conditions give rise to
certain geopolitical water dis-
putes which further aggravate
the water crisis and threaten
the per capita availability of think-tank and advisory com- future generations as well. dant coastline, hence the city
water. mittees to come up with a solu- sought an answer to the water
The city of Chennai in tion that would not only curb The Solution crisis in the form of large scale
Southern India was also fac- the prevalent water crisis but Chennai, being a coastal seawater desalination. There
ing similar issues. It has been ensure water sustainability for city, is blessed with an abun- were certain challenges in the
historically dependent on sur-
face water sources to sustain
its drinking water needs. Since
the city receives irregular rain-
fall, the replenishment of such
water bodies was highly un-
certain. At times when these
reservoirs were running at a
fraction of their capacities, the
residents had to resort to the
use of groundwater which had
a negative impact on the water
table of the city, thus causing
seawater ingression.
The situation put enormous
pressure on the government

16 January 2019 SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD

 COVER STORY
form of a high power-require-
ment to run such desalination
plants and to build a plant
which can treat seawater with
varying salinity.
The situation called for tech-
nology experts who were com-
mercially competitive as well,
thus entrusting VA Tech WA-
BAG with the responsibility.
The Embodiment of
Solution - The 110 MLD
Nemilli Desalination
Plant Solution
In order to tackle the grow-
ing water stress, a 100 MLD
(Million Liters per Day) de-
salination plant was envisaged
along the coast of the Chennai
City at Nemmeli.
VA Tech WABAG was given
the responsibility to design,
build and operate this mega
project, first of its kind for In-
dia.
The plant is equipped with
the most advanced technolo-
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
gy in the field of desalination.
The entire process starts with
the inflow of seawater through
gravity flow in a 1-kilometer
pipeline embedded at the sea
floor at a depth of 10 meters.
The inlet water from the sea is
pre-treated with a state of the
art pre-treatment technology -
Lamella Clarifier. The Lamella
Clarifier not only effectively
removes a high amount of sus-
pended solids in the incoming
water but its compact size also
reduces the footprint of the en-
tire facility. The process water
then flows through the disc fil-
ters to the ultrafiltration units.
Post the ultrafiltration, the
water is treated by a single
pass SWRO system which en-
ables the removal of dissolved
solids. A significant reduction
in the salinity from around
35,000 ppm to less than 500
ppm is achieved in this stage,
which is the core process of the
project.
The plant ensures the pro-
duction of the highest quality
of desalinated water coupled
with a process that optimizes
power consumption. This is
enabled by the use of high-end
pressure exchanging mecha-
nism which uses the residual
pressure of the reject from the
RO membranes, thus boosting
the pressure of seawater feed
to the RO system.
The treatment cycle is com-
plete with the remineraliza-
tion of the process water with
Carbon Dioxide and Lime in
order to make the desalinated
water fit for human consump-
tion.
This project is a testament to
the feasibility of desalination
as an alternative coupled with
WABAG’s process know-how
to optimize the lifecycle cost
at INR 35 for every thousand
liters of desalinated water pro-
duced.
In 2016, the plant’s capacity
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
was further enhanced by 10
MLD with an innovative pro-
cess retrofit and optimization
by WABAG’s water profession-
als. This was a welcome step
for a city which was experienc-
ing a dry spell that year.
Awards and Accolades
The Nemmeli plant today
supplies water to over a mil-
lion south Chennaites, thus
projecting an alternative, sus-
tainable and viable technolog-
ical solution for water security
which has been a challenge for
decades.
Being the largest desalina-
tion plant in India to be exe-
cuted on a Design-Build-Op-
erate (DBO) basis, recognition
for this project has been global
in stature. The success of this
project reinforced the recog-
nition given by Global Water
Intelligence ranking WABAG
among the top 10 desalination
companies globally.
The plant was awarded
the Dun and Bradstreet In-
fra Awards in 2016. Another
feather in WABAG’s cap was
the International Engineers
Institution’s Industry Excel-
lence Award in 2016 that
complimented the technology
employed to make the project
feasible and sustainable.
Present Status and the
Future of Desalination
The Nemmeli desalination
plant has satisfactorily helped
bridge the water demand-sup-
ply gap (desalination caters
to 25% of daily water supply
in Chennai). This proves that
advanced technology can
provide solutions to one of
humanity’s most critical prob-
lems - the scarcity of drinkable
water.
Seeing this, the Government
PROJECT FILE
Project: 110 MLD Nemmeli
Desalination Plant
Location: Chennai, Tamil
Nadu, India
Products/Technology
Involved: Lamella Pre-
Treatment plus UF-RO
Seawater Desalination
Capacity: 110,000 m3/d
Commissioning: 2013
Operations Period: 7 years
of India has now acknowl-
edged the sustainability prom-
ised by desalination especially
along the coastal cities of In-
dia.
The recent announcements
of two new desalination plants
- a 150 MLD plant and 400
MLD plant at Chennai are a
few welcome measures pro-
moting desalination as a reli-
able source to safeguard our
country’s water security.
About the Author
Rajneesh Chopra is the
Global Head - Business Devel-
opment in VA TECH WABAG
Ltd. He holds a bachelor’s de-
gree in Science from the Uni-
versity of Delhi, and has over
3 decades of professional ex-
perience in water & wastewa-
ter management in consumer,
industrial, municipal, and de-
salination segments. A proven
leader in water sector, he is an
Executive Committee Member
of Industry bodies like FICCI,
CII, etc.
VA TECH WABAG is a
leading MNC offering life
cycle solutions to industries
and municipalities in water &
wastewater treatment. WABAG
has its presence across 4 con-
tinents and has a successful
track record of executing proj-
ects in 30 countries.
January 2019 17
 COVER STORY
Wastewater Treatment - Decentralized
Sewerage System at Mira Bhayandar
Due to close proximity to Mumbai, the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation
(MBMC) is experiencing rapid urban growth with low and middle income households
are shifting to the Mira Bhayandar due to high property cost and rent in Mumbai.
By Subhash Sethi
11 MLD Decentralized Sewage Treatment Plant at Mira Bhayander
WITH JUST HAVING 4% of
the world’s water resources to
feed 16% of the global popu-
lation and 15% of livestock,
clean water availability in
India is an important issue.
India ranks a dismal 120 out
of 122 nations for its water
quality and 133 out of 180
nations for its water availabil-
ity. World Health Organization
(WHO) estimates that about
38 million people in the coun-
try are affected by waterborne
diseases each year of which
over 75% are children. It is
estimated that about one-third
of rural households in India
is connected with piped wa-
ter supplies; the rest remains
living without it and mostly
dependent on contaminated
groundwater sources.
18 January 2019
The major challenge is in
urban India, where estimated
80% of water supplied to the
household is coming back as
wastewater to be treated and
reused. But in reality, only a
fraction of it is treated due to
insufficient treatment facili-
ties and the treated water is
not being reused due to lack
of infrastructure support. This
leaves a big gap of almost 80%
of generated wastewater is not
being treated and untreated
sewage is released to water
bodies contaminating the
already depleting and pollut-
ed groundwater sources. The
untreated municipal and in-
dustrial wastewater is mostly
discharged directly into water
bodies, polluting almost three-
fourth of India’s surface water
resources and underground
water. The estimate suggests
that 75% to 80% of water pol-
lution is from domestic sew-
age, discharged untreated into
local water bodies. There is an
ardent need to think deeply
and adopt a new perspective
towards wastewater for not
only to counter the water scar-
city but for the sustenance of
the ever-increasing water de-
mands from exploding popu-
lation.
Wastewater as
Renewable Resource
Most wastewater is renew-
able and a good resource in
its own right with thermal,
chemical, and hydraulic ener-
gy embedded in it. Wastewater
sector has the potential to gen-
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
erate trillions of unit of energy
each year enough for running
the treatment plants and also
to provide surplus energy to
households.
There are good examples
around the world of how
wastewater is being treated as
a renewable resource. Singa-
pore derives 40% of its water
supply from reuse water, in-
cluding drinking water.
Perth, Australia is recy-
cling about 10% of the city’s
134 billion liters wastewater
into drinking water supplies.
Namibia is using some of its
treated wastewater as drinking
water. China has developed
a wastewater reuse network
across Beijing and almost 20%
of the total water supplied in
the city is reclaimed water.
European countries have been
collecting more wastewater
and treating it to a higher
quality. Efficient treatment
and use of wastewater reduces
groundwater usage for agricul-
ture and also helps our rivers,
dams and other water bodies
become less polluted. It has
advantages for both - quantity
and quality of water.
In India, Chennai is the first
metro city that has implement-
ed 100% sewage collection
and formulated a set of ser-
vice standards for accelerated
wastewater reuse and the “Zero
Water Discharge in Chennai”
program. In harmony with the
CMWSSB water reuse plan, the
Greater Chennai Corporation
also introduced a by-law that
sets the rules for mandatory
wastewater recycling. It has
achieved around 15% of the
city’s water demand through
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
water recycling. Around 8% of
the treated wastewater is sold
to industries and up to 41% of
domestic water needs in newly
built houses are secured from
wastewater reuse. A growing
number of wastewater facili-
ties around the world have tak-
en steps to install novel waste-
water treatment technology by
adopting a number of inno-
vative measures in its sewage
treatment projects.
Decentralized
Sewerage System at
Mira Bhayandar
SPML Infra has contributed
immensely and established a
leading position in the treat-
ment of wastewater from
design to the application of
technology, construction to
management and operation of
sewage treatment plants, com-
mon effluent treatment plants,
tertiary and water reuse treat-
ment plants, sludge treatment,
biogas and power generation.
Among the important proj-
ect executed by SPML Infra is
the Integrated Sewerage Sys-
tems in Mira Bhayandar, a sat-
ellite city of Mumbai.
Mira-Bhayandar which is
part of Thane district is locat-
ed at the northern threshold
of Greater Mumbai. Being a
satellite town of Mumbai, this
area has been identified as one
of the growth centers around
Mumbai which is well con-
nected with the metropolis by
suburban railway and Mumbai
Ahmadabad national high-
way. Due to close proximity
to Mumbai, the Mira Bhayan-
dar Municipal Corporation
is experiencing rapid urban
 COVER STORY
13 MLD Sewage Treatment Plant in Zone 6 in Mira Bhayander
growth with low and middle
income households are shift-
ing to the Mira Bhayandar due
to high property cost and rent
in Mumbai.
17 MLD STP at Zone 5 in Mira Bhayander
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
Conditions Prior to
Project Execution
The septic tank toilets were
used throughout the city. The
main roads of the city had
open gutters of almost 165
kilometers long for collect-
ing and carrying sewage from
individual houses and there
were no sewerage scheme or
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
sewage collection and treat-
ment plants for over a million
populations. The existing sys-
tem of disposal comprised of
septic tanks and effluent dis-
posal in surface gutters and
nallas leading to pollution and
unhealthy conditions. The di-
rect discharge into inland wa-
ter bodies led to widespread
water pollution and also de-
stroyed the aquatic flora and
fauna of the area. The sewage
used to flow in the pipes for
stormwater and was prone to
combined sewer overflows
during the rainy seasons and
caused water logging on inte-
rior and city roads.
The Sewerage Project
Mira Bahayandar Munici-
pal Corporation (MBMC) has
awarded the contract for De-
sign-Build, Operate and Main-
tain of Underground Sewerage
Scheme for the entire city to
SPML Infra Ltd. The project is
designed completely as a de-
centralized system having 10
zones across Mira Bahayandar.
The new sewerage system im-
plies closure of existing septic
tanks and drainage through
stormwater drains improving
overall hygiene and living
standards.
Scope of Project
The comprehensive under-
ground sewerage facilities in
the 24 sq km area comprises
of design, supply, laying, and
January 2019 19
 COVER STORY
Chlorine Contact Tank at Mira Bhayandar
The Sewerage Project
Mira Bahayandar Munic-
ipal Corporation (MBMC)
has awarded the contract for
Design-Build, Operate and
Maintain of Underground
Sewerage Scheme for the
entire city to SPML Infra
Ltd. The project is designed
commissioning of 113 km
Sewer lines; 10 Pumping Sta-
tions and 10 Sewerage Treat-
ment Plants one each of 8, 11,
14 and 17 MLD and two each
of 7,12 and 13 MLD with to-
tal capacity of 115 MLD with
latest Moving Bed Biofilm Re-
actor (MBBR) processes that
improve reliability, simplify
operation, and require less
PROJECT FILE
Customer: Mira Bhayandar
Municipal Corporation
(MBMC)
Location: Mira-Bhayandar,
Thane, Maharashtra, India
Service Provider: SPML
Infra Ltd.
Products/Technology
Involved: Sewer lines,
Pumping Stations, Sewerage
Treatment Plants, Moving
Bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR)
Processes, Pressurized
Rising Mains
20 January 2019
completely as a decentral-
ized system having 10 zones
across Mira Bahayandar.
The new sewerage system
implies closure of existing
septic tanks and drainage
through stormwater drains
improving overall hygiene
and living standards.
space than traditional waste-
water treatment systems.
SPML also provided neces-
sary pressurized rising mains
for distribution and disposal
of recycled water. The best
global safety measures have
been followed in project exe-
cution due to shallow soil con-
ditions.
Social Benefits
o E nvironmental pollution
will be under control.
o Planned disposal of treat-
ed wastewater has reduced
stagnation of water in
stormwater drains.
o Septic tank systems are com-
pletely eliminated which
Parameter
TSS, mg/l
BOD at 20 Deg C (mg/l )
COD, mg/l
BOD and COD Parameters
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
will, in turn, reduce soil and executed, sewage is being specialized shoring with
sub-soil water pollution. treated at the point of gen- higher safety precautions.
o Breeding of mosquitos and eration
other insects has reduced
drastically.
o The outbreak of epidemics
and viral diseases has re-
duced effectively.
o Better sanitation and cleanli-
ness in the streets and roads.
o Better health and overall

clean environment.
Technical Benefits
of Project (Using
MBBR Technology)
o Requires no backwashing.
o Has low head loss.
o Has high specific biofilm sur-
face area.
o It makes the plant compact.
o Sludge recycle is not re- o All the sewage treatment About the Author
quired. plants are in residential ar- Subhash Sethi is the Chair-
o Shock load acceptance is bet- eas with MBBR technology man of SPML Infra Ltd, a listed
ter than for plants with the o The advanced MBBR tech- infrastructure development
suspended growth process. nology requires less power company in India. In the past
consumption and lesser three decades, he has worked
Salient Features space than any conventional relentlessly with his mission
of Project sewage treatment plants to create enduring value and
o F
 irst time in India, a decen- o All the STPs are SCA- wealth for the country and
tralized sewerage scheme is DA-based, with operation organization. Under his lead-
and control from a master ership, SPML Infra went on
Influent Treated Discharge control room. to establish itself as a leading
o The treated sewage will be engineering and infrastructure
500 < 20
reused for gardening, con- development organization in
250 < 10 struction and industrial India with over 600 completed
450 <100 purposes by the municipal projects in the domains of wa-
corporation ter, power, sanitation, environ-
o The project is executed with ment, and civil Infrastructure.
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
 COVER STORY MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES

A Scarce Commodity
The company supplies 27 vertical volute pumps for the Kaleshwaram irrigation
project in Telangana, India - one of the largest sub-projects designed to store about
4.7 trillion liters of water to irrigate 740,000 ha.
By ANDRITZ
27 vertical volute pumps for
three pumping stations, each
with an efficiency of up to
90%.
A special feature of these
pumps is that they are similar
to turbines due to their impres-
sive size, with a Francis impel-
ler of 3.5-m, a total weight of
1300-t upto 200-t per pump,
and a spiral outlet diameter of
5.5-m, large enough to park a
truck comfortably.
Besides the design and de-
livery of the pumps and spare
parts, installation and com-
missioning will also be super-
vised by ANDRITZ.
Completion of the entire
project is scheduled by the
government of Telangana for
June 2018.
A Special Feature of These Pumps is That They are Similar to Turbines Due to Great hopes are being
Their Impressive Size, with a Francis Impeller of 3.5 m, a Total Weight of 130-t pinned on the success of this
upto 200-t per Pump, and an Spiral outlet Diameter of 5.5-m, Large Enough to important infrastructure proj-
Park a Truck Comfortably. ect.
Harnessing sufficient water
AT ITS ZENITH, the sun is a ward the sky in despair. Bril- reserves for reliable irrigation
ball of fire in the sky. Scorching liant sunshine, unbearable of agricultural land will im-
heat hangs over the fields and heat, and not a single rain- prove the lives of the people of
the horizon shimmers in the cloud in sight. India’s most populous state.
distance. His parents named him af- Here is the technical data to
A few droplets of water ter the Indian god of rain and support the case study:
splash onto the parched storms.
ground and evaporate imme- A cruel irony, because it ANDRITZ will Manufacture 27 Vertical Volute Pumps for the Three Pumping Technical Data - Pump Sta-
diately. won’t help him water his crops. Stations, Each with an Efficiency of up to 90%. tion #1:
A hand shakes the water Davinder shares his fate with • 11 vertical volute pumps
hose in desperation, but the many farmers in India - two- With a series of irrigation of 200 km. • Head: 40 m
trickle of water, which has thirds of the agricultural land projects in the overarching Jala It is the first multi-stage lift • Flow rate: 60 m3/s
been getting steadily weaker, is dependent on the monsoon Yagnam project, the local gov- irrigation project of this mag- • Efficiency: up to 90%
has finally dried up. or regular rainfall, only one ernment has undertaken mea- nitude and complexity in In-
Once again, there is no wa- third has reliable irrigation to sures to solve the irrigation dia. Technical Data - Pump Sta-
ter. Davinder wipes the sweat provide water for people, live- problem for about 3.3 million It also contains the longest tion #2:
from his brow and looks to- stock and farming. ha of agricultural land. water transport tunnel in Asia, • 8 vertical volute pumps
Over recent years India, es- The Kaleshwaram project is extending over a distance of • Head: 25.9 m
PROJECT FILE pecially Telangana State, has one of the largest sub-projects, 81 km connecting the dam to • Flow rate: 83 m3/s
Customer: Telangana State been hit by extremely high designed to store about 4.7 a reservoir. • Efficiency: up to 90%
Location: The Kaleshwaram temperatures creating prob- trillion liters of water in order An irrigation project of this
Irrigation Project, Telangana, lems for irrigation and crops, to irrigate 740,000 ha. kind is unique, not just in In- Technical Data - Pump Sta-
India diminishing economic devel- This project comprises a dia, but worldwide. tion #12:
Service Provider: ANDRITZ opment and causing human dam and several pumping sta- ANDRITZ was awarded the • 8 vertical volute pumps
Products/Technology In- tragedies. tions with reservoirs. contract with a partner who is • Head: 107 m
volved: Vertical Volute Pumps In 2016, about 1.4 million Water is transported over a supplying the motors. • Flow rate: 31.1 m3/s
farmers left this region. height of 500 m and a distance ANDRITZ will manufacture • Efficiency: up to 90%

SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD January 2019 21

 COVER STORY MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES

Marlay-Taylor Water Reclamation Facility Leverages

Water Technology to Meet ENR Standards
The Marlay-Taylor Water Reclamation facility, located in Lexington Park, Maryland,
underwent capacity and technology upgrades to bring the plant’s treatment
capabilities up to Enhanced Nutrient Removal (ENR) standards.
By Evoqua

Figure 2: Full Scale BioMag System - Final Effluent TSS

al, primary clarification, two was configured as a four-stage

The Challenge
As part of the Chesapeake
Bay Restoration Act’s En-
hanced Nutrient Removal
(ENR) initiative, the Mar-
lay-Taylor Water Reclamation
facility, a regional wastewa-
ter treatment plant for the
Lexington Park, Hollywood
and Piney Point areas of St.
Mary’s County in Maryland,
was faced with the need to
find a cost-effective solution
to achieve this initiative. The
aeration tanks, four secondary Bardenpho with retrievable
requirements involved meet- more than 15 MGD and a peak clarifiers, and chlorine gas dis- fine bubble tube diffusers in
ing future total nitrogen (TN) hourly flow of 20 MGD. The infection. The secondary treat- the first three aerobic zones
and total phosphorus (TP) existing facility consisted of ment system was made up of and retrievable coarse bubble
limits, while maintaining the influent screening, grit remov- two aeration trains. Each train diffusers in the re-aeration
plant’s 6 million gallons per
day (MGD) rated capacity.
At the time, the Marlay-Tay-
lor Water Reclamation facility
treated an average flow of 4
MGD. The existing facility was
designed to treat an annual
average daily flow of 6 MGD,
a max monthly flow of 8 MGD,
a max daily flow of slightly

Figure 1: Typical Flow Diagram of 4 Stage Bardenpho with BioMag System

22 January 2019 SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD

 COVER STORY MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES

Influent Effluent Total Rain (in.) Total Flow (MG) Average Day Effluent (mg/L)
BOD5 130 mg/L BOD5 5.0 mg/L BOD TSS TN TP
TSS 75 mg/L TSS 5.0 mg/L March 03, 0.8 4.47 106 105 30 0.2
TKN 43 mg/L 2015

TN 43 mg/L TN 3.0 mg/L March 15, 3.3 7.17 12 10 7.2 0.47

TP 5.0 mg/L
Average Daily Flow
Average Tem-
perature
Minimum Tem-
perature
Table 1: Full-Scale BioMag System Design Conditions
zone.
The Solution: More
Treatment and
Clarification
Through a collaborative ef-
Average Daily Flow
Average Daily Max Flow
Effluent TSS
Effluent BOD5
Effluent TN
Effluent Ortho Phosphate
MLSS (w/o Magnetite)
Table 2: Full-Scale BioMag System Average Operating Conditions
fort between the utility oper-
ating the facility, MetCom, two
consulting engineering firms,
Dewberry, Brown and Cald-
well, and Evoqua, a solution
was developed to retrofit the
existing single stage system
into a four-stage Bardenpho.
It was concluded that Evoqua’s
TP 0.3 mg/L
6.0 MGD
20°C
12°C
BioMag® system, a ballast-
ed activated sludge process,
would be the ideal solution to
allow for the stable operation
across a wide range of flows
and also remove phosphorus
3.50 MGD
9.31 MGD
2.9 mg/L
2.7 mg/L
2.69 mg/L
0.20 mg/L
3,642 mg/L
in the effluent.
The BioMag System en-
hances biological wastewater
treatment processes by using
magnetite to ballast biological
floc. With a specific gravity of
5.2 and a strong affinity for
biological solids, magnetite
substantially increases the
2017
Table 3: Peak Flow Before (2015) & After the BioMag System (2017)
Total Rain
(in.)
March 2015 3.4
March 2017 4.6
settling rate of the biomass.
Increasing the settling rates
of the biological floc provides
the opportunity to increase
mixed liquor suspended solids
(MLSS) concentration. Higher
MLSS concentrations enable
more treatment capacity, all
within the same tankage. The
BioMag system serves as the
perfect application for activat-
ed sludge plants which need
more treatment capacity or
enhanced treatment removal
capability.
Design Basis
The full-scale BioMag sys-
tem starts with waste pumped
from either clarifier underflow
or surface wasting that is sent
to an intermediate thickener
or holding tank. This tank al-
lows for flexibility in wasting
rates and allows for both a
portion of underflow and sur-
face waste to be utilized. This
Total Flow Monthly Monthly Average Effluent (mg/L)
(MG) Avg Dai-
ly Flow
BOD
134.65 4.34 37
117.17 3.78 4 5
tank can also be bypassed
entirely if desired. The waste
is then pumped by two of
three double-disc diaphragm
pumps to the four shear mills
and four magnetic recovery
drums. The operators have the
option to send flow through
any number and combination
of the shear mills and drums.
The recovered magnetite then
slides down a chute where it is
mixed with raw magnetite in
a tank before being returned
to aeration basins. The system
typically uses ferric chloride
with single point addition into
the aeration tanks prior to the
secondary clarifiers to meet
its TP limit. Another available
TSS TN TP
27 31.7 0.8
3.3 0.37
conditions under wet weath-
er spring flows, as the second
train was taken offline and
upgraded. Prior to the Bio-
Mag system, heavy rain events
would have caused Biological
Oxygen Demand (BOD) and
Total Suspended Solids (TSS)
values to surpass 100 mg/L,
overwhelming the system. Af-
ter leveraging Biomag, a rain
of 3.3 inches caused flows to
surpass 15 MGD, with a daily
total of slightly over 7 MGD
was observed. Due to the sys-
tem, there was not a problem
with high flows, and in turn,
there was no need for an op-
erator to remain on site after
hours to manage issues stem-

Figure 3: Full Scale BioMag System - Final Effluent TN

option is adding polymer into ming from the high flows.

the clarifier splitter box, which
the plant operates at an aver-
age dose of 0.68 mg/L active
polymer.
Operating Results
Since the full BioMag sys-
tem by Evoqua Water Tech-
nologies came online in early
2016, it has had a successful
run operating in overloaded
Figure 2 shows the plant’s
effluent TSS concentrations
since the BioMag system was
operational. Effluent TSS con-
centrations have ranged from
1 to 7 mg/L TSS, with an aver-
age effluent TSS concentration
of 2.9 mg/L, indicating excel-
lent and consistent treatment
overall. With the low TSS per-
formance, the BOD5 concen

SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD January 2019 23

 COVER STORY
trations have also performed
well with the BOD5 concentra-
tions ranging from 1 mg/L to
9 mg/L, with an average of 2.7
mg/L.
The TN removed is en-
hanced through carbon ad-
dition and has averaged 2.9
mg/L average daily effluent
TN since this has come online.
Figure 3 walks through the re-
Figure 4: Full Scale BioMag System - Final Effluent TP
24 January 2019
duction in TN with the com-
mencement of the new system,
charging the system with mag-
netite, and the addition of a
glycerin-based carbon source.
While the main goal of
implementing the BioMag
system at the Marlay-Taylor
Facility was to remove phos-
phorous, the reduction in TSS
in effluent has also improved
TP in the effluent as shown in
Figure 4.
Marlay-Taylor Water Recla-
mation facility’s implementa-
tion of BioMag system was one
of the first full-scale operating
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
Figure 5: Full Scale BioMag System - Anaerobic Digestion Volatile
Solids Reduction
BioMag systems with anaero-
bic digestion. As a result, there
have been interesting findings
around the destruction of vol-
atile solids. While the majority
of magnetite is returned back
to the activated sludge pro-
cess, there is a small fraction
that makes its way past the
recovery drums with the waste
activated sludge. The plant has
observed upwards of a 10%
increase in volatile solids re-
duction, as shown in Figure 5
since the BioMag system came
online.
The upgrade of the Mar-
ley-Taylor Water Reclamation
facility has allowed the plant
to achieve ENR standards (the
tighter 5 ppm BOD/ 5 ppm
TSS/ 3 ppm TN/ 0.3 ppm TP
effluent limits). In the past,
storm flows would have creat-
ed and led to deteriorating wa-
ter quality. Since the BioMag®
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
system upgrade, the plant has
pushed the average daily sec-
ondary clarifier surface over-
flow rate up to 1300 GPD/SF
while maintaining effluent
PROJECT FILE
Customer: Marlay-Taylor
Water Reclamation Facility
Location: St. Mary’s
County, Maryland, USA
Service Provider: MetCom;
Evoqua; Dewberry,
Brown, and Caldwell
Products/Technology
Involved: BioMag® System
(Ballasted Activated Sludge)
limits.
Additionally, the BioMag
system has allowed for sta-
ble operation across the wide
range of flows the plant en-
counters.
 COVER STORY
Pumps Protect Southern Avenue, Kolkata,
from Flooding
Grundfos India distinguished itself by being a solution provider rather than just a
pump supplier. Local presence, faster delivery, superior service support, and state-
of-the-art solutions were all important contributing factors behind the Kolkata
Municipal Corporation’s final choice of Grundfos.
By Grundfos Pumps India
FORMERLY KNOWN
WORLDWIDE as Calcutta,
the city was recently renamed
Kolkata. Kolkata is the capi-
S Pump: Super Vortex Single - or Multi Channel Impeller
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
tal of the Indian state of West
Bengal and is located just
PROJECT FILE north of the Bay of Bengal,
Customer: Kolkata where India and Bangladesh
Municipal Corporation
(Contractor - MECON)
meet at the many mouths of
Location: Kolkata, India
the sacred river Ganges.
Kolkata is the main business
Service Provider: Grundfos and industrial center of East-
Pumps India Private Ltd.
Products/Technology
ern India.
Involved: Pumps
What began as a trading
outpost more than 300 years
ago has grown into a thriving
metropolis. Today, with over
twelve million residents in the
metropolitan region, Kolkata
is one of the world’s largest ur-
ban agglomerations.
The city boasts the country’s
first Metro railway and many
other modern facilities, which
happily co-exist with historic
buildings, many of which have
stood for hundreds of years.
The Situation
Southern Avenue - a part
of Kolkata city is situated in a
low-lying area, which means
that the city faces problems
with stormwater flooding.
During the monsoon period,
the Southern Avenue needed
a solution for pumping the
stormwater in order to avoid
flooding in surrounding areas.
Naturally, many pump suppli-
ers were highly interested in
this prestigious project.
The Solution
Grundfos India took up the
challenge, offered a solution
that stood out from the other
competitors and won the proj-
ect. Very importantly, Grund-
fos India distinguished itself
by being a solution provider
rather than just a pump sup-
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
plier.
Local presence, faster deliv-
ery, superior service support,
and state-of-the-art solutions
were all important contribut-
ing factors behind the Kolkata
Municipal Corporation’s final
choice of Grundfos.
Working in co-operation
with Grundfos Engineering,
Grundfos India supplied the
complete mechanical, electri-
cal and automation systems.
To ensure maximum reliabili-
ty and performance, Grundfos
checked every detail.
Based on the expertise and
experience of the Grundfos
team, the conclusion was that
the application called for the
pumps to be installed in tubes.
Consequently, Grundfos
was able to provide an inno-
vative solution, that not only
focused on reliability and low
maintenance but also a fu-
ture-orientated solution that
will be able to handle extreme
situations, if it is ever required.
The Outcome
The pumps were commis-
sioned in October 2004. The
Kolkata Municipal Corpora-
tion has been highly satis-
fied with its partnership with
Grundfos, resulting in the best
possible solution for the task.
The final result is the first
Grundfos Provided
• 4 x 300 kW heavy-duty
wastewater pumps
• Flow: 4000 m3/hr
• Head: 20 m
• Voltage: 6000 V
During the
monsoon period,
the Southern
Avenue needed
a solution for
pumping the
stormwater in order
to avoid flooding in
surrounding areas.
Naturally, many
pump suppliers
were highly
interested in this
prestigious project.
stormwater pumping station
in India to feature complete
automation with a provision
for the addition of SCADA
systems in the future. “This is
one of the smoothest commis-
sioning that we had ever seen”,
says VSM Iyer, MECON.
Pump Data
• A complete solution to a
specific, highly demand-
ing task.
• All mechanical, electrical,
and automation systems
to ensure perfect system
compliance and reliability.
• Large heavy-duty pumps
capable of protecting
Southern Avenue, Kolk-
ata, against the heaviest of
downpours.
January 2019 25
 COVER STORY MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES

World’s First Landfill Leachate Management

and Water Recovery System Using FPSTAR
Boomtube Technology
The FPSTAR Boomtube based leachate treatment plant at Bellahalli Landfill,
Bengaluru is the world’s most advanced zero liquid discharge technology to convert
landfill leachate into clean water without biological or chemical process.
By Dr. Raghu Pillai

The State-of-the-Art 120 m3/day ZLD Landfill Leachate Treatment Plant at BBMP Landfill, Bellahalli, Bengaluru

The Challenge
Bruhat Bengaluru Mah-
anagara Palike (BBMP) and
Karnataka Rural Infrastructure
Development Limited (KRIDL)
was looking for an efficient
and sustainable Leachate
Treatment Plant for their Bel-
lahalli Landfill in the outskirts
of Bengaluru to treat Leachate
percolating out of the garbage.
The majority of Bengaluru’s
garbage is discarded at this
scientific landfill in Bellahalli,
Bengaluru North. The black,
pungent liquid oozing out of
the garbage (called leachate)
was a major challenge as leach-
ate is one of the main reasons
for the stink and pungent odor.
Landfill Leachate means
the liquid that has percolated
through solid waste and con-
tains dissolved and suspend-
ed materials from the solid
waste that is disposed of in a
Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)
landfill. The landfill leachate
treatment and management is
a huge problem for any munic-
ipalities handling MSW across
the world.
When water percolates
through solid waste, both
biological and chemical ma-
terials are leached into the ef-
fluent. Leachate from a waste
management facility can be
hazardous to human health
and the environment because
of the potential chemicals
and pollutants it can contain.
Preventing contamination to
groundwater, surface water,
and soil is the main goal when
managing leachate. If leachate
is not managed properly, it can
also result in very bad odor,
unsightly conditions, attract
insects, and cause distress in
vegetation.
There are many factors that
can influence the leachate gen-
eration. These include precipi-
tation volumes, landfill cover,
type of waste deposited, veg-
etation, climate, and landfill
design.
Characteristics of Leachate
Leachate mainly consists
of heavy metals, organic com-
pounds and microbiological
components carrying both dis-
solved and suspended mate-
rials. The typical composition
of leachate from new and ma-
ture landfills varies based on
weather, type of waste deposit-
ed, etc and includes:
o High COD (varies from
5000-80,000)
o High BOD (varies from
2000-45,000)
o High TDS (varies from 3000-
60,000)
o Total Organic Carbon (TOC)
o Varying pH (varies from 5.2-
10)
o High TSS (varies from 300-
4000)
o Organic Nitrogen
o Ammonical Nitrogen
o High Alkalinity (as CaCo3)
o Calcium

26 January 2019 SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD

 COVER STORY
Bellahalli Leachate Treatment Plant
o Magnesium
o Potassium
o Sodium
o Chloride
Leachate also carries and
include elements like Lithium,
Baron, Chromium, Iron, Nick-
le, Arsenic, Barium, traces of
Cyanide and organic pollut-
ants (eg: Benzene, Trichloro-
ethylene, and PCBs). All these
factors make leachate difficult
to manage and extremely diffi-
cult to treat.
Current Leachate Treatment
Technologies Challenges
The two main treatment
technologies for leachate are
biological and physical/ chem-
ical. Biological treatments
were tried in newer landfills
as the leachate may contain
more biodegradable organics
but was not successful due to
the presence of toxic substanc-
es and heavy metals. Other
Leachate treatment methods
Boomtube Resonators
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
include evaporation, treat-
ment for disposal (dilution)
and discharge to a municipal
wastewater collection system.
The conventional methods
and technologies are not sus-
tainable or dependable due to
variations in the feed. More-
over, the capital cost and oper-
ations cost are extremely high.
BBMP and KRIDL after
having understood the above
challenges were looking for
a technology that could de-
pendably treat leachate and
recover clean water for reuse.
The treated clean water from
leachate was required to be ful-
filling all norms of Pollution
Control Board for reuse with
zero liquid discharge. BBMP
wanted to reuse the treated wa-
ter for agriculture/ gardening
purpose around the landfill
and plan to release excess wa-
ter to nearby lakes to recharge
groundwater. The capital and
operating costs had to be kept
to the minimum.
The Solution
BBMP and KRIDL ap-
proached SEWCL and REWS
INDIA with these challenges.
After many months of trials
and testing, a cost-effective,
advanced ZLD leachate man-
agement, treatment, and water
recovery system was proposed.
AQUATRON - FPSTAR
BOOMTUBE RESONATOR
based wastewater treatment
and water recovery system,
is world’s most advanced
technology to convert land-
fill leachate or any industrial
wastewater into clean water
with zero biological or chem-
ical process was studied and
shortlisted due to its key ben-
efits.
o Zero liquid discharge with-
out evaporation/ incinera-
tion thus reducing capital
and O&M cost.
o Reduces COD and BOD by
98% after the final process.
o Zero chemical, non-biolog-
ical process to convert TDS
to TSS.
o Extremely fast reaction time,
processes leachate online
and clean water is available
for use immediately after
fine filtration.
o Removes Arsenic, Nitrates,
Heavy Metals, Soaps & De-
tergents, Fluoride, Oil, and
Grease.
o Very small space require-
ments when compared to
conventional ZLD wastewa-
ter treatment systems.
o Can stop and start the plant
anytime depending on efflu-
ent availability without af-
fecting the efficiency of the
process.
o Extremely effective in re-
moval of color, turbidity,
odor, Total Organic Carbon
(TOC), Natural Organic
Matter (NOM).
o Works over wide pH range
(6.5 pH to 9 pH).
o Treated water confirms to IS
10500 standards, so safe to
reuse.
o Minimal O&M cost when
compared to conventional
wastewater treatment meth-
ods.
o Minimum manpower to op-
erate the plant depending
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
on the plant size.
o F
 ully automatic system.
SCADA systems is highly
advanced and powered by
Artificial Intelligence and
Back Propagation Neural
Networks.
The Technology
Aquatron Boomtube FP-
STAR based leachate treat-
ment technology is one of the
finest leachate treatment and
water recovery technology us-
ing the most modern under-
standing of molecular physics.
Each atomic element in the
periodic table has a Specific
Frequency of Disassociation
(SFoD). SFoD is a frequency
in the shortwave band of the
Final Treated Leachate
electromagnetic spectrum.
When resonated for a specific
time at a specific intensity, the
targeted elements disassociate
from its compounded form
to elemental form. SFoD is
unique to each element in the
periodic table.
Any wastewater contains
many different elements,
based on the effluent. Each el-
ement has its unique frequen-
cy. Depending on the elements
present in the effluent, SFoD
Downstream Filtration System
are delivered to the effluent
that flows through a special
reactor called BoomTube Res-
onator (BTR) which uses a pat-
ented technology called “Fine
Particle Shortwave Thrombo-
lytic Agglomeration Reactor’’
or FPSTAR in short, which is a
resonating column (antennas),
tuned to different bands of
frequencies starting from the
lowest atomic weight to high-
est atomic weight.
As the leachate passes
through the BoomTube Res-
onator, the elements in the
leachate (except Hydrogen
and Oxygen), will start disas-
sociating from its compound-
ed form to their equilibrium
elemental state. The dissolved
and suspended solids (dirt
particles/ pollutants) disasso-
ciate into its elemental forms
and they agglomerate (come
together) by inter-particle at-
traction (due to Van der Waals
Forces) and electron reorga-
nization under a weightless
condition created by continu-
ous free fall in the Boomtube
Reactor takes place. It is a
continuous process where fine
particles even up to the size 1
nanometer disassociate and
agglomerate.
The water that comes out
from the Boomtube Reactor
is then separated from the un-
desirable particles/ pollutants
using specialized TSS remov-
al equipment and filtration
systems. The agglomerated
particles are separated from
the water using specialized
technology like saturated air
oxidation tank, venturi, plate
January 2019 27
 COVER STORY
Treated Water Used for Gardening and Construction
settlers, filter feed tank, dual
media filters, activated car-
bon filters, ultrafiltration, and
nanofiltration/ polishing RO.
The nano/ polishing RO used
here is to filter fine nano-par-
ticles which are in suspended
form. Hence, the membrane
fouling and scaling is minimal
when compared to conven-
tional RO systems. The recov-
ery is high and the processed
reject (comprising of fine
particles in suspended form)
is sent back to the input tank
The FPSTAR
Boomtube
technology can
treat and recover
clean water from
some of the
toughest sources
like Landfill
Leachate, Textile
Effluent, Pharma
Effluent, Food
Industry Effluent,
Tannery Effluent,
etc. Hence, this
technology is also
ideal for Common
Effluent Treatment
Plants (CETPs) in
the industrial areas.
28 January 2019
which is reprocessed ensuring
zero wastage/ reject. The treat-
ed water after the final fine fil-
tration will have a TDS of less
than 500 ppm and confirms to
pollution control norms for re-
use of treated water.
The particles that settle in
oxidation tank and tube settler
now form the sludge, mainly
of oxides of specific atoms of
elements originally present in
the contaminated or polluted
water. Depending on the na-
ture of sludge (after solid-liq-
uid separation) and its poten-
tial to recover useful materials,
suitable technology can be
adapted to derive value from
the sludge or convert to energy
or suitably disposed of as per
the pollution control norms.
The FPSTAR leachate treat-
ment and water recovery plant
is an automatic computer
controlled multi-stage system,
that is fully plug-and-play.
Very minimal manpower is
required to start and stop the
plant and occasionally check
the quality of output water.
One time setting of all pro-
cess parameters ensures trou-
ble-free operation.
The process of converting
raw leachate to clean water us-
ing FPSTAR technology com-
prises of 5 main stages:
Stage 1
The raw leachate which is
collected in the collection tank
is pumped to the raw leachate
tank. The leachate goes into
the Boomtube Resonator. The
Boomtube Resonator (BTR)
converts the compounds/ pol-
lutants into the elemental state
by using a patented technolo-
gy called Fine Particle Short-
wave Thrombolytic Agglomer-
ation Reactor (FPSTAR).
Each element has a specific
frequency of disassociation.
When resonated for a specific
time at a specific frequency,
the targeted elements are sep-
arated due to the resonance
principle. These undesirable
particles/ pollutants are re-
moved in the subsequent stag-
es.
In short, BTR converts Total
Dissolved Solids (TDS) into
Total Suspended Solids (TSS).
Stage 2
The water from the
Boomtube that comes out have
pollutants that are separated
as suspended solids of very
fine particles. This water is
sent to a collection tank which
feeds to a Venturi. The ventu-
ri is equipment which creates
turbulence so that the fine par-
ticles are made bigger using a
thickener.
Stage 3
The water from the venturi
is pumped to a plate settler,
which settles the bigger par-
ticles. The bigger particles
are removed as sludge into a
sludge drying bed.
Stage 4
From the plate settler, the
water goes to a pre-filtration
tank. Through a filter feed
pump, the water is pumped to
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
a multi-stage dual media filter
and specialized activated car-
bon filtration system.
Stage 5
The water is then processed
through a specialized industri-
al filtration system comprising
of a 0.02-micron ultrafiltration
and a 0.001-micron membrane
filter. The end result is clean
fresh water after stage 5.
The clean water is then
pumped to a 5 lakh liters RCC
tank for reuse.
The Result
About 120,000 liters (120
KLD) of leachate is treated at
Bellahalli Landfill Leachate
Treatment Plant every day. The
clean water recovered is used
for agriculture/ gardening pur-
poses currently and the excess
water is planned to be released
to a nearby lake soon.
The treated water parame-
ters confirm to State & Central
Pollution Control Board Stan-
dards and IS:10500 standards.
The entire plant is close-
looped and the footprint is
only 3000 sq.ft.
The residue sludge from the
collection tank is being treated
using a proprietary technology
called MIBR AD plant to con-
vert them into electricity.
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
PROJECT FILE
Customer: Bruhat
Bengaluru Mahanagara
Palike (BBMP) and
Karnataka Rural
Infrastructure Development
Limited (KRIDL)
Location: Bellahalli Landfill
Leachate Treatment Plant,
Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
Service Provider: REWS
India Pvt. Ltd.
Products/Technology
Involved: FPSTAR Aquatron
Boomtube Resonators
The potential for resource
recovery of post Boomtube
Resonator Sludge (as ele-
ments) is under progress and
is at the testing stage enabling
the birth of a new concept of
zero waste discharge leachate
treatment and management
system.
About the Author
Dr. Raghu Pillai is the Man-
aging Director of Bengaluru
based REWS (India) Pvt Ltd
which provides total turnkey
solutions for wastewater treat-
ment including the feasibility
study, sizing, the supply of
equipment, installation, test-
ing, training, and operation &
maintenance.
 COVER STORY MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES

Process Optimization and Regulation Compliance

with TOC Monitoring Help Two WTPs
On-site TOC analysis helps Water Treatment Plants in the City of Helena.
By SUEZ

The Challenge clearwell covers, PLC systems, PROJECT FILE

The City of Helena, MT, filters, and media. The unique Location: City of Helena,
operating the Ten Mile Water water quality challenges of Montana, USA
Treatment Plant and Missouri these two plants and sources Service Provider: SUEZ
River Treatment Plant, faces are shown in Table 1. Product: On-Site TOC
seasonal water quality chang- The Missouri Plant pumps Analyzers
es. It’s two sources create treat- water from the Missouri Riv-
ment challenges in meeting er to Helena Valley regulating filtration waiver for turbidi-
regulations and maintaining reservoir then to the plant. ty compliance. Additionally,
quality effluent. Low alkalinity Since the reservoir provides the use of contact absorption
and varying source water qual- water for irrigation and fish/ clarifiers reclassified the fa- Sievers M5310C TOC Laboratory Analyzer
ity at the Ten Mile Plant make wildlife use, they cannot treat cility from direct filtration to
it difficult to meet required the reservoir. As a result, the conventional treatment which understand real-time TOC% use of cationic polymers.
Total Organic Carbon (TOC) plant treats any organic, taste, requires compliance with TOC removal but also seasonal With relatively high alkalin-
% removal, to comply with and odor compounds that are % removal. With low alkalini- changes in source water TOC. ity and low source TOC, the
EPA Disinfectant/ Disinfection present. Classified as a zero ty (typically 15-25 mg/L), the The value of the data led them Missouri plant easily meets
Byproduct (DBP) rules within discharge plant, the Missouri plant falls into elevated TOC% to acquire a Sievers M5310C its 25% TOC removal require-
current plant processes and in- plant uses its backwash water removal classification during TOC Laboratory Analyzer for ment, but it benefits from TOC
frastructure. Seasonal organic, for managed irrigation and spring runoff when source the Ten Mile Plant to pilot and data to help dose PAC to over-
taste & odor compounds and recycles it back to the plant to TOC exceeds 4 mg/L TOC as enact treatment changes that come taste and odor issues. Fu-
classification as a zero dis- be retreated. While recycling highlighted in Tables 2 and 3. led to more consistent water ture consideration of ozone for
charge facility make operation- backwash water may allow for quality and better compliance. taste and odor management
al costs of Missouri River Plant water conservation and sav- The Solution Prior to on-site TOC analy- would benefit from optimized
a concern. Summer demand ings on permits, due to season- The challenge of meeting sis, the city relied on sending ozone to TOC dosing for cost
can reach 15 MGD while win- al quality changes, total opera- required TOC% removal at the samples to third-party contract savings and process efficiency.
ter demand drops to 3 MGD tional costs must be evaluated Ten Mile Plant led the City of labs. These results took 1-2
typically 100% supported by to determine overall impact. Helena to partner with state weeks leaving the plant blind Conclusion
the Ten Mile Plant. The Mis- The Ten Mile Plant is gravity regulators. Compliance was to both changes in water qual- On-site TOC analysis helps
souri Plant is used for peaking fed from a reservoir at the top achieved with a treatment ity and process effectiveness. the City of Helena test the ef-
or backup, such as when plant of Rocky Mountain Divide via plan combined with real-time The following plant changes ficiency of process changes in
upgrades are needed. Recently, Ten Mile Creek. It was built water quality monitoring. Not were put into effect with the real-time and can be used to
Ten Mile Plant has upgraded in 1991 when the city lost its only did TOC data help them help of on-site TOC analysis: drive data-driven treatment
o Moved chemical addition decisions. As the city contin-
Plant Info Treatment Process Challenges point (PAC & coagulants) to ues to grow, upgrade and ex-
Ten Mile Water the front of the plant as op- pansion requirements must
Coagulation, flocculation High Organics posed to directly before the consider challenges of each
Treatment Plant
filters. water source and funding
Est. 1991 Contact absorption clarifiers Seasonal run-off o Piloted different chemicals opportunities. In the future,
10 MGD Cap Sand and anthracite coal filters Pine beetle kill to test TOC % removals as smarter controls will ensure ef-
well as color and turbidity fluent quality meets customer
Sodium hypochlorite Low Alkalinity
removals including polyalu- needs and regulatory require-
Missouri River Coagulation, flocculation, minum chloride, aluminum ments even with challenging
High TDS
Treatment Plant sedimentation basins sulfate, and reduction in the and changing water sources.
Est. 1959 Sand and anthracite coal filters Seasonal taste and odor issues
Source Alkalinity mg/L As CaCO3
8.9 MGD Cap. Sodium hypochlorite Zero discharge facility Source TOC
(mg/L) >60
Table 1: City of Helena Water System
0-60 >120
to 120
Plant Raw TOC Finished TOC >2.0 to 4.0 35.0% 25.0% 15.0%
Ten Mile Water 3-4 ppm (up to 8 ppm runoff ) 2-3 ppm >4.0 to 8.0 45.0% 35.0% 25.0%
Missouri River 3-4 ppm 2 ppm >8.0 50.0% 40.0% 30.0%
Table 2: Typical TOC Values Table 3: EPA DBP % TOC Removal Requirements

SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD January 2019 29

 COVER STORY MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES

Montreal’s Water Supply System Gets Additional

Pump to Increase Capacity and Flexibility
Charles-J. -Des Baillets is the second largest plant in Montreal and among the
largest in Canada having a production capacity of 1.136 million cubic meters of
water per day.
By Bryan Orchard

Figure 1: The Charles-J.-Des Baillets Plant in Montreal

IT IS ALWAYS SATISFYING
for a pump manufacturer to
learn that its products have
lived up to expectations after
many years of operation. For
KSB Pumps Inc., Canada, this
was the scenario when the City
of Montreal approached them
in 2013 to submit a tender
for an additional pump set in
order to expand its Charles-
J.-Des Baillets drinking water
production plant where five
KSB ME type pumps had been
operating since 1978.
The City of Montreal op-
erates six water treatment
plants, with two major ones,
namely Charles-J.-Des Baillets
and Atwater, both of which
supply potable water to seven
subterranean reservoirs and
associated pumping stations
throughout Montreal island
and its outlying districts.
Charles-J. -Des Baillets (Fig-
ure 1) is the second largest
plant in Montreal and among
the largest in Canada having a
production capacity of 1.136
million cubic meters of water
per day. This accounts for 38%
of the total production capaci-
ty of the city of Montreal.
Plant History
Delivering over one million
cubic meters of potable water
every day, the Charles-J.-Des
Baillets plant is fed by a large
underground reservoir at the
station.
The water comes from the
St. Lawrence River and prior
to entering the potable wa-
ter reservoir, it is purified by
a combination of filtration,
ozonization, ultraviolet (UV)
water treatment and finally
chlorination.
Three pump-sets are dedi-
cated to one line supplying the
Atwater piping network, with
the remaining units supplying
a large reservoir located in the
city’s boroughs.
Should it be necessary to
shut down either the Charles-J-
Des Baillets plant or the Atwa-
ter plant, water can be diverted
to and from either plant to en-
sure that water levels in all sev-
en reservoirs are maintained
at optimum capacity.
Through the years, the city’s
population has increased sub-
stantially and today the water
department supplies approx-
imately two million residents.
Both production plants are
interconnected via sizeable
piping so that in the unlikely
event of one plant going down,
water can still be supplied to
the reservoirs.
The Charles-J.-Des Baillets
plant was originally designed
to accommodate nine high ca-
pacity pumps.
However, only five pumps

30 January 2019 SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD

 COVER STORY
Figure 2: One of the Original KSB ME Pumps Installed when the Plant was Constructed.
were installed initially, these
being the KSB ME Pumps (Fig-
ure 2).
Later, in 1990, the plant’s
output capacity was increased
with the introduction of anoth-
er manufacturer’s pump.
Although the plant was built
to accommodate nine pumps,
Figure 3: The 38 Ton Pump has an Impeller Diameter of 1,905 mm.
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
the water treatment facilities
at this location can only sup-
port a maximum of seven
pumps.
Therefore, based on their
satisfaction with the original
five large capacity pumps, the
City of Montreal requested
KSB to submit a tender for an-
other pump of the same design
and capability.
The only difficulty was that
after such a long interval,
the original water transport
pumps were no longer being
manufactured. However, this
did not discourage KSB, as
they came up with a plan that
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
involved making an updated
replica; a proposal that suc-
ceeded in awarding KSB the
order after a rigorous and in-
tensive bid evaluation process.
MEF Pumps
Constructed in accordance
with the customer’s specifi-
Figure 5: The Motors and the Control Panels are Mounted on the Upper Floor
of the Three Storey Pump Gallery.
cations, the KSB MEF pump
is a vertical split-case, single
stage pump, and is an updated
replica of the original pumps
supplied by KSB in 1975. The
footprint and layout of the
new pump resemble its older
counterparts, but up-to-date
seals and optimized hydraulic
elements enhance its reliabili-
ty and improve operating effi-
ciency.
Duplicating the older pump
configuration simplified the
installation of the new unit
in the Charles-J.-Des Baillets
high-pressure pump gallery.
Having secured the contract,
KSB was quick to react, with
the new MEF pump being
shipped from KSB’s factory
in Brazil later in 2013. Manu-
factured in Brazil, the 38-ton
pump has an impeller diame-
ter of 1,905 mm (Figure 3).
With a drive shaft measur-
ing 5 meters in length and op-
erating at a fixed speed of 400
rpm, it delivers 4.2 m3 (100%)
per second at a head of 67 m.
Initially planned to be used as
a back-up unit, the pump also
operates in parallel with the
existing large-capacity pumps.
Due to its size, the pump had
to be disassembled for ship-
ment and reassembled on site.
In April 2015, work com-
menced on the assembly and
installation of the pump at
the Charles-J.-Des Baillets wa-
ter filtration plant under the
supervision of KSB. Between
January 2019 31
 COVER STORY
Figure 4: Installing the New Pump Set Involved the Excavation of Foundations to Accommodate the Water Intake
Pipework and Pump Volute.
May 2015 and April 2016,
installation of the 5,500 HP
synchronous motor and line
shaft was performed by the
mechanical contractor under
the supervision of KSB.
The next phase was the com-
missioning and configuration
of the control panels and aux-
iliary electrical components.
This was undertaken be-
tween April 2016 and Septem-
ber 2017, with performance
and acceptance tests of the
pump conducted in October
2017.
The hydraulic acceptance
Figure 6: The New KSB Pump Now Installed and Fully Operational.
32 January 2019
tests were performed on the
new pump unit with the scope
of the tests being to verify the
contractual efficiency guaran-
tee point of 87% at 4.2 m3/s.
Summarizing the key re-
sults, at the rated flow (4.2
m3/s), the pump efficiency was
90.4%; 3.4% greater than the
guaranteed efficiency of 87%.
The results show that the
performance of the new pump
fulfilled the contractual guar-
anty obligations.
Installation Challenges
Installing the new pump set
was not without its challenges,
given that the area allocated
to the pump was between two
existing units and involved a
three story, open high-pressure
pump gallery and the excava-
tion of foundations to accom-
modate the water intake pipe-
work and pump volute (Figure
4).
The pump gallery is con-
structed on three stories; the
motors and the control pan-
els are mounted on the upper
floor (Figure 5) where they
are protected from flooding
and the pumps directly below
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
(three stories) on the bottom
level.
A 5-meter long drive shaft
from the 5,500 HP motor on
the upper floor couples to the
pump below. Because the new
pump has the same hydraulic
configuration as its older coun-
terparts, it has been installed
alongside them in exactly the
same arrangement.
KSB engineers played a sig-
nificant role in overseeing the
installation and commission-
ing of the new pump.
The installation process was
somewhat complicated due to
the ingress of water from the
adjacent underground supply
reservoir.
Each pump intake is secured
by two sets of stop logs, as
compared to large gate valves.
Therefore, a serious problem
exists with water infiltration
into each intake chamber in
which the pumps are mount-
ed.
As a result, it was necessary
for the safety of the engineers
and the construction person-
nel to continually pump water
from the foundations during
the construction of the intake
chamber of the new pump.
Customer Satisfaction
According to the engineer
from the city of Montreal’s
water department, the addi-
tion of the new pump provides
more redundancy to the sys-
tem (Figure 6).
Under normal operating
conditions, two or three of the
pumps operate each morn-
ing according to the demand
placed on the water supply
system.
During the day, demand
fluctuates as does the num-
ber of pumps operating and
as such the pumps are used at
night to replenish water in the
city’s reservoirs.
The department was moti-
vated to stay with KSB as the
pumps had performed very
well over the previous 36
years.
Over the years since the orig-
inal five KSB pumps have been
operating, the city’s water de-
partment has not experienced
any significant problems.
“When the pumps were first
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
PROJECT FILE
Customer: City of Montreal
Location: Charles-J.-Des
Baillets and Atwater Water
Treatment Plants (WTPs),
Montreal, Canada
Service Provider:
KSB Pumps Inc.
Products/Technology
Involved: Pumps,
and Motors
installed they were over per-
forming, thus increasing the
load on the motors,” reports
the city’s engineer.
“This issue was easily re-
solved by trimming the im-
pellers and since then, there
have not been any issues. The
pumps have delivered the
expected performance. The
pumps have been easy to ser-
vice, and the importance given
to scheduled maintenance has
been a contributing factor in
the long service,” he continues.
“Because we know in ad-
vance when there is going to
be a requisite for spare or re-
placement parts, there is no
need for us to hold any major
components. With advance
planning, KSB is able to fulfil
our requirements.”
With the installation and
commissioning of the new
pump, the Charles-J.-Des Bail-
lets plant is now able to op-
erate to its optimum design
capability and with full redun-
dancy in the system for the
first time in forty years.
About the Author
Bryan Orchard is an inter-
national freelance journalist
who specializes in water and
environmental engineering.
 COVER STORY MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES

PE100 Black Material for Pipes in Largest

Water Distribution Project in Southern India
Use of HDPE pipes, on such a massive scale, augers well for the domestic pipe
industry.
By Chanchal Dasgupta, Prashant Nikhade and Srinivas Goud

Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi and Chief Minister of Telagana State K.
Chandrashekhar Rao at the Official Opening of the Gajwel Water Grid.
THE TELANGANA STATE
Water Grid or Mission Bha-
giratha is one of the largest
water distribution project ever
in.
India set up by the Telan-
gana state government to pro-
vide clean and safe drinking
water to every household in
India’s newest state.
With a 5,000 km main net-
work supplanted by a 50,000
km secondary network and a
further 75,000 km of pipelines
to channel the drinking water
to households, Mission Bhagi-
ratha was developed at a pro-
jected cost of USD 6.6 million
and is India’s first integrated
drinking water distribution
network for a full state.
The success of the project is
PROJECT FILE
Location: Telangana
State Water Grid (Mission
Bhagiratha), India
Service Provider:
Borouge India
Products/Technology
Involved: HDPE Pipes,
BorSafe™ HE3490-LS
PE100 Material
highly dependent on the opti-
mal utilization of water from
the Godavari and Krishna riv-
ers that flow through the state.
A total of 34 billion cubic
meters of water from the Go-
davari and 21 billion cubic
meters from the Krishna are
required for the water grid.
Hyderabad based Megha
Engineering & Infrastructures
Limited (MEIL) was appoint-
ed as the main contractor for
Mission Bhagiratha.
With a proven track record
of 25 years in the Indian in-
frastructure industry, MEIL is
one of the country’s foremost
companies for key industry
verticals such as irrigation,
drinking water, hydrocarbons,
power, renewable energy and
transportation for large-scale
civil and industrial projects.
The company has also
achieved the rare distinction
of being the only infrastruc-
ture company in India to
commission major river-in-
tegration projects such as the
Narmada- Kshipra Simhastha
Link in Madhya Pradesh, the
Pattisam project in Andhra
Pradesh and Sauni Yojana
project in Gujarat.
Mission Bhagiratha com-
menced with the development
of the Gajwel water grid in
November 2015, which saw
the successful transportation
of water to 67,000 households
in the towns of Toopran, Gajw-
el Rural, Gajwel Town, Wargal,
Dubbaka, and Malkapur.
This section of the proj-
ect was completed ahead of
schedule in August 2016 with
the laying of a 1,200 km pipe-
line - an event that was graced
by the Prime Minister of India
Mr. Narendra Modi and the
Chief Minister of Telangana
state Mr. K. Chandrashekhar
Rao.
MEIL was also contracted to
provide operational and main-
tenance services for the pipe-
line over a period of 10 years.
The next phase of the
project, which covered the
Mahbubnagar, Karimnagar,
Sircilla, Jagityal, and Manthi-
ni-Bhupalpally sections, re-
quired a pipe network with a
length of almost 13,000 km to
supply water to over 340,000
households.
Another pipeline with a to-
tal length of over 11,000km
was also installed for the
Paleru-Warangal, Adilabad,
Dummugudem, Nalgonda,
Nizamabad and Alair-Bhongir
sections to deliver drinking
water to 172,000 households
across 22 districts.
HDPE pipes make up two-
thirds of all the pipes used in
the project, with most of them
installed as part of the distri-
bution network.
Majority of the pipes were
made from high-quality Bor-
Safe™ HE3490-LS pre-com-
pounded black PE100 from
HDPE Pipes Made of BorSafe™ HE3490-LS PE100 Material from Borouge are
Being Welded Together on One of the Project Sites.
Borouge.
The material, which is resis-
tant to high impact, abrasion,
chemicals and UV rays, is also
excellent at withstanding rap-
id crack propagation and slow
crack growth.
HDPE pipes are most popu-
lar globally for water and gas
distribution networks for their
corrosion resistance, excellent
flow characteristics retained
over a lifetime, welded joints
which are stronger than the
pipe and very high resistance
to pressure surges.
The toughness of the mate-
rial also enables the welded PE
pipes to withstand the stresses
due to ground movements
which arise due to seasonal
weather patterns and even
the more severe ground move-
ments due to earthquakes.
The use of HDPE pipes, on
such a massive scale, augers
well for the domestic pipe in-
dustry and the common pub-
lic for the continuous supply
of water through a reliable,
and maintenance-free distri-
bution network.
About the Authors
Chanchal Dasgupta is Ap-
plication Marketing Manager
at Borouge (India) Pvt Ltd. For
past 18 years, he is working
for Borouge for market devel-
opment of Borstar Technolo-
gy PE and PP grades for film,
molding, pipe applications.
Prashant Nikhade is Sr.
Application Development
Engineer - Infrastructure at
Borouge (India) Pvt. Ltd. He is
working for Borouge India for
last 7 years for Infrastructure
applications of PE and PP.
Srinivas Goud also works
with Borouge (India) Pvt. Ltd.
Borouge is a joint venture
between Abu Dhabi National
Oil Company (ADNOC), one
of the world’s major oil and
gas companies, and Austria
based Borealis, a leading
provider of chemical and in-
novative plastics solutions.
Borouge is at the forefront of
the next generation of plastics
innovation.

SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD January 2019 33

 COVER STORY
Sustainability at the Heart of TRX Project
In addition to being the first fully integrated commercial water reclaim programme
in Southeast Asia, the TRX Project is also one of Veolia’s most significant global
reference for sustainable development.
By Veolia Water Technologies
An Artist’s Impression of the TRX
WITH GROWING DE-
MANDS from agriculture and
energy production, as well as
diminishing supply due to
climate changes and reduced
rainfall, water is quickly be-
coming a scarce resource with
no alternative substitute.
In light of this water stress,
awareness has been growing
towards the notion of water
reuse. Although it is not a new
concept, water reuse only start-
ed to garner more public inter-
est in recent years, offering a
way out in a world where water
is increasingly in short supply.
As water shortage will likely
be more acute in the next 10
years, governments and multi-
national corporations (MNCs)
worldwide have started to
buckle down and look for ways
34 January 2019
to manage the remaining wa-
ter reserves. In embarking on
this path, many have turned
to professional water solutions
providers to mitigate their wa-
ter crisis challenges.
Veolia Water Technologies,
an established environmen-
tal company specializing in
technological solutions, and
provides the complete range
of services required to design,
build, maintain and upgrade
water and wastewater treat-
ment facilities for industrial
clients and public authorities
was appointed to provide a
wastewater treatment and rec-
lamation plant for the presti-
gious Tun Razak Exchange
(TRX) Project in Kuala Lum-
pur, Malaysia. In addition to
being the first fully integrat-
ed commercial water reclaim
programme in Southeast Asia,
the TRX Project is also one of
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
Veolia’s most significant global
reference for sustainable de-
velopment.
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
Mohammad Akhir Ahmad,
Managing Director for Opera-
tions & Maintenance in South
East Asia at Veolia Water
Technologies, shared, “With
water scarcity threats looming
above our heads, proactive wa-
ter strategies have to be taken
immediately. The TRX Project
showcases Veolia’s recycled
water technologies, and our
ability to achieve high water
recovery rates for the project.
Resource planning is one of
our fortes, and we identified
an opportunity in the TRX
Project that Veolia could con-
tribute to.”
TRX: Designed in
Accordance with the
Highest Environmental
Standards
Set in the heart of Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia, the TRX
Project is an iconic 70-acre
development poised to be the
new world-class financial dis-
trict that encompasses invest-
ment grade ‘A’ office space and
includes residential, hospital-
ity, retail, leisure, and cultural
offerings. TRX is also built in
 COVER STORY MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES

Building in Progress: TRX’s Construction Site as on August 2015.

line to support the Greater ter-abundant Malaysia is now for non-potable purposes at With several qualified water secure a 20-year partnership
KL/Klang Valley, one of the rapidly facing water scarcity TRX. We also hope to influ- and wastewater professional with TRX.
National Key Economic Areas threats. ence the future of green devel- providers in the market, TRX Elaborating on the strict and
under the Malaysian Govern- Duncan Briggs, Commercial opments in Malaysia through devised a procurement exer- controlled nature of the selec-
ment’s Economic Transfor- Director at Veolia Water Tech- our actions of meeting water cise to narrow the selection tion process, Akhir shared, “We
mation Programme (ETP) - an nologies, shared, “The growing reuse commitments in the pool, and to identify a supplier were upfront about our exper-
initiative to support the gov- water stress in Malaysia is a TRX project.” that could meet its goals effec- tise with wastewater and water
ernment’s vision of transform- real challenge. By engaging in tively. After several rigorous reclaim projects, and were also
ing Malaysia into a high-in- water reclamation activities, Constructing the TRX- rounds of selection, Veolia forward about Veolia’s ability
come nation by 2020. we maximize the water value Veolia Partnership stood out amongst others to to meet TRX’s expectations
As Malaysia’s new interna-
tional finance and trading hub,
the TRX Project is designed in
accordance with the highest
environmental standards, and
the development will focus
keenly on water reuse. The
TRX is the first development
in the country to achieve mul-
tiple accreditations, includ-
ing the Leadership in Energy
and Environmental Design
(LEED) Gold Certification
in the “Neighbourhood De-
velopment Plan” category, as
certified by the United States
of America Green Building
Council, and the first township
level Green Building Index
(GBI) Platinum Certification
in Malaysia, issued by the Ma-
laysia Green Building Index
Accreditation Panel.
In a league of its own, the
TRX Project’s focus on water
reuse separates it from all oth-
er developments across the
nation. Globally, Malaysia is
one of the wettest countries
with the highest average annu-
al rainfall of around 3,000mm.
Even then, the once wa- Veolia’ MBBR Technology has Over 850 References Worldwide, Including the Plants in Malaysia.

SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD January 2019 35

 COVER STORY
of 60% reduction in the total
freshwater demand. Veolia’s
approach to this project was
simply to achieve a high re-
covery rate and low operating
cost, achieving a uniquely af-
fordable yet efficient solution
for TRX.”
Creating Value through
Responsible and
Sustainable Solutions
For the TRX Project, Veolia
aims to recover at least 80% of
the expected 3.8 million cubic
meters (m3) of sewage gener-
ated every year for reuse pur-
poses within the TRX district.
The reclaimed water will count
towards reducing site-wide
36 January 2019
freshwater demand by more
than 50%, exceeding Interna-
tional Best Practice standards
of 40% reduction in potable
water.
To deliver the results that
TRX wanted, Veolia proposed
a redundant system with
five wastewater solutions for
maximum value to the client.
Described by Briggs as being
compact, robust, and straight-
forward, the technologies that
Veolia recommended for the
TRX Project include the Mul-
tifo™ Settler, AnoxKaldnes™
Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor
(MBBR) Technology, Hydro-
tech® Discfilters, Alizair® De-
odorization Treatment, as well
as Endetec’s Tecta and Kapta
Units.
The primary wastewater
treatment solution for the
TRX Project is Multiflo™, an
efficient process for removing
Total Suspended Solids (TSS),
color, algae, and heavy metals.
The technology produces a
highly concentrated and thick-
ened sludge required for the
wastewater treatment process.
The discharge then enters the
MBBR tank, which stabiliz-
es discharge quality while it
removes Chemical Oxygen
Demand (COD), Biochemical
Oxygen Demand (BOD), and
nitrogen present in the waste-
water.
The Alizair® deodorization
treatment is also incorporated
to ensure the complete remov-
al of unpleasant emissions.
As the wastewater treatment
plant will be built within the
TRX district, Veolia integrated
a biofilter that would oxidize
malodorous substances into
inorganic and odorless com-
pounds. Veolia also included a
smart water network compris-
ing two unique technologies
- Endetec’s Tecta and Kapta
units - to ensure microbiolog-
ical security, arming TRX with
the best water quality manage-
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
ment system in Malaysia.
Briggs elaborated, “The
Tecta unit provides accurate
microbiological platform test-
ing onsite, which is the most
efficient way of monitoring
contamination. On the oth-
er hand, the Kapta system, a
miniaturized in-line multi-pa-
rameter water sensor probe
for real-time continuous po-
table water monitoring, has
had good applications in mu-
nicipal networks, and the TRX
Project will be Veolia’s first
Kapta application in South-
east Asia. In keeping with
TRX’s objective to establish a
state-of-the-art green business
facility, Veolia was careful to
put together wastewater solu-
tions such as Alizair®, which
is ecological in nature. The
low electricity and chemical
consumption of our solutions
were also factors that matched
TRX’s long term sustainability
goals seamlessly.”
A Greener KL
The reclaimed water at TRX
will be heavily monitored to
ensure zero human contact, in
that it would be strictly limit-
ed to non-potable uses such
as toilet flushing in the resi-
dential and office buildings,
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
trickle irrigation, and cooling
tower make up for the district
cooling plant. This alternative
water resource also provides
better resilience in terms of
continuous non-potable water
supply for the financial dis-
trict, ensuring that business
activities can continue to run,
even when faced with water
shortages.
Although Veolia is under
obligation to recover at least
80% of TRX’s sewage, the
global provider is able to re-
cycle 100% of the wastewater
- excluding sludge wastage
- going above and beyond
TRX’s demands. “Veolia’s in-
novative water and wastewa-
ter technologies are capable
of going the extra mile to
provide our client with more
value,” Akhir stated. “Regard-
less of the water consumption
demand, Veolia will be able to
replace 50% of that water de-
mand with reclaimed water,
fully supporting TRX as they
continue to integrate sus-
tainability practices within
their infrastructure. The TRX
Project is particularly mean-
ingful for Veolia as its strong
environmental beliefs speak
PROJECT FILE
Customer: Tun Razak
Exchange (TRX) Project
Location: Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia
Service Provider: Veolia
Water Technologies
Products/Technology
Involved: Multifo™ Settler,
AnoxKaldnes™ Moving Bed
Biofilm Reactor (MBBR)
Technology, Hydrotech®
Discfilters, Alizair®
Deodorization Treatment,
Endetec’s Tecta and Kapta
Units
volumes to us.”
Sharing his conviction that
TRX will be the catalyst to
transform future develop-
ments in Malaysia, Briggs
concluded, “With Veolia’s pro-
prietary water and wastewater
technologies, the TRX Project
looks set to achieve its goal of
being the first green develop-
ment in Peninsular Malaysia.”
 COVER STORY
Affinity Water Saves £0.3 Million by Using
Drives vs the Next Best Alternative
Danfoss VLT® AQUA Drives recently installed at the Chertsey Water Treatment
Works of Affinity Water are forecast to deliver savings of more than a third of a
million pounds in running costs over their 20-year lives compared with the ‘next
best’ solution offered for the project.
By Danfoss
Chertsey Water Treatment Works High Lift Pumps
FOR MANY YEARS, four high lift
pumps at Chertsey Water Treatment
works have each been controlled by a
500 kW 12-pulse variable speed drive
operating at 675 V. Recently, however,
these aging drives had become increas-
ingly unreliable and difficult to main-
tain. Affinity Water knew that they
were much less energy efficient than
their modern counterparts. The com-
pany, therefore, decided that the time
had come to replace the drives.
Motor Control Panels at Affinity Water
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
Key requirements for the replace-
ments were that they should deliver
the best possible energy efficiency,
that they should meet G5/4 harmon-
ic requirements and that they should
be suitable for use with pump motors
with insulation that was non-compli-
ant with IEC 60034-25 curve B for 690
V inverter use. Having surveyed the
market for suitable drive solutions, Af-
finity Water was ultimately able to nar-
row the choice to two alternatives. One
of these was based on Danfoss VLT®
AQUA Drives with active harmonic
filters while the other used drives in-
corporating Active Front-End (AFE)
technology.
Lower Losses, Higher Savings
An important benefit of the Danfoss
active filters is that they are connected
in parallel with the supply to the drive,
which means that the motor current
does not pass through them. Losses
are, therefore, much lower than with
conventional filters where the motor
current must pass through one or more
inductors. Further benefits are that the
motor voltage is unaffected by the use
of the filters, whereas with AFE drives
it is typically boosted by around 10%.
Further, in the unlikely event of an ac-
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
tive filter failing, the drive can contin-
ue to operate as the filter is not directly
in the current path to the motor.
In addition, Danfoss VLT® AQUA
Drives with ratings above 90 kW fea-
ture back-channel cooling, which re-
duces the amount of fan cooling power
required by as much as 90% compared
to conventionally designed drives.
This means fewer fans are needed, al-
lowing savings to be made on the en-
ergy needed to power the fans and the
cost of replacement air filters over the
life of the system.
To assist Affinity Water in making
a decision between the two alterna-
tive solutions on offer, engineers from
Danfoss carried out a very detailed
comparison of the running costs as-
sociated with each. This revealed that
the losses with Danfoss 400 kW VLT®
AQUA Drives would be 9.6 kW lower
per drive than with the AFE alterna-
tives.
On the basis that two of the four
pumps would normally be running,
the Danfoss drives would, therefore,
save 2 x 9.6 x 8760 = 168,192 kWh per
year. Assuming an energy cost of £0.10
per kWh, this represents a saving on
energy costs of £16,820 per year which
is equivalent to up to 20% of the origi-
nal investment. Over the 20-year life of
the system, the energy savings would
be £336,380.
Fulfilling the Demands of
the Water Supply Industry
This analysis proved decisive for Af-
finity Water, and the company elected
to go ahead with the Danfoss solution.
The system builder chosen for the
project was Saftronics Controls Lim-
ited, a Danfoss Business Partner with
extensive experience in meeting the
demanding requirements of the wa-
ter supply industry. Saftronics select-
ed IP20 versions of the drives, rated
at 400 kW when used on the Affinity
675 V supply system. The drives were
installed in two new motor control
centers designed and manufactured
by Saftronics Controls Limited, along
with du/dt filters to safeguard the
pump motors as these have insulation
that was not originally designed for
use with variable speed drives.
Each of the new motor control cen-
ters houses two drives and two du/dt
filters. The drives are arranged for effi-
cient back channel cooling. Because of
this, only eight cooling fans were need-
ed, compared with the 24 - the number
estimated for conventional drives. To
make the best possible use of the lim-
ited space available on the site, the ac-
tive harmonic filters were installed in
existing control panels.
After building and fully testing the
control panels at its works in Leeds,
Saftronics Controls Limited delivered
the new equipment to the site, installed
and commissioned it. At every stage,
Saftronics worked in close cooperation
with Affinity Water to minimize the
impact of the work on the operations
of the water treatment works.
“The Danfoss VLT® AQUA Drives
have performed fully to specification.
They are providing accurate and de-
pendable control of the pumps, the
harmonic levels easily meet G5/4 re-
quirements, and initial measurements
confirm that the predicted energy sav-
ings will be achieved,” states Affinity
Water.
PROJECT FILE
Customer: Affinity Water
Location: Chertsey Water
Treatment Works, UK
Service Provider: Saftronics
Controls Limited, Danfoss
Products/Technology
Involved: Drives, Pumps
January 2019 37
 COVER STORY
Drought and Supply Limits Drive the
Sustainability Initiatives
To reduce water use, a California utility developed a range of customer programs
that engage and educate stakeholders.
By Adam West
Early Morning Light Shines on the Foothills and Dry Grasses in Monterey County, Calif., Near Highway 101. Although the Severely Dry Conditions That Affected
Much of California Starting in the Winter of 2011-2012 are Gone, Damage from the Drought will Linger in Many Areas. The Consequences of Millions of Dead
Trees and Diminished Groundwater Basins will Continue to Challenge Areas of State for Years. Californians Responded to the Drought with Tremendous Levels
of Water Conservation, Including a Nearly 25% Average Reduction in Urban Water Use Across the State. Photo Credit: California American Water.
IN AN INCREASINGLY
crowded world, water provid-
ers everywhere face new and
existing challenges with more
pressure than ever. If glob-
al population growth wasn’t
enough, climate change is ex-
pected to exacerbate weather
extremes, creating more un-
certainty on how to prepare for
the worst.
California is no stranger
to these trends, as its popula-
tion is currently estimated at
about 40 million, with an an-
nual growth rate just less than
1 percent. The state also just
went through a record-break-
ing drought that lasted five
years, only to be relieved by
recording-breaking precipi-
tation between October 2016
and February 2017, filling res-
ervoirs above historical aver-
age levels in weeks to months.
38 January 2019
This may be only short-term
relief, however, as recent stud-
ies show that California may
be coming out of a wet period.
Decades-long drought isn’t un-
common historically, and rela-
tively recent extremes include
two “megadroughts” that last-
ed more than 150 years during
the ninth and thirteenth cen-
turies.
Water providers in dry cli-
mates have always understood
the importance of securing
water resources and have been
at the forefront of water con-
servation efforts. However, to
weather the recent drought,
water providers across Cali-
fornia pushed citizens to low-
er their water use as much as
possible. California American
Water (Cal Am) serves about
615,000 people, and its service
area in Monterey has routine-
ly been among California’s
top-performing areas for low
water use.
“Californians are overdraft-
ing Mother Nature,” says Pat-
rick Pilz, Cal Am’s manager
of field operations, about the
gravity of the situation. “We
take more water out than rain
and snowfall replenishes, and
we see the resulting effects in
the loss of natural groundwa-
ter storage and water quality
issues.”
Pilz touches on an import-
ant aspect of sustainability:
resources dwindle when com-
munities use more than is re-
plenished. This is evident with
freshwater, as some aquifer
recharge rates are on the order
of centuries or millennia. As
stored water reserves dwindle
and populations deal with the
possibility of droughts being
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
a “new normal,” water provid-
ers across North America and
around the world will need to
take significant steps toward
securing sustainable water
supplies. Cal Am’s recent ex-
periences offer some valuable
lessons on how to deal with
extreme climate variability.
Conservation Efforts
Cal Am’s first significant wa-
ter conservation efforts started
in the mid-1990s in Monterey
and were driven by need when
regulators determined that the
utility was drawing more water
than permitted from its source,
the Carmel River. The utility
soon became more serious
about conservation in its other
service areas. Over the years,
Cal Am has experimented
with various rate structures. By
the late 1990s, it introduced
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
tiered rates. In 2008, Monterey
was one of the first areas in
California approved for decou-
pling rates from sales volumes,
which can help address the
need to more efficiently use
water while keeping a utility
financially sound. Most of Cal
Am’s other service areas had
implemented decoupling by
2010.
In 2013, non-residential cus-
tomers moved from an alloca-
tion-based rate design to one
based on best management
practices. After experiment-
ing a fair amount with allot-
ment-based rates for residents
in Monterey, Cal Am recently
simplified its rate structure to
increase fairness and equity.
During the drought, Cal Am
restricted outdoor watering
and allowed grass to die, but
it encouraged customers to
water their trees. The utility
contracted with an arborist,
and customers could receive a
free home visit to learn about
tree watering and care. Cal Am
is shifting its efforts away from
indoor efficiency retrofits and
toward outdoor landscape ret-
rofits because of diminishing
returns on indoor efficiency
and opportunities for signifi-
cant savings outside.
Promoting Conservation
Strategically, Cal Am is be-
ing smarter about who it tar-
gets. The utility has a much
better understanding of who
will benefit most from its
programs. Some homeowners
know little about water con-
servation, whereas others are
proud of their conservation
efforts. Understanding where
customers are within their
water budget helps Cal Am
target high users and make the
 COVER STORY
Cal Am Developed Some Innovative Programs to Help Monterey Residents Lower Their Water Use as Much as Possible, Including (From Left) Mulch, Rain Barrel, and Toilet Giveaway Events. Photo Credit:
California American Water.
best use of its resources. Cal
Am takes several approaches
to promote its conservation
goals.
Geospatial Mapping
To help refine its targeting
efforts, Cal Am recently per-
formed a pilot study using
geospatial mapping for resi-
dential and non-residential
customers. The study allows it
to create a water budget based
on satellite imagery and the ar-
ea’s historical usage. For exam-
ple, looking at the landscape
and knowing the number of
people in a building allows Cal
Am managers to understand
where usage is higher than ex-
pected.
Advanced Metering
In Ventura and Monterey,
Cal Am has two pilot programs
for Advanced Metering Infra-
structure (AMI), an integrated
system of smart meters, com-
munication networks, and
data management systems
that enables two-way commu-
nication between a utility and
its customers. Ventura is an af-
fluent area with large lots and
lush landscapes. Consequent-
ly, it has the highest water us-
age of all of Cal Am’s service
areas and one of the highest
per capita in California. The
pilot program incorporates
early leak detection, which al-
lows Cal Am to see high usage
quickly. Having more informa-
tion about a customer’s usage
is also valuable for discussing
billing inquiries and disputes.
Water Efficiency Coaching
For non-residential custom-
ers, Cal Am has experience
with traditional commercial
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
water audits but has more re-
cently switched to a water effi-
ciency coaching program. The
year-long program requires a
commitment from property
owners to implement recom-
mended efficiency measures.
Cal Am holds a kick-off meet-
ing with decision-makers, in-
cluding the property owner
and those responsible for util-
ity bills, investment decisions,
and landscape design. If the
owner agrees to the program,
Cal Am performs an audit, and
results are presented at a sec-
ond meeting. The program re-
quires customers to read their
meters every week, but they
also receive monthly feedback
from Cal Am.
“It creates a dialogue over
the course of a year, and this
personal contact helps you
establish trust,” says Pilz. “You
teach customers to be self-suf-
ficient in their vigilance to wa-
ter efficiency.”
The program has been suc-
cessful. Although the approach
takes a lot of manpower and
energy, it costs about the same
as a traditional water audit.
Public Education and Stew-
ardship Training
Cal Am puts a lot of effort
into educating customers and
children about water conserva-
tion and stewardship of natu-
ral resources.
“We do a lot of classes and
education events to diverse au-
diences,” explains Pilz. “We ask
them if they know where their
drinking water comes from,
and only one or two can an-
swer. There’s a surprising lack
of knowledge.”
However, Cal Am’s efforts
with children may have long-
term benefits. The utility sup-
ports the Water Conservation
Garden outside San Diego.
Children learn about the jour-
ney one drop of water takes
from Colorado to their taps
at home. They also receive an
activity kit to evaluate their
family’s behavior and perfor-
mance. The program takes the
conversation a step further
and encourages children to be
stewards of the environment,
highlighting how water plays
an essential role in natural sys-
tems. The utility also reaches
out to landscaping companies
that engage directly with its
customers and leads work-
shops on water-efficient land-
scaping. The workshops are
also offered in Spanish.
Looking Back and
Planning Ahead
Overall, Cal Am’s water con-
servation efforts have been
strong. The utility has had
substantial support from its
president and parent compa-
ny American Water, and Cal
Am has played a leadership
role. Even if Cal Am’s efforts
in Monterey were driven by
need, with an order to reduce
excess withdrawals, Pilz says
the work “created an incredi-
ble conservation culture there.”
During the drought, water pro-
viders were required to submit
their numbers to the State Wa-
ter Resources Control Board,
and Monterey was one of the
state’s leaders.
For its other service areas,
the scope of Cal Am’s conser-
vation programs is determined
by authorized regional bud-
gets from the state of Califor-
nia. If Cal Am has a limited
budget for a program, it en-
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
sures it has low-cost education
programs with dedicated staff
and interns.
In the future, Cal Am may
make some significant chang-
es to its conservation efforts.
For the first time since it
ramped up conservation in the
1990s, the utility is proposing
to reduce indoor rebate pro-
grams in its latest rate case.
According to Pilz, Cal Am is
approaching saturation with
low-flow fixtures, and its re-
sources can go further with
landscape retrofits. This is in
line with what other utilities
across California are starting
to do. Cal Am is also address-
ing additional conservation
challenges.
Retrofits and Rental Units
One challenge for Cal Am
moving forward is working
with users who don’t own their
property or aren’t submetered
as part of a larger property.
For example, Cal Am’s wa-
ter-energy nexus program for
low-income customers is led
by a partnership of energy and
water utilities who co-fund
home retrofits. Customers can
apply for a home retrofit that
includes new toilets and show-
erheads and potentially a new
washing machine. This retrofit
also includes a weatheriza-
tion package to reduce ener-
gy costs. Although customers
don’t have to be homeowners
to apply, they do need approv-
al from the property owner,
which can hinder implemen-
tation. Mass-metered systems,
such as those found in mobile
home parks or multifamily
buildings, present a similar
challenge, and often tenants
under these systems pay an
internal water bill, whether or
not they’re submetered. These
tenants can greatly benefit
from cost savings, and Cal Am
tries to reach them even if they
aren’t technically customers.
Refreshing the Messaging
Another challenge Cal Am
faces is shifting its messaging
in the wake of drought fatigue.
California made significant
efforts to reduce water use
during the recent five-year
drought, one of the driest pe-
riods on record. With one of
the wettest winters on record
following that last year, water
restrictions have been lifted.
The changes made during the
drought have had long-term
effects, as California’s baseline
water use is lower than it was
before the drought. However,
water savings have slipped re-
cently, and they’re starting to
rebound.
Each month further out
from the drought, Cal Am is
seeing usage go up in its ser-
vice areas and throughout Cal-
ifornia. During the drought,
Cal Am used focus groups to
understand the effectiveness
of its messaging. Insights
gained from the focus groups
will help Cal Am address the
challenge of drought fatigue
and messaging in general.
Demand Hardening
Cal Am also faces a chal-
lenge with demand hardening.
The utility conducted a study
a few years ago in which it
investigated price points at
which customers would re-
fuse to give up water luxuries
such as long showers or rose
gardens. Customers may not
be willing to change certain
January 2019 39
 COVER STORY
Before
Landscape Retrofit Programs Spurred Many Cal Am Customers to Remove Their Lawns and Replace Them with Native Species and Other Drought-Tolerant Plants. Photo Credit: California American Water.
habits in response to higher
prices. However, the study’s
data have helped Cal Am make
better decisions and provide
insights that will be useful in
the future.
Lessons Learned
When asked what other util-
ities, large and small, can learn
from Cal Am’s experience, Pilz
recommends they form rela-
tionships to learn from oth-
ers. Examples include sharing
programmatic content and
research data so utilities can
analyze and measure what’s
effective.
Low-Water Landscaping
The Metropolitan Water Dis-
trict of Southern California,
a cooperative of 26 cities and
water agencies, spent more
than USD 300 million a few
years ago on a turf removal
rebate program. Now utilities
can survey those who took ad-
vantage of the program to see
what worked and what could
be done differently.
Similarly, Cal Am part-
nered with several San Diego
PROJECT FILE
Customer: California Amer-
ican Water (Cal Am)
Location: California, USA
Products/Technology In-
volved: Geospatial Map-
ping, Advanced Metering
Infrastructure (AMI)
40 January 2019
organizations to implement
a grant-funded sustainable
landscape program. The pro-
gram went beyond turf remov-
al and promoted a watershed
approach, encouraging rain
capture, water retention, and
native plantings. These proj-
ects are labor-intensive but sig-
nificantly benefit the customer
base. These types of projects,
and many similar grassroots
efforts are occurring around
the state. Partnerships have al-
lowed Cal Am to extend its re-
sources and learn from others
that have a stake in the health
of California’s waters.
Non-Residential Customers
For those just beginning a
water conservation program
for the first time, Pilz recom-
mends utilities be selective
when deciding which custom-
ers to address to maximize the
reach of their resources. Cal
Am has faced barriers when
implementing some of its con-
servation initiatives. When it
recommends new fixtures for
non-residential customers, the
decision to implement those
recommendations often relies
on a return-on-investment fig-
ure. If the return on investment
is three to five years or longer,
the response from businesses
typically isn’t enthusiastic.
When working with school
administrators on retrofits
and demonstration gardens,
Pilz notes utilities should be
After
aware of time delays to work
through and control red tape
associated with annual budget
cycles. Even after such projects
are funded, they can still take
many months to get started.
Residential Customer Re-
sponse
On the residential side, Cal
Am often encounters custom-
ers who don’t want to hear
about how much water they
use - or how to be more ef-
ficient. During the drought,
in some districts with the
highest use, Cal Am imple-
mented software that showed
customers how much water
they used compared with their
neighbors. The software had
graphics, such as smiling and
frowning emojis, to reinforce
low water usage and discour-
age high water usage. The ap-
proach created a lot of atten-
tion but also frustration. Cal
Am received calls from cus-
tomers saying they didn’t want
to be compared, didn’t believe
the numbers, and thought they
used less than their neighbors.
Reception and Personal Time
The overall response to Cal
Am’s efforts by customers
who participate in its con-
servation programs has been
“overwhelmingly positive,”
according to Pilz. Cal Am has
conservation specialists who
visit homes, educate custom-
ers and survey them about
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
their experience. The spe-
cialists spend about an hour
pointing out leaks, educating
them on rebates, and admin-
istering the survey to receive
instant feedback. Instead of
an online questionnaire, the
utility spends a lot of personal
time with customers, and Pilz
says he can’t recall a negative
outcome from a home visit.
The visits can also create a
snowball effect as customers
become more engaged.
Sustainability
Efforts Pay Off
Beyond the efforts dis-
cussed here, Cal Am is work-
ing to increase the sustainabil-
ity of its water supply through
best practices in integrated
water resource management.
The utility recently completed
aquifer storage and recovery
facility that will pump excess
water collected during the
winter into a seaside basin for
recovery in the summer. Also,
Cal Am is partnering with
Pure Water Monterey, a water
recycling program, to reduce
withdrawals from the Carmel
River and Seaside Basin and
aid the natural flow of the river
and fish migration. Cal Am is
also proposing a desalination
plant in Monterey. A low-im-
pact test well is operating and
pulls ocean water through the
sandy ocean floor rather than
from the open ocean. Such ef-
forts to create a more robust
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
and diverse water supply will
substantially increase Cal Am’s
resilience.
As water providers navigate
myriad stresses on water sup-
ply, they can learn from one
another and remain open to
new avenues to achieve their
goals. Communities around
the world depend on them to
do so because access to clean
water is vital to humanity’s
future.
About the Author
Adam West is a former in-
tern with AWWA, Denver, and
a recent graduate from the
University of Colorado Boul-
der with a master’s degree in
civil engineering.
Source: This article original-
ly appeared in the March 2018
issue of Opflow, the water in-
dustry’s most popular resource
on operations issues pub-
lished by the American Water
Works Association (AWWA).
The award-winning monthly
magazine presents new and
established technologies and
ideas that readers can apply
to water treatment and distri-
bution as well as wastewater
operations. Opflow is a bene-
fit for members of AWWAIn-
dia and a valued resource for
water professionals around
the world. To join AWWA-
India, visit awwaindia.org.
To view the original article,
see https://doi.org/10.5991/
OPF.2018.44.0026.
 COVER STORY
Planning Locally, Impacting Globally - How
Water and Wastewater Utilities in Peru are
Facing Climate Change
Development and application of climate planning methodology to reduce the
carbon footprint and vulnerability of water and wastewater utilities.
By WaCClim
©GIZ
Case Summary
How to ensure water and
sanitation services deliv-
ery under a climate change
context? The climate change
mitigation and adaptation
plans (PMACC; Planes de
Mitigación y Adaptación al
Cambio Climático) are tools
to address this challenge.
PMACC identify main car-
bon emissions sources and
higher climate risks through-
out the urban water cycle,
along with water utilities’
opportunities to boost a pos-
itive change towards climate
neutrality and adaptation.
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
Following a standardized
methodology and supported
by web-based tools, the plan-
ning process becomes quick-
er and generates a report to
informing decision-makers.
This planning approach en-
abled some water utilities
in Peru to start searching for
practical carbon emissions
reduction solutions, such as
water utilities in Cusco and
Ayacucho. The PMACC ini-
tiative was developed and
implemented collaboratively
between WaCCliM (responsi-
ble for mitigation) and PRO-
AGUA II.
Background
Access and quality of drink-
ing water and sanitation ser-
vices have been considered
by the Peruvian government
as one of its top priorities,
recognizing their importance
for public health, overcoming
poverty, economic develop-
ment, and climate protection.
Droughts, precipitations, and
mudslides, whose frequency
and intensity are accentuat-
ed by climate change, highly
impact basic service delivery,
affecting water’s availability
and quality or damaging infra-
structure. In addition, operat-
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
ing the systems for supplying
drinking water to users and
treating their wastewater, gen-
erates greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions which magnitude
depends, among other things,
on energy consumption re-
quirements and treatment
technology selection. Planning
services, considering climate
change adaptation and mitiga-
tion strategies will contribute
to service sustainability and
thus directly benefit many
thousands of Peruvians.
Moreover, it offers a great
opportunity to demonstrate
how the water sector can con-
tribute to meet the targets of
the 2030 Agenda as well as
municipal wastewater man-
agement to Nationally Deter-
mined Contributions (NDC).
Challenges
The challenges to transform
utilities into climate protec-
tion and sustainability leaders
through climate mitigation
strategies are, among other
things, the following: scepti-
cism on mitigation measures’
benefits, limited access to
GHG emissions information,
knowledge gaps in low-carbon
technologies selection, opera-
tion and maintenance, restric-
tions to cover investment and
operating costs and the lack
of cooperation mechanisms
among WWUs and between
utilities and research institutes
as well as universities.
Activities
Since 2014, the WaCCliM
project has assisted the Gener-
al Directorate of Environmen-
tal Affairs (DGAA; Dirección
General de Asuntos Ambien-
tales) under the Ministry of
Housing, Construction and
Sanitation (MVCS; Ministerio
de Vivienda, Construcción y
Saneamiento), for developing
and implementing a meth-
odological process to help
utilities on drawing up their
PMACC, suitable to the util-
ities’ different contexts, sizes
and locations. The PMACC
initiative was developed and
implemented under collabora-
tion between WaCCliM y PRO-
AGUA II.
January 2019 41
 COVER STORY
Peru’s Map
Raising Awareness on Cli
mate Mitigation Opportuni-
ties
Motivated by the COP20
held in the country, the per-
sonnel of government entities
and WWUs have attained a
better understanding of links
between climate change and
the water sector and how miti-
gation measures relate directly
to service delivery (i.e. odor
control, operating costs reduc-
tion, operational efficiency,
sludge management). Since
then, they have been more
willing to participate in the
climate planning process and
contribute to global objectives
(2030 Agenda and NDC).
Development of a Concep-
tual and Methodological
Framework
The PMACC developed
under an integrated and nov-
el approach, help utilities to
Sources of GHG Emissions in Water & Sanitation Services ©WaCCLim
42 January 2019
identify the main carbon emis-
sions sources and climate risks
in service operations; as well
as the most cost-effective mea-
sures for reducing these emis-
sions and risks within a short,
medium and long term. Ac-
knowledging its importance,
the climate mitigation ap-
proach was integrated into the
management and provision of
sanitation services’ implemen-
tation act.
The Virtual PMACC Guide
Tool
It assists WWUs to deter-
mine carbon emissions, as well
as threats throughout the ur-
ban water cycle, outlining the
possible effects and risks. As a
second step, the guide helps to
identify critical facilities and
actions to be taken, both to re-
duce carbon emissions and to
protect facilities from threats
over services operation. This
simultaneous analysis of mit-
igation and adaptation allows
prioritizing actions, taking
into account co-benefits and
avoiding counter effects. Final-
ly, the virtual PMACC Guide
Tool generates a report on the
analysis carried out, including
a technical description and as-
sociated costs of measures.
Development of Training
Materials and Workshops
Promoting the horizontal
exchange of WWUs, among
comparable pairs according
to size, geographic region, and
capabilities.
Technical Assistance for
Measures Implementation
Supported by the WaCCliM
project, some companies
have begun to develop best
practices for reducing carbon
emissions, for instance, the
water utility of Cusco - SEDA-
CUSCO. At the San Jeronimo
wastewater treatment plant
(WWTP), the anaerobic sludge
digester’s operation has been
optimized, thus increasing the
production of biogas, used for
sludge heating (25%) and flar-
ing the rest (75%).
Establishment of Coopera-
tion Mechanisms Between
the Water Company and the
Academy
Such is the case of the water
company of Ayacucho - SEDA
Ayacucho along with the San
Cristóbal de Huamanga Na-
tional University and the Tech-
nische Universität Carolo-Wil-
helmina zu Braunschweig,
supported by the German
development cooperation, im-
plemented by GIZ, aiming at
exchanging skills and knowl-
edge between WWUs and
academia, finding solutions
to technical wastewater treat-
ment problems, under the con-
text of climate change.
Institutions Involved
The WaCCliM project co-
operates with the Ministry of
Housing, Construction and
Sanitation (political partner,)
and with SEDACUSCO (pilot
utility) at the local level; as
well as with other country util-
ities for the project approach’s
replication, such as the case of
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
SEDA Ayacucho.
Under MVCS, the DGAA is
responsible for the environ-
mental management of the
national water sector. DGAA’s
staff has internalized the cli-
mate change topic and has
taken a pioneering role to in-
tegrate the climate variable
into the sector’s management
instruments (PMACC Guide).
In addition, in collaboration
with the Technical Organism
for Sanitation Services Admin-
istration (OTASS; Organismo
Técnico de la Administración
de los Servicios de Saneamien-
to), provided technical assis-
tance to WWUs for drawing up
their PMACC.
Similarly, supported by
WaCCliM, Peruvian WWUs
have developed capacities in
the subject of GHG mitigation,
which will allow better service
provision planning, under
a context of climate change,
through the PMACC.
The pilot utility SEDACUS-
CO is at the forefront of cli-
mate neutrality among WWUs
in Peru and contributes sig-
nificantly to drive this issue
nationwide.
Financing
Through the PMACC,
WWUs identify and prioritize
climate mitigation and adap-
tation measures, this infor-
mation serves as the basis for
developing technical sheets,
which include a technical de-
scription of the prioritized
measures and associated costs.
Based on the required amount
of investment for implement-
ing the measures, potential
sources of financing are ex-
plored and identified. For in-
stance, SEDACUSCO has in-
vested 528,000 EUR, financed
by own resources, aiming at
operational improvements in
the anaerobic sludge digest-
er and thus, reducing sludge
management and disposal
costs, controlling odors and re-
ducing their carbon emissions.
Impacts
National government enti-
ties and WWUs have increased
awareness on climate change
and its link with the water
sector, understanding how
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
climate planning is related
to bigger goals (national and
global) and pioneering the in-
tegration of this approach with
the sectoral planning.
All WWUs in the country
have received technical assis-
tance to draw up their PMACC,
according to their local con-
texts, supported by the virtual
PMACC Guide Tool.
Around 23 companies have
completed their PMACC that
will serve as input for long-
term planning within WWUs,
offering new opportunities to
implement mitigation and ad-
aptation measures.
The pilot utility SEDACUS-
CO has managed not only to
control odors that generated
a nuisance for the population
but also to reduce its annual
GHG emissions by 5,300 tons
of carbon per year, equivalent
to 2,200 round-way flights
Lima - Frankfurt-Lima of one
person. In the future, the com-
pany considers using biogas to
generate energy and thus ob-
tain significant annual savings
of 256,000 EUR in electricity
costs, and additionally avoid
544 tons of carbon per year.
Success Factors
Political willingness, a key
aspect to carry out the PMACC
process was the commitment
of the MVCS to develop the
regulatory framework that in-
corporates climate adaptation
and mitigation approaches
into sectoral management in-
struments. Thus, ensuring pro-
cess continuity.
Availability of tools, having
the tools (PMACC and ECAM)
allowed the utilities to apply
a standardized methodology
and generate a report of useful
information to inform deci-
sion makers.
The bottom-up approach,
validating the PMACC meth-
odology with WWUs allowed
the development of a practi-
cal guide, oriented towards
service providers, identifying
practical solutions.
Cooperation between water
companies and the academy,
adapting low carbon technol-
ogy to the country local condi-
tions requires a joint effort be-
tween WWUs and the academy.
 COVER STORY
©WaCCLim
Obstacles Overcome
Perception of higher costs,
many service providers were
not willing to incorporate mit-
igation and adaptation mea-
sures into their investment
projects because they imag-
ined that it would cost more
than conventional technology
in the short and long term.
Skepticism about subject
relevance, many utilities’ per-
sonnel did not understand the
PMACC benefits, but when
they understood how these is-
PROJECT FILE
Customer: Water Utilities
Location: Peru
Service Provider: WaCCliM
y PROAGUA II
Products/Technology
Involved: Standardized
methodology and web-
based tools
Challenges: Lack of
tailor-made planning,
methodology, and tools
Good Practice: Applying
standardized methodology
and web-based tools for
facilitating water and
wastewater utilities’ clim
Wastewater Treatment Plant in Ayacucho, Peru ©GIZ
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
sues are directly related to the
service provision, they were
more willing to participate in
the process.
Lessons Learnt
Assess effects and causal-
ities, the PMACC methodol-
ogy validation showed that
cause-effect chains improve
the utilities’ personal under-
standing of how the measure
(mitigation/ adaptation) can
achieve the change and thus,
improving both, the design
of the measures and their fol-
low-up during the implemen-
tation phase.
In addition, it helps to visu-
alize the multiple benefits of
climate measures (e.g. energy
efficiency, process optimiza-
tion, odor control, sludge man-
agement, and operating costs
reduction).
Monitor parameters accord-
ing to local needs, regarding
GHG monitoring it is import-
ant that utilities start with a
series of parameters appro-
priate to their needs. Some
of the ECAM parameters are
more advanced and may be
appropriate for the future. The
most important thing is not to
become paralyzed by the uni-
verse of parameters and just
start with the key ones.
Start with the easiest mea-
sures and progress in time, the
PMACC methodology allowed
the utilities’ personnel to un-
derstand the opportunities
for service operation improve-
ments, reflect on service level
provided, identify multiple
benefits and based on that
make capital and operational
decisions to increase resil-
ience and reduce their carbon
footprint.
Link the measures to big-
ger goals, climate mitigation
and adaptation measures are
not necessarily new practices,
different from others already
carried out by the utility, but
rather provide multiple bene-
fits. For instance, reduction of
operating costs, operational
efficiency, protection of water
resources, odor control, in-
crease of resilience as well as
reducing their carbon emis-
sions. That is, how climate
measures help to catalyze sec-
toral national priorities as well
as contribute to the country’s
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
global goals.
Replication
Another company that is
moving towards its PMACC
implementation to reduce its
carbon emissions, is the utility
of Ayacucho - SEDA Ayacucho,
along with the National Uni-
versity San Cristóbal de Hua-
manga and the Technische
Universität Carolo-Wilhelmi-
na zu Braunschweig. This ini-
tiative was facilitated by the
German development cooper-
ation, implemented by GIZ, as
a collaboration between WaC-
CliM and PROAGUA II.
Under this cooperation
framework between the WWU
and the academia, a study was
carried out to assess the Totora
WWTP operating conditions,
under a climate change con-
text, and based on this, im-
plement operational improve-
ments as well as reducing
carbon emissions. The study
demonstrated that transform-
ing the existing Imhoff tanks
into Upflow Anaerobic Sludge
Blanket (UASB) reactors is
technically feasible, under the
specific operating conditions,
of Ayacucho´s Andean zone
in Peru. In the future, the com-
pany is considering installing
biogas collection and flared
systems and thus achieving a
total GHG reduction of about
43%.
Best Practice
According to the current le-
gal framework, WWUs in Peru
are required to draw up their
climate change adaptation
plans. Here, the WaCCliM proj-
ect supported to incorporate
mitigation in the short and
long term sectoral planning.
‘The simultaneous analysis
of mitigation and adaptation
allows prioritizing actions
taking into account co-ben-
efits and avoiding counter
effects. Before, there were no
standardized methodology
and tools that could facilitate
the planning process or gen-
erate a report to inform de-
cision-makers. Applying this
virtual PMACC Guide facili-
tates WWUs to draw up their
PMACC, suitable to the differ-
ent contexts, sizes, and loca-
tions of the companies. Based
on this good practice, Peruvi-
an WWU has begun to search
practical solutions to reduce
their carbon emissions, mo-
tivated by operating costs re-
duction, operational efficiency
improvements, odor control,
and sludge management,
thus benefiting thousands of
Peruvians. The PMACC ini-
tiative was developed and im-
plemented by WaCCliM and
PROAGUA II.
Next Steps
At the local level, SEDACUS-
CO was struggling to find com-
bined heat and power system
suppliers in the incipient local
market but is moving towards
coping with this issue by early
next year. In addition to this,
based on a study financed
by the WaCCliM project, SE-
DACUSCO has successfully
attained a government grant
(1,56 million EUR) for re-
placement and maintenance
of more efficient pumping
systems for Vilcanota water
supply system, thereby reduc-
ing additional 153,000 tons of
carbon in 30 years.
While SEDA Ayacucho has
started transforming one of
the existing Imhoff tanks into
a UASB including a biogas col-
lection and flared system.
At the political level, the
MVCS has started the process
to improve the conditions that
allow a favorable environment
for implementing climate
measures in the water sector,
thus contributing to the 2030
Agenda and NDC.
About the Contributor
The Water and Wastewater
Companies for Climate Miti-
gation (WaCCliM) project, is
a joint initiative between the
Deutsche Gesellschaft für In-
ternationale Zusammenarbeit
(GIZ) and the International
Water Association (IWA). This
project is part of the Interna-
tional Climate Initiative (IKI).
The German Federal Ministry
for the Environment, Nature
Conservation and Nuclear
Safety (BMU) supports this
initiative on the basis of a de-
cision adopted by the German
Bundestag.
January 2019 43
 COVER STORY MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES

Modification of a Leachate Treatment Plant

from Osmosis Technology to a Pollutant-
Reducing Process
The Riederberg landfill in Austria has cut its operations costs by 50%, saving €6
million during the remediation period by investing in a state-of-the-art high-
performance plus membrane bioreactor.
By WEHRLE Umwelt GmbH

fer capacity. Due to the high

The Wehrle BIOMEMBRAT® Plus Membrane Bioreactor Implemented at the Riederberg Facility has Significantly Reduced Running Costs at the
Landfill.
Introduction
Membrane technology pro-
cesses have proven their re-
liability for landfill leachate
treatment internationally. For
this purpose, the membrane
technology is either used as a
concentration process or as a
supporting component for oth-
er biological, chemical or phys-
ical processes. If the leachate is
concentrated by using osmosis
technology, the concentrates
produced have to be disposed
of externally. Those disposal
costs are the main cost factor
when using this technolo-
gy for landfills. Apart from
that, the osmosis technology
achieves the best outlet con-
centrations, especially in case
of a multi-stage construction
or combined with a biological
pre-treatment. In many coun-
tries, the concentrates pro-
duced are recirculated into the
landfill body since there is no
possibility for external dispos-
al. The recirculation seems to
be a very inexpensive method
of disposal, yet it is often not
sustainable. The landfill body
is not able to fix or decompose
the monovalent compounds,
such as chloride and ammo-
nia nitrogen, which results in
a concentration of those com-
pounds in the leachate. As a
consequence, the operation
costs of the osmosis plant in-
crease and the permeate yield
significantly decreases. Also,
a multi-stage construction
or higher pressures can only
postpone the problem but not
solve it.
The problem can only be
solved sustainably if the am-
monia nitrogen compounds
are removed and the chloride
concentrations are discharged
by observing the fixed limit
values. This article describes
the modification of a leachate
treatment plant from a two-
stage osmosis plant with ex-
ternal concentrate disposal to
a process decomposing pollut-
ants with subsequent chloride
discharge by using nanofiltra-
tion.
As the operation results
gathered in two years show,
the discharge requirements are
fulfilled at favorable operation
costs.
Process Used to
Concentrate Pollutants
Description of the Two-
Stage Reverse Osmosis
For the treatment of the pro-
duced leachate, a two-stage
containerized reverse osmosis
plant with plate modules was
used for 10 years. After a me-
chanical pre-filtration, the feed
was directly led from the leach-
ate balance tank to the plant.
Since the pH value of the raw
landfill leachate is too high for
the operation of reverse osmo-
sis, the pH value was adjusted
(from approx. pH 8 to pH 6.5)
by using sulphuric acid in high
dosage. The sulphuric acid
consumption mainly depends
on the ammonia nitrogen con-
centration and the related buf-
inlet concentrations of the
leachate, two-stage osmosis
had to be installed in order to
observe the ammonia nitrogen
discharge concentrations. In
the first stage, the pH-stabi-
lized leachate was separated
into a permeate and a concen-
trate flow. As design point, 80
m3/d was the maximum daily
flow rate of the plant. Due to
the high inlet concentrations,
the permeate yields achieved
in the first stage using a filtra-
tion pressure of 65 bar were
only 50%. As a result, approx.
40 m3 of concentrate were pro-
duced every day, which had to
be disposed of externally at
high costs.
Since the permeate of the
first RO stage did not obtain
the necessary discharge quali-
ty, it was treated again in a sec-
ond stage and then discharged
into a subsequent sewage
treatment plant by observing
the following limit values:
o 200 mg/l NH4-N
o 300 mg/l COD
o pH 6.5 … 9.5
Operating Conditions and
Costs
Due to the very high sul-
phuric acid dosage to adjust
the pH value, a perceptible
odor nuisance was produced
by outgassing hydrogen sul-
fide (H2S) and ammonia (NH3)
when temporarily storing the
concentrate in one of the stor-
age tanks. To counteract this
odor nuisance, the exhaust air

44 January 2019 SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD

 COVER STORY
Figure 1: Graphical Illustration of the BIOMEMBRAT® Plus Process
of the storage tanks and the
balance tank had to be treat-
ed by using a biofilter, which
caused additional operation
costs. Besides, the apparatus
and aggregates and also the
electrical components of the
plant showed considerable
corrosion due to the outgas-
sing in the osmosis containers
as well as the pollution of the
interior and exterior air. This
led to an increase in personnel,
downtimes and higher mainte-
nance costs. Since the concen-
trate could only be temporarily
stored for a few days, the con-
Figure 2: BIOMEMBRAT® Plus: COD Inlet and Outlet Concentrations
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
centrate had to be regularly
collected by road tankers. The
average was 1-2 road tankers
at 25 m3 per day, which caused
disposal costs of about €100
per cubic meter.
Process Used to
Decompose Pollutants
Description of Membrane
Biology with Nanofiltration
and Activated Carbon
The BIOMEMBRAT® plus
Process is composed of a bio-
logical treatment stage for the
elimination of nitrogen com-
pounds as well as the biode-
gradable carbon compounds
and an ultrafiltration stage for
the sludge separation. After
that, the non-biodegradable
organic compounds are sepa-
rated by a nanofiltration stage
and removed from the system
by using an activated carbon
stage. The nanofiltration per-
meate, produced properly and
reliably, complies with the dis-
charge requirements.
The biological treatment
plant is composed of a de-
nitrification stage upstream
and two cascaded nitrification
reactors (not shown in Figure
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
1). In the nitrification reac-
tors, the organic substances
and the nitrogen compounds
contained in the leachate are
oxidized by microbes while
adding atmospheric oxygen.
The nitrate produced in the ni-
trification is recirculated into
the denitrification and con-
verted to molecular nitrogen
by microbial transfer.
The surplus sludge pro-
duced during the biological
substance conversion is thick-
ened by using a decanter,
which makes it possible to
achieve a volume reduction of
up to 85%.
The biological treatment is
completely covered over in
order to maintain the reaction
temperature in the biology
over 20°C also in winter. Other
than conventional biological
wastewater treatment process-
es, the separation of the bio-
mass from the treated effluent
is effected by membrane ultra-
filtration. This makes it possi-
ble to achieve complete reten-
tion of the biomass and thus a
large removal of undissolved
pollutants up to a particle size
< 0,02 μm. The bacteria and
pollutants absorbed by the
activated sludge are properly
retained in the system.
During periods of lower
loads or, respectively, fewer
leachate production, the plant
can be operated in Low Energy
Mode (LE Mode). The LE Pro-
cess was developed to ensure
an energy-saving operation of
the ultrafiltration. Especially
in the partial load operation,
a significant cost reduction is
possible due to the lower en-
ergy consumption. The energy
reduction for the LE Process is
achieved by reducing the flow
velocity in the filtration cycle.
The LE Process ensures high
plant flexibility. The hydraulic
base load can be treated in LE
Mode.
Hydraulic load peaks are
absorbed by a higher superfi-
cial velocity in the Cross-Flow
Mode. This feature saves in-
stalled membrane surface and,
consequently, investment and
operation costs. The LE Pro-
cess thus guarantees high op-
erational stability, also in case
of wastewater characteristics
differing from those of the
plant design phase.
The sludge retention by
using ultrafiltration allows to
obtaining biomass concentra-
tions which correspond to the
four-fold to six-fold of those
achieved in a conventional
aeration tank. This makes it
possible to reach high specific
substance conversions, com-
pact construction volumes and
decisive performance increas-
es of the biological treatment.
The sludge concentrate re-
tained in the ultrafiltration is
continuously recirculated as
retentate into the denitrifica-
tion reactor. There the biomass
is available again for the de-
composition of the pollutants.
Furthermore, the flow velocity
of the retentate is used for the
circulation of the denitrifica-
tion.
The outlet water from the
ultrafiltration (UF permeate)
does not contain bacteria,
solids, and biologically active
substances, which makes a
specific post-treatment to fur-
ther reduce the COD concen-
tration by using nanofiltration
possible and simple. The reten-
tion of dissolved salts is usual-
ly 60 … 90%. Monovalent ions
- such as chloride - can be re-
tained to a small extent and be
discharged with the permeate.
The NF permeate properly
complies with the discharge
limit values, also for heavy
metals. The NF concentrate
containing high COD loads
is treated by activated carbon
adsorption. For this purpose,
reactivating activated carbons
are used. Due to the concentra-
tion in the NF concentrate, very
high load values are achieved
in the adsorption stage. The
resulting cost savings when
purchasing activated carbon
lead to high cost-effectiveness
of the whole system. The small
share of the NF concentrate is
recirculated into the denitrifi-
cation after the activated car-
bon adsorption.
Treated Annual Leachate
Volumes and Outlet
Concentrations
The daily average to be treat-
ed by the BIOMEMBRAT® plus
plant is 65 m3/d, the maximum
January 2019 45
 COVER STORY
Figure 3: COD Leachate Concentration in the Inlet of Treatment Plant
plant flow rate is 80 m3/d. In
the operation year 2013, the
annual flow rate was 28,144
m3, which corresponds to an
average daily flow rate of 77
m3/d.
The discharge limit values
of 300 mg/l for COD, 200 mg/l
for ammonia nitrogen (NH4-N)
as well as a pH value between
6.5 and 9.5 to comply with
were fulfilled a 100% at any
time.
By using the BIOMEM-
BRAT® plus Process, COD re-
moval rates of up to 97% and
NH4-N removal rates of up to
99% could be reached.
Operating Conditions
and Costs
Due to the space conditions
on site, only an area of 7 m x
14 m was available for the ma-
chine hall of the leachate treat-
ment plant. This is the reason
why the BIOMEMBRAT® plus
plant was built as two-story
construction in 2011. In the
46 January 2019
basement, which is shown as
a collecting tray, the filtration
units - ultrafiltration and nano-
filtration, activated carbon ad-
sorber, and the dosing stations
were installed. The upper story
is equipped with the switch
cabinet, the control stand, as
well as the rotary piston blow-
ers. In order to avoid material
corrosion caused by the high
chloride content of the leach-
ate, high-quality pumps, as
well as high-grade stainless
steel, were used for the instal-
lation of the pipes.
As shown in Figure 3, the
COD concentrations of the
leachate from the landfill body
are decreasing. The reduc-
tion of pollutants within the
BIOMEMBRAT® plus process
leads to a very sustainable op-
eration. Since the leachate led
in is discharged at almost 99%
from the BIOMEMBRAT® plus
plant into the sewage treat-
ment facility, the cost-inten-
sive external treatment of the
concentrate is not necessary
anymore. Compared to the op-
eration technology used from
2004 to 2011, the treatment
costs could be reduced by ap-
prox. 35%.
Summary
Membrane technology is
used nowadays for many ap-
plications. For landfill leach-
ate treatment, ultrafiltration,
nanofiltration, and osmosis
membranes are used. If the
membrane technology is not
applied to support or increase
the performance of biological,
chemical or physical processes,
the disposal costs of the con-
centrates produced have also
to be taken into consideration.
A recirculation by involving
the landfill body in the waste-
water treatment cycle is often
used. Yet this method is not
very sustainable and may lead
to a significant performance
decrease of the installed plant
technology. The example de-
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
scribed shows today’s possibil-
ities and cost-saving potentials
of a process modification.
The biological treatment of
complex wastewaters has been
further developed for different
applications in recent years.
As for leachate treatment, also
leachate concentrated in the
landfill body is treated by us-
ing biological processes. The
plant described is only one
among many installed biolog-
ical plants which replaced the
osmosis process or are later in-
stalled as pre-treatment stage
of an osmosis process.
In order to improve the cost
situation and the sustainabil-
ity of a leachate treatment
plant, limit values regarding
the salt loads to be discharged
should be required in case of
discharge into sensitive waters
only.
Case Study: The
Riederberg Landfill
in Austria
The quality and quantity of
landfill leachate depend on
the factors including climate,
waste composition, landfill
age and type of landfill opera-
tion, e.g. if the waste is being
pre-treated by a Mechanical
Biological Treatment (MBT)
plant. These factors are often
difficult to predict, which is
why leachate treatment is of-
ten excluded from the original
landfill planning.
This, of course, neglects
the fact that the treatment of
leachate is required and over-
all quite costly. Often this cost
factor becomes dominant,
especially after a landfill is
closed and goes into the af-
ter-care period of at least 30
years.
A landfill operator can save
an enormous amount of mon-
ey by investing in a modern
and flexible treatment plant
that unloads the landfill by
eliminating the organic pol-
lution in the leachate. For the
elimination of COD, BOD, and
ammonia, biological processes
have been proven to be the best
and most economical method.
An example is the Riederberg
landfill in Austria that, accord-
ing to an article in the local
papers ‘Tiroler Tageszeitung’
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
has cut its operations costs
by 50%, saving €6 million by
investing in a state-of-the-art
high-performance plus Mem-
brane Bioreactor (MBR).
Depending on the discharge
PROJECT FILE
Customer: Riederberg
Landfill
Location: Austria
Service Provider: WEHRLE
Umwelt GmbH
Products/Technology
Involved: Membrane
Bioreactor, Ultrafiltration,
Nanofiltration, and
Activated Carbon
Hydraulic Volume: 80 m3/d
Leachate Treatment
Capacity/Year: 24,000 m3/
year
limits, this technology can
be installed with additional
separation processes, such as
nanofiltration or reverse osmo-
sis. The disadvantage of sepa-
ration technologies is the fact
that they produce a concen-
trate that needs to be disposed
of - unless this concentrate is
treated with, for example, acti-
vated carbon, as they do so in
the Riederberg plant.
Using separation technol-
ogies alone, i.e. without bio-
logical pre-treatment, has not
proven to be economic over
a mid/long term period since
the concentrate (if returned to
the landfill) increases the treat-
ment costs and increases the
leachate pollution over time to
a level that is very difficult and
expensive to treat later.
Naturally, it is not only the
technology that decides on
landfill operation costs and
economics.
Good advice from experts
that have experience with
waste treatment technologies
and landfills, as well as in dif-
ferent climate zones and dif-
ferent waste characteristics is
important.
Good advice saves invest
and operation costs, reduces
operational and environmen-
tal risks and assures an eco-
nomic landfill life cycle with
a sustainable and future-proof
treatment of leachate and MBT
effluents.
 COVER STORY MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES

Lessons Learned: Starting the First On-

Demand, Gravity-Powered Ceramic Filtration
Plant in the United States
Starting a new state-of-the-art water treatment facility is always challenging, but
it’s even more difficult when the technology provider is working alone for the first
time in the United States. That was the situation operators faced when the Basin
Creek Water Treatment Plant went online last year in Butte, Montana.
By Nathan D. Kutil and James R. Keenan

The Basin Creek Water Treatment Plant went Online in May 2017 to Treat Water from the Basin Creek Reservoir (Figure
3), Once an Unfiltered Water Supply for Utte Silver Bow, Mont.

A Pressurized Ceramic Membrane Filtration Process was Selected After On-
site Pilot Testing at the Basin Creek Reservoir.
THE CITY AND COUNTY of
Butte-Silver Bow (BSB), Mon-
tana, serves the public water
supply system from three
sources: the Big Hole River,
Moulton Reservoir, and Basin
Creek Reservoir. The Basin
Creek source has historically
operated as a surface water
source with disinfection and
without filtration. However, an
administrative order from the
Montana Department of En-
vironmental Quality resulted
in the need to add filtration to
the Basin Creek source, which
led to the construction of the
Basin Creek Water Treatment
Plant.
The dam that forms the res-
ervoir that supplies the new
Basin Creek Water Treatment
plant was completed in the
1890s. From then until the
new plant’s construction, the
Basin Creek source operated
as an unfiltered, on-demand,
gravity supply that provided
up to 40% of Butte’s annual
water use.
On Dec. 31, 1991, the Mon-
tana Department of Health
and Environmental Sciences
determined it wasn’t neces-
sary to filter the Basin Creek
supply. However, on August
18, 2010, the Montana Depart-
ment of Environmental Qual-
ity issued Butte Silver Bow
notice that the filtration avoid-
ance status of the Basin Creek
source was being rescinded
immediately because the max-
imum contaminant level for
haloacetic acids (HAA5) was
exceeded. The reservoir’s or-
ganics had increased dramati-
cally because of a widespread
die-off of trees resulting from
a mountain pine beetle infes-
tation that occurred in the area
in the mid-2000s. Before the
filtration waiver was rescind-
ed, HAA5 levels at sample
sites in the Basin Creek pres-
sure zone climbed as high as
136 mg/L. Since the plant has
been online, the zone’s HAA5
concentration has averaged
less than 16 mg/L, even with
recent raw water total organic
carbon sample results among
the highest ever.
In addition to the lower
HAA5 levels, another benefit
realized since the plant has
been in operation is the abil-
ity to maximize production
from the city’s best quality and
least expensive water source.
Because the Basin Creek res-
ervoir supply often exceeds
the Basin Creek pressure zone
demand, adding the Southside
Pump Station to the zone has
resulted in nearly 60% of the
city’s annual water use coming
from the Basin Creek supply
rather the maximum 40% in
the years before the new facili-
ties. This has resulted in signif-
icant savings compared with
the cost associated with deliv-
ering water from the city’s Big
Hole River source, which re-
quires pumping water over the
Continental Divide - a distance
of nearly 26 miles.
Plant Specifics
Initial efforts focused on
site selection, pilot testing, hy-
draulic analysis, distribution
system modeling, and process
selection. Based on these ini-
tial efforts, a pressurized mem-
brane filtration process was

SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD January 2019 47

 COVER STORY
Figure 1
Full-Scale TMP Results on Recovery Skid: As Shown in Figure 1, It Became Evident that Slight Residual Polymer Carryover onto the Recovery Skid had a Negative Impact on Permeability. Figure 2 Illustrates how the
Routine Backwash and Weekly CEB Effectively Maintained TMP.
selected, and ultimately BSB
procured membrane equip-
ment from an international
manufacturer.
The new facility has a firm
capacity of 7 MGD. The treat-
ment process includes fine
straining, chemical injection
with hydraulic jet rapid mix-
ing, pressurized hydraulic
detention, ceramic membrane
filtration, corrosion control
capabilities, and finished wa-
ter disinfection. Residuals
handling processes include in-
clined plate settling, backwash
recovery, ceramic membrane
filtration, sludge holding, and
residuals pumping.
Downstream from the fil-
tration process, finished water
pumping isn’t required under
most scenarios. The hydrau-
lics (dependent on the degree
of filter fouling, water surface
elevation in the reservoir, and
flow rate) allow for complete
gravity flow through the Water
Treatment Plant (WTP) and
into the distribution system.
For scenarios when finished
water pumping is required,
Filter Effluent (FE) pumps
pull suction from a standpipe,
which retains any residual
pressure available following
filtration. The FE pumps are
sized to meet minimum and
maximum system demand
using Variable-Frequency
Drives (VFDs) and pump
control valves. The FE pumps
discharge to a standpipe to
provide the exact pressure and
flow rate required in the distri-
bution system.
A new pump station in the
48 January 2019
distribution system was also
part of the project. Because the
Basin Creek zone is the lowest
pressure zone in the system,
there are times when oper-
ators choose to pump water
produced by the new WTP to
upper zones. The pump station
is equipped with a flow meter
that constantly monitors the
flow into the low zone served
by the WTP. The pumps also
have a flow meter and run
on their VFDs to maintain an
operator-entered daily flow.
For instance, if the operators
wish to make 7 MGD and the
demand in the low zone is 4
MGD, then the pumps will run
at 3 MGD. Thus, they can effec-
tively set the demand for a sta-
ble operating condition at the
new WTP while moving water
to the upper zones.
System Details
The membrane filtration
system operates on a four- to
six-hour backwash interval
with a weekly Chemically En-
hanced Backwash (CEB) and
a six-month Clean-In-Place
(CIP) interval. A backwash re-
covery thickening system and
an associated membrane skid
provide 99.95% overall water
recovery.
Flow control is accom-
plished by the interaction
between distribution system
water demand and plant hy-
draulics. If water demand
decreases, it causes pressure
in the WTP to rise and the fil-
tration rate to decrease. When
system demand increases, a
greater differential pressure
Figure 2
between the reservoir and the
distribution system causes the
flow rate through the plant to
increase and match the system
demand. Thus, the WTP func-
tions as an on-demand facility.
In 2014, following the
award to procure the ceram-
ic membranes, a pilot study
was conducted to evaluate the
membrane system’s ability to
treat source water from the
Basin Creek Reservoir and to
verify the contracted design
parameters for the full-scale
(7 MGD) system. The primary
piloting effort focused on ad-
justing the coagulant dosage to
result in the desired CIP inter-
vals, providing a baseline for
the chemical systems design
and verifying membrane war-
ranty parameters. A secondary
goal was to assess the viability
of using synthetic polymer to
thicken backwash waste, as
backwash waste would then be
filtered with a recovery mem-
brane skid.
Start-Up Challenges
Many projects use a sched-
ule to determine project suc-
cess. When it comes to starting
a new facility, the schedule can
influence whether the start-up
will be successful. Because of
an administrative order to fil-
ter the Basin Creek source, the
WTP’s start-up began during
the project’s construction
phase. This led to many logis-
tical challenges, resulting in
an eight-month start-up and
commissioning phase, with
the WTP finally going online
on May 16, 2017.
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
Backwash Recovery Mem-
brane
Based on the limited pilot
data collected, it was deter-
mined that backwash recovery
was feasible. During the first
few months of operation, it
became evident that slight re-
sidual polymer carryover onto
the recovery skid had a nega-
tive impact on permeability, as
shown in Figure 1.
Considering the facility
was designed to recover the
backwash, residuals handling
systems were sized based on
an elevated recovery. As a re-
sult, it became crucial to find a
solution to offset recovery skid
permeability decline. Soaking
the membranes in 1,000-ppm
chlorine solution proved to
be the solution, and program-
ming was modified to employ
weekly CEB.
Although this change solved
the transmembrane pressure
(TMP) problem, it was a chem-
ical and time demand that
wasn’t necessary. An alternate
approach was attempted in
which programming was al-
tered to cut flow to the recov-
ery skid during any sequence
on one of the recovery racks
rather that pumping the full
flow set point through the on-
line rack while the other was
unavailable. When the full
flow was going through one
rack, the TMP would increase
dramatically and never fully
recover when the other rack
came back online. Since this
change, the extended (over-
night) CEB soak hasn’t been
needed to achieve overall facil-
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
ity recoveries.
Milky Water
Throughout most of the
start-up and commissioning
phase, the plant was started up
each morning, and sequence
testing and troubleshooting
were conducted for 8 to 10
hours each day. Testing was
generally only conducted four
days per week because of the
membrane manufacturer’s
personnel traveling home for
the weekends.
As warmer weather ap-
proached and the city’s water
demand increased, it was de-
cided that testing should be
conducted 24 hours per day
for a minimum of several days
in a row. The filtered water
from the plant was discharged
from an outfall just short of
where the water would even-
tually enter the distribution
system. It was observed that
the water discharged from the
outfall was milky and clearly
contained a lot of entrained
The team
worked tirelessly
to solve each
problem, and
the facility has
been making
water flawlessly
ever since it
went online.
 COVER STORY
During the Startup Process, Treated Water Discharged from an Outfall was Milky and Clearly Contained a Lot of En-
trained Air. Eventually, it was Determined the Air was Being Introduced During a Backwash Sequence.
air.
At first, the cause of the en-
trained air was unknown. Sev-
eral theories were considered,
but eventually, it was deter-
PROJECT FILE
Customer: City and County
of Butte-Silver Bow (BSB)
Location: Basin Creek Water
Treatment Plant, Butte-Sil-
ver Bow, Montana, USA
Products/Technology In-
volved: Membrane Filtra-
tion System, Water Treat-
ment Plant (WTP)
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
mined the air was being in-
troduced during the backwash
sequence.
During backwash, the back-
wash supply tank is filled with
the filtrate and pressurized
with air to approximately 72
psi. Subsequently, the pres-
surized filtrate’s flow was re-
versed from the filtrate side
of the membrane to the raw
water side of the membrane to
dislodge accumulated contam-
inants. After a couple of days
of trial and error, it was dis-
covered the pressurization and
backwash steps were lasting
too long, and the reverse-flow
step was followed with a large
volume of air. Although there
was a lot of trial and error
to determine the problem’s
cause, the solution was simply
a change in programming that
shortened the sequence dura-
tion.
Membrane Acceptance Test-
ing
The start-up period last-
ed several months while the
membranes treated raw water
from Basin Creek Reservoir
(although the water wasn’t
used in the distribution sys-
tem). By the time the new WTP
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
Figure 3
went online, the membranes
had already been processing
water for nearly eight months
with no CIP conducted. From
May 16, 2017, to Oct. 20, 2017,
the facility produced drinking
water for the community, and
still, no CIP was conducted.
Routine backwash and week-
ly CEB effectively maintained
TMP as shown in Figure 2.
The membrane procure-
ment contract required an
acceptance test to prove the
system would operate as in-
tended. The primary metric
for a successful acceptance test
was centered around the dura-
tion between CIPs. Consider-
ing the WTP ran for nearly a
year without a CIP, everyone
agreed the acceptance test
would provide little benefit to
the owners. The first CIP took
place in the spring of 2018,
mainly because the operators
wanted fully recovered perme-
ability going into the summer
months.
Practice Makes Perfect
The start-up and commis-
sioning of a new membrane
WTP are always time-con-
suming and, if done correctly,
results in a few outstanding
operational glitches after the
facility is brought online. This
project proved that the chal-
lenges are even greater when
the effort takes place during
construction and the facility
is the first of its kind. Some of
the difficulties encountered
were controllable, and some
were beyond control. Regard-
less, the team worked tirelessly
to solve each problem, and the
facility has been making water
flawlessly ever since it went
online.
About the Authors
Nathan D. Kutil is with
HDR Engineering, Missou-
la, Mont. James R. Keenan is
with Butte Silver Bow Water
Utility, Butte, Mont.
Source: This article origi-
nally appeared in the Novem-
ber 2018 issue of Opflow, the
water industry’s most popular
resource on operations issues
published by the American
Water Works Association
(AWWA). The award-winning
monthly magazine presents
new and established technolo-
gies and ideas that readers can
apply to water treatment and
distribution as well as waste-
water operations. Opflow
is a benefit for members of
AWWAIndia and a valued re-
source for water professionals
around the world. To join AW-
WAIndia, visit awwaindia.org.
To view the original article,
see https://doi.org/10.1002/
opfl.1098.
January 2019 49
 COVER STORY MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES

Leakage Detection and Management in

Municipal Water Supply Network
Leakage losses (non-revenue water) are often in excess of 30% and in some
instances, more than 40%. Such losses of our precious resources are not affordable.
By Prakash Muthuswamy
The Background
India has been going
through times of water scarci-
ty, deficient rainfalls and sum-
mer months of severe drought
in many states. Water, which
was a generously available re-
source for our country is now
seen as a critical resource.
Governments are taking steps
to conserve water and manage
our resources better. These
efforts are also reflecting on
our “Smart City” efforts, as we
endeavor to build 24x7 water
supply systems for many of
our cities.
Leakage losses (non-reve-
nue water) are often in excess
of 30% and in some instances,
more than 40%. Such losses of
our precious resources are not
affordable. Further, other con-
sequent losses include treat-
ment and energy losses, mak-
ing our water management
operations not sustainable.
Our cities are generally not
well equipped with bulk trans-
mission metering, so we are
unaware of where and how
much are the losses. Inade-
quate monitoring, warning
and alarm systems also make
us slow in responding to situ-
ations like pipeline bursts and
major losses of water.
It is observed that water net-
work managers tend to shut
down the distribution systems
for several hours each day, and
operate at very low pressures
and flow velocities, to ensure
minimal losses through leaks
and to maximize the avail-
ability of water for citizens.
Operations are difficult when
not backed by appropriate
technology monitoring instru-
ments.
Presently some of our cities
are pursuing metering, conser-
vation/ loss minimization and
revenue generation options,
starting from water supply
sources, into treatment plants,
distribution networks, district
metering areas, and domestic
metering. The available tech-
nologies, if properly utilized,
can bring India to the forefront
in terms of efficient water
management by leveraging
technology.
Monitoring Needs
For sustainable water man-
agement, it is imperative that
we find cost-effective and reli-
able monitoring solutions. The
solutions that can work within
our constraints such as:
• N on-contact flow measure-
ment with clamp-on or inser-
tion type sensors, minimiz-
ing pipeline modifications;
• Easy installation in minutes
leading to quick availability
of data;
• B i-directional flow measure-
ment to help account for
water accurately in networks
with many inter-connec-
tions;
• No need to modify pipes,
saving in chamber construc-
tion, space limitations, etc;
• Extremely cost-effective, par-
ticularly in larger sizes;
• Low velocity flows (0.01 m/
sec) measured. Good for leak
detection, particularly while
monitoring night-time, qui-
escent leakage flows;
• Suitable for various pipe siz-
es and materials, as our wa-
ter networks are established
across many decades with
pipes manufactured under
different standards;
• Avoiding interruption to the
water supply for metering in-
stallation;
• No problems if the pipes
are under tension and there
is no risk of damage to the
pipeline; and
• Sensor can be directly bur-
ied… no need for chambers
to be built, thus saving con-
struction costs.
Thus smart monitoring is
one where the current needs
of the country are addressed,
embracing flexibility, stan-
dardization, and adaptability
to local site conditions.
The Case Study
This is an instance where
portable flow meter was used
to measure flows in a pipeline
for Coimbatore Corporation,
resulting and identification
and repair of a leak.
Details of 24 hours wa-
ter supply study, from Anna
Nagar, a residential locality in
Coimbatore, reveal that water
flow velocities and pressures
tend to be quite low. Appro-
priate metering technology
should be deployed to ensure
reliable performance at low
velocities, found in our munic-
ipal water networks.
GI Pipe Reading in Anna
Nagar Near Singanallur
Bus Stand Coimbatore
Measur- Anna Nagar
ing Point Water Tank
Pipe Grey Cast Iron
Outer 337.00 mm
Diameter
Wall 16.5 mm
Thickness
Metering Solution
Velocities above 0.5 m/s
were observed only for very
short durations in the water
distribution network. It is crit-
ical that the selected metering
equipment are specified to
measure under such low veloc-
ities. Otherwise, the installed
metering equipment would
read lower velocity flows as
zero flows. The struggle to ac-
count for the volume of water
treated and dispatched from
the Water Treatment Plant
(WTP) cannot be matched
with the consumption records
from the network.
Our next-generation in-
frastructure upgrades will
give India the opportunity to
record consumption, detect
leaks and manage better, with
appropriate selection of me-
tering technology. A contract
to detect and stop NRW might
give immediate relief from the
reduction of Non-Revenue Wa-
ter (NRW). But long-term reli-
able metering will be essential
for 24x7 reliable water supply.
Our cities need to deploy
concepts such as District Me-
tering, illustrated below, to
record consumption patterns
area-wise and quickly and ef-
fectively close local leaks.
Leveraging Technology
The technology needs to be
leveraged for easy, secure, on-
line availability of data for our
water managers, easing their
management burden of ensur-

50 January 2019 SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD

 COVER STORY
ing precious water availability
for the public. We would need
to see key performance indica-
tors such as the daily volume
of water consumed, energy per
unit volume of water, water
quality etc. It might be worth
for our smart cities to compete
in terms of sustainable munic-
ipal water systems. India could
well be an example for others
to emulate. The need of the
hour is:
PROJECT FILE
Customer: Coimbatore Cor-
poration
Location: Coimbatore, Tam-
il Nadu, India
Service Provider: AuM Sys-
tems
Products/Technology In-
volved: Flow Meters, AMR,
SCADA
• Ensuring security of water
supply for the public, indus-
tries and fire services;
• Efficient operation of the
network;
• Identification of areas with
high non-revenue water ra-
tios;
•Web-based monitoring sys-
tems with intuitive graphical
user interfaces for operations
Velocity Graph
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
sans control rooms; and
• P
 lanning and design of new
network section.
The systems can facilitate
an exact recording of water
consumption from the wa-
ter source (such as reservoir
catchments) using appropriate
bulk water metering. Down-
stream, consumption patterns
in terms of transmission net-
work pressures and flows can
be recorded and compared to
highlight deviations. Metering
data from each DMA need to
Volume of Flow Graph
be compared against expect-
ed (designed) consumption keep track of NRW lost in sive monitoring of water net- About the Author
patterns. Metering will thus bulk transmission, works, help identify losses Prakash Muthuswamy is
continuously reveal volumes • Bulk water transmission and open up significant po- the Managing Partner at AuM
of non-revenue water lost in data, compared against tential for NRW reduction. Systems. He is PMP Certified
the network. DMA consumption, will help Open-technology, reliable with an experience of over two
With modern domestic ascertain losses in distribu- metering at all levels as well decades in water & wastewa-
water metering with Auto- tion networks, as an appropriate integration ter sector, particularly on the
matic Meter Reading (AMR) • Finally, DMA metering com- strategy and specifications can state-of-the-art RO desalina-
systems, area-wise consump- pared online with “smart” help India make giant strides tion plants for potable water
tion data and patterns will be
available, which can on-line
be interfaced with bulk water
management SCADA systems,
thereby facilitating direct com-
parison of domestic consump-
tion patterns with distribution
network metering.
Conclusions
Reliable metering, along
with on-line monitoring, oper-
ation and alarm management
of modern, open-technology
SCADA systems and data an-
alytics will give benefits of
improved Municipal water
management, in 4 layers, with
following capabilities:
• Raw water in-take measure-
ments, along with the Water The SCADA System
Treatment Plant (WTP) in-
flows and outflows will help domestic (AMR) metering in cost-effective water man- and MBR Plants for wastewa-
analyze losses in raw water data, will give comprehen- agement. ter treatment.
supply and WTP,
• Treated water discharge
compared with bulk water
storage facilities, will help
January 2019 51
 COVER STORY
A Town in Maharashtra is Building a Sustainable
Water Supply through Smart Water Metering
Shirpur Warwade became the first city in India to implement smart water meters
with AMR across the town and the amount of water savings they have made are
stunning.
By Kriti S. Golwalla
Citizens of Shirpur Expressing Their Content with the New Metering Solution
SHIRPUR WARWADE IS a
progressive town located in
Dhule district in the north
of Maharashtra. With a sheer
population of around 80,000,
Shirpur is a well-known name
in the education and innova-
tion industry. One of the re-
markable projects undertaken
by the city council to ensure
sustainable development was
the 24x7 water supply scheme
launched in 2013. Earlier, cit-
izens of Shirpur received in-
termittent water supply, which
led to improper water usage,
and there was no mechanism
available for tracking the exact
consumption. Thereby, reeling
under the constant pressure
for effective demand manage-
ment and building a sustain-
able water supply that gener-
52 January 2019
ates revenue.
“In 2013, we set out on a
mission to create a sustain-
able water supply for the en-
tire town and we were on the
lookout for a solution that not
only solves the problems of
today but also ensures smart
water management for years
to come. After careful evalua-
tion and scrutiny, we selected
the ultrasonic metering tech-
nology and the AMR system
offered by Kamstrup, and we
have been extremely satisfied
with their performance so far”,
says Amrishbhai Patel, MLC,
Shirpur.
Smart metering was a crit-
ical component for achiev-
ing fair billing, managing
revenues with respect to the
cost of production and other
expenditure. Kamstrup’s ul-
trasonic smart metering tech-
nology came out to be a clear
winner amongst many other,
primarily due to the accuracy
and reliability our meters of-
fer throughout their lifespan.
Additionally, the Automatic
Meter Reading (AMR) solution
drastically reduces the manual
effort and error, therefore im-
proving process efficiency and
reducing costs.
A Journey Filled
with Challenges
Shirpur lies in a drought-
prone area in Maharashtra,
therefore insufficient water
supply, depleting rainfalls
and extreme summer heat are
common. Yet dripping pipes,
spilling water on the roads,
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
washing vehicles with oodles
of water was a common sight
in the town. During our initial
assessment, we discovered
that there was high wastage of
water due to the intermittent
supply, huge workforce and
time spent on revenue collec-
tion and consumers were quite
resistant to the new metering
policy.
As no one was accountable
to pay as per their consump-
tion, there was excess water
usage and a high number of
unauthorized connections re-
sulting in the theft of water.
Due to the intermittent supply,
the pipeline network was vul-
nerable to bursts and leakages
and very little attention was
paid towards repairs, as timely
information was never avail-
able. Moreover, it took more
than 2 months to take meter
readings, prepare and distrib-
ute bills, thereby consistent
delay in collections.
“Since the beginning of
meter installation in 2014,
we were actively involved
with the council as a change
management partner. We con-
ducted training sessions and
reading trials for the coun-
cil employees to empower
them with grievance handling
mechanism, and even pre-
pared demos for the citizens to
ensure transparency and trust
between the council and its
citizens”, says Suneel Bham-
bere, Director, Kamstrup India
operations.
A Holistic Solution to
Achieve Operational
Efficiency
In its endeavor to give each
household clean water 24x7,
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
PROJECT FILE
Customer: Shirpur Munici-
pal Council
Location: Shirpur Warwade,
Dhule, Maharashtra, India
Service Provider: Kamstrup
Products/Technology In-
volved: Ultrasonic Smart
Metering
Shirpur municipal council
wanted to efficiently mea-
sure, monitor and manage
consumption and introduce
fair billing mechanism for
their residential and commer-
cial customers. Shirpur is the
first-ever smart water-meter-
ing project at the city level in
the country until date. Their
focus was on the quality and
durability of the meters and a
dependable Automatic Meter
Reading solution with long-
term operations and mainte-
nance and Kamstrup checked
all the boxes.
The complete solution con-
sists:
• flowIQ®2101 ultrasonic
smart water meter,
• USB meter reader with an-
tenna,
• Meter reading software,
• 3rd party integration with
billing software, and
• 10 years O&M with an ex-
tended warranty.
“The government directive
is to provide 135 LPCD to each
citizen and a key success fac-
tor in achieving this has been
the installation of Kamstrup
smart meters. Seeing the per-
formance of the meter and its
durability, we have taken in-
surance for all the meters that
not only benefits the munici-
pality but the citizens are also
 COVER STORY
Meter Readers from SWMC Flashing Their AMR Device and Ease of Data Collection
reassured of any obligations”,
says Amol Bagul, Chief Officer,
Shirpur-Warwade Municipal
Council (SWMC). Addition-
ally, smart alarms help detect
any incidents like leak, burst,
dry.
The installation started in
2014 and there was no looking
back for the council and for
Kamstrup. We encountered the
issues relentlessly - one of the
interesting ones was narrow
lanes and dense housing in-
frastructure, which made it im-
possible to install the meters
in the traditional horizontal
position. Nevertheless, thanks
to the ultrasonic technology,
Kamstrup meters work perfect-
ly well in any direction; there-
fore, the meters were installed
in a vertical position. The
Operations and Maintenance
(O&M) began in January 2017
and with that meter data col-
lection also started. It took a
lot of collaborative effort with
the council and the contractor,
Balraj Tech for physical meter/
consumer data verification,
creating DMA and sub-DMA
for master data preparation for
efficient meter reading and re-
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
porting purposes. The rigorous
activity that went on for the
next 6 months resulted in the
following:
• Comparative analysis of
water consumption pattern
post meter installation
• Difference in water con-
sumption of residential and
commercial connections
• Consumer Segmentation as
per high, medium and low
water consumption
• B
 ased on the above analysis
the council formed the bill-
ing policy based on telescop-
ic rates
Value Creation
at Each Step
Shirpur began the official
cycle for water bills from April
2018 and they are already
seeing tremendous results.
The smart meters supplied
by Kamstrup measure water
consumption with pinpoint
accuracy and overcome all the
shortcomings of traditional
meters like air measurement,
low flow challenges, the life-
time of the meter, recalibration
and repair every few years.
“Shirpur Nagar Parishad
used to issue yearly bills on
a fixed rate. With Kamstrup
meters and AMR system, we
are recording monthly reading
and issuing quarterly bills on
a volume consumption basis.
Therefore, it is easier to track
and customer complaints have
reduced a lot”, says Shri Ulhas
Agarwal, HOD - Water Sup-
ply, SWMC. There is ease of
operation in day-to-day tasks
and supply process efficiency
seen within the council that
translates into an increased
level of service from the field
service department and boost
employee performance and
morale.
“Earlier we used to supply
120 lakh liters of water per
day but now we need to sup-
ply only 80 lakh liters every
day, therefore, we are saving
a lot of water. Moreover, we
used to take 2 months to issue
water bills but now with AMR
system, it takes only 4-5 days
including reading, billing and
bill distributions. Hence, sav-
ing a lot of time,” says, Madhav
Patil, City Engineer, SWMC.
We had the opportunity to
interact with the citizens of
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
Shirpur after they experienced
a year with the new smart
metering system. A common
sentiment discovered was that
customers were worried earli-
er that their water bills will in-
crease after meter installation
but that vanished after seeing
their exact consumption read-
ings. Each one showed a com-
mitment to conserve water.
“We now know how much
water we are consuming on a
daily basis and we are using it
carefully. Even with the scarci-
ty of water and depleting rain-
fall, we are assured that we will
have an equitable supply of
water as we are paying as per
consumption and this meter
is very useful for that” says,
Harish Mahajan, a citizen of
Shirpur.
Mrs. NK Devre is a teacher
by profession and she said,
“Earlier, we had to wait long
hours and plan our daily
chores as per the water tim-
ings but with 24x7 water sup-
ply, we do not have to worry
about managing our schedule
anymore. As we are certain of
regular water supply, we un-
derstand the importance of
water and we are committed to
using it wisely.”
Conclusion
The case of Shirpur’s smart
water management is an in-
spiration to all the municipal
corporations, councils, water
supply boards, and even smart
cities. In the last 2 years of
meter reading, the council has
realized many unauthorized
connections and converted
them to authorized one, there-
by adding accountability at
each step. A lot of effort went
in generating awareness about
water conservation, consump-
tion-based billing, and it has
benefited the citizens as well
as the council. The number
of high volume consumers
shows a sharp decline and the
otherwise low consumption
consumers are seen on the
map due to the transparent
and automatic meter reading
mechanism.
“Generally, we see a huge
spike in the consumption of
water in May as compared to
April due to the summer sea-
son but this time, due to cus-
tomer awareness and meter
installation, we have been to
actually save 1.5 crore liters of
water in May” shares, Amol Ba-
gul, CO, SWMC.
Kamstrup’s vision is to cre-
ate progress for others, we are
glad that with our smart me-
tering solution we have been
able to contribute in estab-
lishing trust and transparency
between the utility and con-
sumers, not only in India but
worldwide.
About the Author
Kriti S. Golwalla is a pas-
sionate marketer who enjoys
working closely with custom-
ers. As Marketing Manager
for India and the Middle East
region at Kamstrup, her focus
is on developing new markets
and customer segments and
identify innovative ways to
interact and engage with them.
January 2019 53
 COVER STORY MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES

Helping Quantify the Most Critical Flood-

Prone Areas in Portugal
Bentley OpenFlows FLOOD was the software used as the integrated modeling
capability to estimate the flood characteristics and the associated inundated maps.
22 critical areas were identified, promoting more effective risk mitigation and
resilience actions.
By Bentley Systems

The Image Shows the Maximum Water Depth for Three Different Return Periods.

Project Objectives
• T o provide flood inundation
and flood risk maps for a
Portuguese territory and to
properly quantify inunda-
tion probabilities and asso-
ciated risks for the existing
and future infrastructures,
human health, economic
activities, and the environ-
ment.
• To support the creation of
the Inundation Risk Man-
agement Plans, including
the definition of the neces-
sary actions to reduce expo-
sure to those flood events.
Flooding and
Inundations in Portugal:
Past and Present
River flooding affects more
people worldwide than any
other natural hazard, with an
estimated global annual aver-
age loss of USD 104 billion.
Such damages are expected
to increase as a result of con-
tinued economic growth and
climate change.
Severe rainfall conditions
that lead to floods are asso-
ciated with atmospheric in-
stability which, in mainland
Portugal, usually occurs from
autumn to spring.
However, the climatic
change is precipitating the
river flooding events in Eu-
rope, particularly in western
Europe, according to a study
published in Science.
Constant modifications in
soil use (including deforesta-
tion and the urbanization of
flood zones) can also increase
the impacts from flooding.
In mainland Portugal, flood
events occur in many different
zones.
Yet, the most significant
events occur in the hydro-
graphic basins of large and
medium-sized rivers. The
Tagus, Douro, and Sado rivers
have a long history of floods,
frequently reported in the me-
dia.
Other river basins are reg-
ularized through reservoirs
with the capacity to laminate
or to fit the volumes of the
floods that are attenuating the
flow.
The hydrological regime
of small watercourses in Por-
tugal is usually torrential.
During part of the year, the
flow is null (or almost null)
and years pass by without the
beds overflowing.
In contrast, in the case of
intense precipitation, surface
runoff reaches a high veloci-

54 January 2019 SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD

 COVER STORY MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES

cords near the flood zone, hy- Regarding the boundary

FAST FACTS drological modeling has been conditions, a schematic vari- PROJECT FILE
developed to estimate flood able hydrograph was imposed Customer: Portuguese
•T  wenty-two critical zones were identified. peak flows. in the riverside to represent Environment Agency
• Three different scenarios (20, 100, 1,000 years of For this, the MOHID Land the flood rise as a function of Location: Portugal
return periods) are considered, and using Bentley model, provided by Bentley different flows and velocities. Service Provider:
OpenFlows FLOOD integrated flood modeling OpenFlows FLOOD, was used. In the critical areas under Bentley Systems
to generate multiple inundation maps. In the four remaining zones, the tidal influence, the im- Products/Technology
• Modeled scenarios were used to obtain flood the peak flows were obtained posed sea level considered Involved: OpenFlows
risk maps split in seven Flood Risk Management by analyzing the existing hy- was the average height from FLOOD Software System
Plans covering the Portuguese mainland. drometric records. The deter- two consecutive spring tides;
• The completed model allowed us to project mination of the inundated and in the estuarine zones, ble of preventing, protecting,
customized actions to reduce the risk levels zones was obtained through an overelevation (represent- and mitigating the potential
and to increase societal resilience. the hydraulic modeling of the ing the storm surge from the effects derived from future
superficial runoff. atmospheric pressure, wind, flood events in the next 20
ROI This determination enables and waves) was also consid- years.
the flood flow characteristics ered. All these actions were later
•M
 odel-based decision-making for flood risk to be estimated. A set of 22 flood risk criti- included in the different In-
management increased effectiveness and reliability. Hazard mapping was also cal zones were assessed under undation Risk Management
obtained, integrating maxi- three different return periods Plans developed by the APA
mum depth and associated (20, 100, and 1,000 years). as an important management
ty, with the specific flow rates the face of floods. Additional- velocity. Multiple inundation maps instrument.
of the centenary floods being ly, the APA applies measures For all the zones to be mod- were generated. The identification of the
very high. to create alert systems to pro- eled, two-dimensional mod- Models have also been run most critical areas and infra-
tect people and assets. els were implemented, using for calibration and validation structures allowed them to ef-
The Legal and The APA is also the main MOHID Land (for the inland for historic events. ficiently prioritize the imple-
Institutional Context national entity responsible for waters) and MOHID Water mentation of specific actions,
In the aftermath of the the effective implementation (applied to estuarine zones). Using Flood Marks from which is particularly relevant
damaging floods in Central of the European directive in These 2D models are based Previous Incidents when resources are scarce.
Europe between 1998 and Portugal. on the equation of conserva- The existing marks in infra-
2004, the European Union The implementation took tion of mass and conservation structure that were recorded About the Contributor
initiated a process of studying place as a result of the elabo- of momentum in two horizon- from previous flood events Bentley Systems is the lead-
the phenomenon, as well as ration and application of flood tal directions. have been compared with the ing global provider of software
developed mitigation and ad- risk management plans, which With these models, the bed simulated scenarios. solutions to engineers, archi-
aptation procedures to reduce was only possible after the is discretized with high-reso- Although some of these tects, geospatial professionals,
Europe’s vulnerabilities in the mapping of inundation zones lution finite element meshes, marks did not specifically constructors, and owner-op-
event of floods. and flood risks. determining the components refer to the instant or the as- erators for the design, con-
By creating these proce- Bentley OpenFlows FLOOD of the flow velocity in the hor- sociated flow, this qualitative struction, and operations of
dures, the European Union was the software used as the izontal plane and considering analysis allowed the team to infrastructure. Bentley’s Mi-
sought to reduce harmful con- integrated modeling capabil- the respective average value make a positive comparison croStation-based engineering
sequences. ity to estimate the flood char- according to the vertical. between the modeled and and BIM applications, and its
As a result, the European acteristics and the associated At each study site, the vari- measured water heights, en- digital twin cloud services,
Commission developed a new inundated maps. ous available topographic data abling them to validate the advance the project delivery
strategy that led to the publi- sources were collected and in- models. (ProjectWise) and the asset
cation of a directive (2007/60/ Used Data and tegrated (including a 0.5-me- performance (AssetWise) of
EC) on the assessment and Considered Scenarios ter resolution from LIDAR in The Bottom Line: transportation and other pub-
management of flood risks. and Model Engine some areas). Quantified Risks lic works, utilities, industri-
This directive was trans- The modeling approach Also, interpolation meth- Promote Suitable al and resources plants, and
posed into national laws, es- used to delineate the inundat- ods were used to describe the Actions and commercial and institutional
tablishing a national frame- ed areas depends on the base- floodplains with the greatest Prioritization facilities.
work for the assessment and line information and on the detail possible. The generated inundation Bentley Systems employs
management of flood risks, specificities of each region. Based on the topographic maps allowed for the develop- more than 3,500 colleagues,
with the aim of reducing the The estimation of flood in- data available and the needs ment of a realistic risk assess- generates annual revenues of
harmful consequences asso- undated zones is contingent for each specific zone, the ment for the areas of study, USD 700 million in 170 coun-
ciated with this phenomenon upon the selection of the flood computational meshes adopt- resulting in the same number tries, and has invested more
for health (including human peak flows for the different re- ed varied between 2 meters of flood risk maps. than USD 1 billion in research,
losses), the environment, cul- turn periods being studied. and 40 meters, with the most The flood risk quantifica- development, and acquisitions
tural heritage, infrastructure, In the eight areas with de- frequent resolution being tion integrated the hazard since 2012. From inception in
and economic activities. fault flows provided by the 10x10 meters. mapping, which was modeled 1984, the company has re-
In Portugal, the Portuguese APA, the flood peak flows The number of computa- from inundation maps and mained majority-owned by its
Environmental Agency (APA), provided were considered di- tional points for the different the exposure obtained from five founding Bentley broth-
which is the National Author- rectly. grid meshes varied between the consequence mapping. ers. Bentley shares transact by
ity for Water, is responsible In the 10 areas where the 101,500 and 1,402,800. The quantified risk maps invitation on the NASDAQ Pri-
for flood management at a na- watershed does not show sig- All the data processing was for all those critical areas pro- vate Market; strategic partner
tional level, as well as adopt- nificant regularization and/or done inside Bentley Open- vided valuable instruments to Siemens AG has accumulated
ing coordination measures in does not have hydrometric re- Flows FLOOD. project suitable actions capa- a non-voting minority stake.

SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD January 2019 55

 COVER STORY
A Sewerage Treatment Plant at Salori
Allahabad for Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam
The Sewerage Treatment Plant of 14,000 m3/day capacity was commissioned under
the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG).
By UEM India
Parshall Flume Channel
Customer Overview
NMCG - A Central Govern-
ment Body and UPJN - A
State Body
NMCG is an independent
body of the government of
India, which has been con-
stituted to take measures for
prevention, control and abate-
ment of environmental pollu-
tion in the Ganges and to en-
sure continuous adequate flow
of water so as to rejuvenate the
Ganges. Meanwhile, UPJN is
the state body in charge of ex-
ecuting the projects related to
water and wastewater in the
state of Uttar Pradesh. Found-
ed in 1975, UPJN enforces and
implements the mandate of
NMCG to rejuvenate the Gan-
56 January 2019
ges as one of its activities with
the aims of developing and
regulating water supply and
sewerage services in the whole
state except the cantonment
areas.
Current Issue in India
Majority of Wastewater Dis-
charged without Treatment
India with the world’s sec-
ond largest population is ad-
vancing rapidly. However, a
large part of the population
does not have access to drink-
ing water and proper sanita-
tion because the vast majority
of wastewater is discharged
without treatment into water
resources, such as rivers, lakes,
and groundwater. The rejuve-
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
Primary Treatment Unit (Fine Screen)
day sewerage treatment treated water into the river
plant with a pumping sta- Ganges.
tion on a turnkey basis us-
ing the modern technology Our Proposed Solution
on the NMCG platform. - The 14,000 m3/day
o Satisfying the required treat- STP Project Using
ed water quality, BOD*1 < SBR Technology
10 mg/L; TSS*2 < 10 mg/L; o E xecutes the 14,000 m3/day
COD*3 < 100 mg/L; pH*4: sewerage treatment plant
5.5 to 9 [*1: BOD: Biochem- project on a turnkey basis
ical Oxygen Demand, *2: using the proven modern
TSS: Total Suspended Sol- SBR technology.
ids, *3: COD: Chemical Oxy- o Ensures high quality treat-
nation of the Ganges under gen Demand, *4: pH: Poten- ed water is discharged into
the aegis of NMCG is one such tial of Hydrogen]. the Ganges as per the latest
platform where joint efforts o Discharging high-quality norms of CPCB.
are made by the central and
state governments, urban local
bodies and private sectors to
create a synergy for the success
of the ‘Clean India’ initiative.
The 14,000 m3/day sewerage
treatment plant in Salori, Al-
lahabad is one of the projects
commissioned under this ini-
tiative and supported by the
World Bank.
Meeting the Customer’s
Requirements
o M
 eeting the requirements
from UPJN to design, pro-
vide, construct, install and
commission the 14,000 m3/ SBR Fill and Draw Basic Theory
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
 COVER STORY
Sludge Dewatering Unit
o Satisfies the treated wa-
ter quality required by the
customer, BOD < 10 mg/L;
TSS < 10 mg/L; COD < 100
mg/L; pH: 5.5 to 9.
o Treats sludge generated
Plant Description
o Th
 e World Bank provides
assistance to the National
Ganga River Basin Author-
ity (NGRBA) for abetment
of pollution in the Ganga, as
well as technical and finan-
cial support by the govern-
ment.
o Th
 e 14,000 m3/day day
sewerage treatment plant
during the process of sew-
erage treatment by press-
ing the sludge between
two belts to squeeze excess
water, to allow dewatered
sludge to be used as manure
or in landfills.
Admin cum Laboratory Building
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
The Contribution
of Our Solution
o S BR technology.
o The SBR is a variant of the
activated sludge process,
which operates on the fill-
project in Salori, Allahabad
is supported by the World
Bank.
o Design, Build, Operate and
Maintain (DBOM) and
transfer of sewerage treat-
ment plant including a main
pumping station, effluent
pumping station, appurte-
nant structures in Salori, Al-
lahabad, Uttar Pradesh.
and-draw principle. The SBR
process eliminates the need
for primary and secondary
clarifiers. The unit process-
es of fill, react, settle, draw
and idle occur sequentially
on a cyclic basis. In the fill
phase, screened and de-grit-
ted wastewater flows into
the basin. In the react phase,
the basin is aerated. During
the settle phase, aeration
is stopped to allow solids
PROJECT FILE
Customer: Uttar Pradesh Jal
Nigam (UPJN) with the joint
effort of NMCG
Location: Sewerage
Treatment Plant, Salori,
Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh,
India
Service Provider: UEM
India
Date of Commencement:
November 2014
Plant Capacity: Sewerage
Treatment - 14,000 m3/day
Products/Technology
Involved:
to settle to the bottom of
the basin. During the draw
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
Being chosen as a partner for the
government’s Clean Ganga initiative
reflects on our expertise in wastewater
treatment and the extensive O&M
experience we have gained through
significant contracts in other Indian cities.
The Salori Allahabad project is a testimony
to our expertise in commissioning similar
projects and managing the technology
& funding structure and reinforces our
already strong record for delivering
cost-effective solutions for wastewater
management. With UEM’s experience
and expertise equipped with the strong
lineage of Toshiba technology, we are
committed to working towards the goal
of a ‘Clean India’. UEM has the capability
and experience of successfully delivering
such technologies to the growth of
environmentally conscious industries for
the next India.”
- Koichi Matsui, Chairman & Managing
Director, UEM India
phase, treated effluent is water in the process of sludge
decanted. Sludge is wasted treatment.
during the idle phase.
The Advantage of Our
Rejuvenation of Solution
the Ganges o M eeting the customer’s
High-quality treated water needs with cutting-edge
is discharged into the Gan- knowledge, experience, and
ges as per the latest norms expertise.
of CPCB’s “Ministry of Envi- o Using the proven state-of-
ronment, Forest and Climate the-art Sequential Batch
Change Notification”. The Reactor (SBR) technology
treated water quality meets for the 14,000 m3/day sew-
the customer’s expectations erage treatment plant proj-
(Table 1). ect in Salori, Allahabad to
produce high-quality treat-
Dewatering and ed water and discharge the
Sludge Treatment water into the Ganges.
The dewatering and sludge o 
Conforming to the latest
treatment equipment is used norms of the Central Pollu-
to remove 80% of the excess tion Control Board (CPCB).
Parameter Units Value
pH 6.5 to 9.0
BOD mg/L < 20
TSS mg/L < 50
Fecal Coliform MPN < 1000
Table 1
January 2019 57
 COVER STORY
24x7 Water Supply Scheme in Nagpur
An analysis of a project, campaign or company that identifies a situation,
recommended solutions, implementation actions and identification of those factors
that contributed to failure or success.
By Abhishek Dutta
Figure 1
Introduction
Nagpur is the 3rd largest city
in Maharashtra state with a
population of over 2.5 million
people.
It became the first city of
its size in the country to out-
source its water supply to a
private operator under the
PPP model for 25 years.
NMC (Nagpur Municipal
Corporation) is responsible
for providing water supply
services to the city of Nagpur.
The total water supply to
the city was 500 MLD per day
through nearly 225 thousand
connections in 2008, now
water supply capacity upgrad-
ed to 765 MLD and about
350 thousand connections in
2015.
The distribution network
consists of over 3000 km of
the pipeline network.
The existing situation in
58 January 2019
2008 had intermittent water
supply with many areas get-
ting alternate day supply and
non-revenue water was well
above 50%.
It was imperative to reduce
the NRW of Nagpur city. The
steps taken by NMC are stated
below:
• Because of the PPP model,
there was a tremendous in-
crease in customer satisfac-
tion and consumer base.
• Entire zone experienced im-
prove pressures eliminating
the use of booster pumps
• Coverage improved with an
incremental 5000 connec-
tions being given in slum
households
• Billed water volume in-
creased from 22 MLD to 33
MLD
• NRW reduced from 50% to
38% and was attributed to
the reduction in illegal con-
nections and improved ac-
curacy of meter reading.
Contractor
The contract was awarded to
a private contractor - a 50:50
joint venture SPV company
incorporated with an equal
equity stake of a private limit-
ed company and water expert
global company
PPP Model
The private entity brought
30% of the investment of the
estimated project cost, 70%
was brought by the public
entity’s contribution under
MNURM + 100% escalation.
The project was supposed
to be operative for 25 years of
O&M including 5 years of cap-
ital rehabilitation.
Scope of Work
The project covered man-
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
agement of the entire water
cycle from production, treat-
ment (657 MLD), transport
(2100 km of the network),
storage and delivery to the
last point of usage, i.e., the
customers tap.
This involves replacement
of more than 3,00,00 HSC,
rehabilitation of treatment fa-
cilities, service reservoirs, and
pipeline.
Customer-Centric Ap-
proach
24×7 call center for custom-
er grievances, photo billing,
online billing, and custom-
er service center to be made
open for all 7 days of the week.
Performance
By the end of 3 years, total
10,51,849 citizens benefitted
significantly.
Under Rehabilitation:
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
480.00 km pipeline laid;
96,059 connections replaced.
Key strategies adopted to
achieve NRW reduction target
are shown in Figure 2.
Problem vs Alternative
Analysis
Size of DMAs (District Me-
tering Area): In some of the
design areas, the size of DMA
is more than required, i.e.,
2500 to 3500 which after all
the results unidentified loss
factor.
Actually, when we dras-
tically increase the size of
DMA then we gradually lost
our control on that particular
DMA in terms of:
• Water Loss (Real + Appar-
ent)
• Pressure Management
• Isolation
The area of Shantinagar,
Gandhibagh and the part of
 COVER STORY
Figure 2: Strategy Map for Nagpur NRW
the middle and north side of
Nagpur are very congested,
literacy percentage is very low
and narrow lane, etc.
And despite having such
problems, the size of DMA
should have between 500- 800
connections so that it can be
controlled.
A) Commissioning
Commissioning is a bridge
between CAPEX and OPEX to
confirm the quality of perfor-
mance and dedicate the indi-
cator for future operation and
maintenance.
In the case of Nagpur water
supply scheme, I personally
faced the problem while we
did not even receive ‘As Build
Drawing’ even after finish-
ing the maximum number of
DMAs.
As result, we again went to
prepare the “As Build Drawing’
of the project we just finished
a few months ago and did it
on the basis of patch marks on
road and layout drawings.
But the problem is, we
were not 100% sure about the
information kept about un-
derground assets in ‘s Build
Drawing’.
Especially, we lost most iso-
lation valves that we installed
which takes a very vital part in
the creation of DMA. Hydro
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
testing in distribution net-
work was not up to the satis-
factory level in some places. PROJECT FILE
Customer: NMC (Nagpur
B) The Timing of Water Sup- Municipal Corporation)
ply Location: Nagpur,
The timing of water supply Maharashtra, India
in Shantinagar was 18 hr/day, Products/Technology
in Gandhibag it was 20 hr/day Involved: Water Supply,
and so on. Metering, Water Audit
The design of 24x7 water
supply system is based on Sys-
tem Input Volume, predicted
consumption as per consumer PPP Model (Public
survey, hydraulic modelling, Private Partnership)
etc. and the available quantity
of water vs storage capacity NMC:
was not balanced.
•  sset Ownership
A
C) Political Interference. • Tariff Decision
• Payment to Operator Fees
Conclusion • Connection-
To conclude, we can say that Disconnection Authority
the project of Nagpur 24x7 • Augmentations of
water supply scheme is suc- Water Supply
cessful indeed. • Raw-Water & Electricity
Though the overall part
of Nagpur is not as efficient The Operator:
as Dharampeth Demo Zone
build by Veolia but establish •O  &M from Source to
24x7 WSS with equal quantity, Consumer Meter
pressure and supply-time is • Technical Efficiency
not easy at all. Now, the sys- • Commercial Efficiency
tem is stabilized. • Replacement and
Repair of Assets
About the Author • Customer Services
Abhishek Dutta is Water • Partial (30%)
Expert at PDMC, and AMRUT Capex in IPIP
UP.
January 2019 59
 COVER STORY
Social Business Model Integrating Safe
Drinking Water Supply
The ‘BASF Landmark Project’ is in association with NMMC for social business model
integrating safe drinking water supply, sanitation facilities, and hygiene.
By Masooma Pathre
THE WORLD’S POOREST
people often pay the most - in
terms of affordability - for wa-
ter. In Mumbai, clean drinking
water could consume almost
15% of the income of low-in-
come residents. In Turbhe
Stores, a suburb in Navi Mum-
bai, the scenario is changing
for the better now. A new col-
laboration initiated by BASF
now offers purified drinking
water to Turbhe Store resi-
dents at just Rs. 8 per 20 liters.
The concept for the Land-
mark Project was first devel-
oped through a series of social
dialog sessions in Mumbai
during BASF’s 150th-anniver-
sary activities in 2015 (under
the Creator SpaceTM program)
and has now come to fruition
in an innovative, communi-
ty-based social business mod-
60 January 2019
el. The dialogues convened a
wide array of participants, in-
cluding residents, NGOs, local
government bodies and repre-
sentatives, academia and rep-
resentatives from the industry.
The problem they were try-
ing to solve: how to provide
safe, affordable water and
sanitation services to needy
members of the community
- with a business model that
will sustain these services into
the future. The solution? BASF
Landmark Project.
From Mumbai, ‘Equitable
Distribution of Safe Drink-
ing Water’ was selected as the
topic for BASF’s Creator Space
program in 2015. Representa-
tives from the Municipal Cor-
poration of Greater Mumbai,
academia, water companies,
NGOs, BASF employees, and
a few interested local citizens
participated in the summit
which culminated into the
Whitepaper- “Water for Mum-
bai”. This report was released
in October 2016 by Hon. Chief
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
Minister of Maharashtra, De-
vendra Fadnavis.
Based on this whitepaper,
BASF India proceeded to work
on ideas related to water, san-
itation & waste management
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
and submitted an integrated
social business project for
funding to BASF SE (Global).
The project was selected as one
of the models for creating a
unique social business model
that is sustainable and can be
handed over to the community
after a period of two years. A
need gap analysis and a local
survey conducted in the area
brought forth the water chal-
lenges the community was
facing along with regular com-
plaints of water-borne diseas-
es, leading to low productivity
among the working class and
absenteeism in schools.
Accordingly, the BASF team
along with the implementa-
tion partner STEP (Sustain-
able Technosolutions for En-
vironmental Protection) chose
the Navi Mumbai Municipal
Corporation (NMMC) school
No. 22. in Turbhe Store located
close to BASF’s site for imple-
mentation of the first phase of
the initiative titled ‘Landmark
Project’ in close consultation
and support of the NMMC.
Phase I of the project con-
sisting of ‘Water ATM’ and
 COVER STORY
‘rainwater harvesting for
school building’ was inaugu-
rated on August 2, 2018 by
the Honorable NMMC May-
or - Jayawant Dattatray Sutar,
along with Dr. N. Ramaswami,
Commissioner, NMMC and
Dr. Raman Ramachandran,
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
Chairman and Managing Di-
rector, BASF India and Head,
BASF South Asia, as well as
other dignitaries from BASF
and NMMC.
The first phase of the project
can provide clean, affordable
water to 10,000 Turbhe Store
residents via a rainwater har-
vesting plant accompanied by
water ATMs - machines that
dispense purified water using
BASF’s ultrafiltration mem-
brane technology. BASF runs
the project on land provided
by NMMC at Bharat Ratna
Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar
Vidyalaya School No. 22, Tur-
bhe Store. WaterLife India has
designed the solar-powered,
cashless machines; and STEP
is the implementing partner
for the project. Residents ac-
cess the purified water with
a debit card and pay Rs. 8 for
20 liters of water at the ATM.
A distribution model is also
being planned as the next step
to increase reach within the
community.
Uniquely, water for the
project is harvested from rain
and other sources, then puri-
fied with innovative ultrafil-
tration technologies - inge®
from BASF. The provision for
rainwater harvesting ensures
that there is no conflict for
water source and it is aimed to
make the harvested rainwater
as a major part of raw water
supplied for the project thus
making it sustainable. Surface
water is also provided for at
the ATM as a back-up in case
the project is unable to har-
vest enough rainwater due to
unpredictable climate condi-
tions.
This innovative social busi-
ness model integrates the
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
concept of sustainable safe
water supply, along with key
requirements of offering sani-
tation and hygiene. Normally
CSR projects in India provide
facilities for free and therefore
sustainability of projects is a
challenge. Through the Land-
mark project, safe drinking
water and sanitation facilities
will be provided at an afford-
able cost to the local slum area,
ensuring the sustainability of
the project. Creating a revenue
stream through a minimum
payment that the community
pays for the water, helps en-
sure its long-term viability,
ensuring continuing funds for
maintenance of the water ATM
and rainwater harvesting sys-
tem. Sanitation and hygiene
awareness camps in schools,
nearby residential areas, and
public health centers are con-
ducted regularly to enhance
awareness of the model and
spread awareness about the
importance of water, sanita-
tion, and hygiene. BASF will
run the system for two years
and then hand it over to a local
community-based organiza-
tion.
The inge® brand of ultrafil-
tration membranes from BASF
utilizes patented and highly
robust Multibore® fibers made
from PESm - a modified Poly-
ethersulfone - in an In-to-Out
filtration process. Extremely
tiny pores of only 20 nano-
meters diameter inside the
membranes provide a secure
barrier against suspended sol-
ids, viruses and other micro-
organisms and let only pure
water pass.
As part of its corporate vol-
unteering program, employees
from BASF are now working
in the community to create
awareness about sanitation,
the importance of clean drink-
ing water and general hygiene.
Phase II of the project will
include refurbishment of
NMMC toilet and setting-up
a unit for women hygiene
products near the toilet. In this
phase of the project, the plan
is to use innovative solutions
from BASF’s diverse portfolio
like construction chemicals,
care chemicals, and perfor-
mance materials businesses.
PROJECT FILE
Location: Navi Mumbai
Municipal Corporation
School, Maharashtra, India
Service Provider: BASF
Products/Technology
Involved: Water
ATMs, Ultrafiltration
(UF) Membranes
After two years, the project
will be run by the communi-
ty-based organizations. This
unique model can be replicat-
ed anywhere in the world.
Public-private partnerships
like the BASF Landmark proj-
ect are a great example of how
corporates can join hands
with local government bodies
to solve challenges faced by
communities using innovative
and sustainable technologies.
The need is to generate strong
commitment, openness, and
collaboration between govern-
ment bodies like NMMC and
corporates like BASF.
Project Highlights
• I nnovative social business
model in Turbhe has the
capacity to offer affordable
drinking water to 10,000
people.
• BASF’s ultrafiltration solu-
tion along with other puri-
fication processes in “Water
ATM” purifies groundwater
recharged through rainwater.
• “Landmark Project” will also
establish sanitation facility
and social business for wom-
en’s hygiene solution.
• A unique sustainable con-
cept of public-private part-
nerships for a social project.
About the Author
Masooma Pathre is the
DGM - New Business Develop-
ment at BASF India.
January 2019 61
 COVER STORY
Renewal of Sewerage & Drainage Infrastructure
This case study is crystallized to sewerage and drainage sub-structures related
aspects of the BMP only.
By Arnav Jhunjhunwala and Anik Kumar Roychowdhury
Figure 1: Alcorr Double Wall Corrugated Polyethylene Pipe
Introduction
Unplanned habitations in
the form of urban slums in
core clusters of megacities
and megalopolis are familiar
but extremely unpleasant and
ugly sights in our national can-
vas. On one hand, Socio-eco-
nomic rehabilitation of the
Economically Weaker Section
(EWS) of the society within
their own residential jurisdic-
tion (slums) and on the other
hand the optimum utilization
of such priceless land located
at core cluster of the Megalop-
olis is an extremely complex
task for modern urban plan-
ners. Therefore, it is right time
to frame a nationally applica-
ble Best Management Policy
(BMP) in this regard.
The Envisaged Route-
Map for the BMP
• Holistic planning (master
plan) including initial reha-
bilitation of the slum dwell-
ers during the transforma-
tion phase.
• Systematic shifting of the
62 January 2019
entire slum dwellers to
cost-effective (minimum but
imperative amenities) tem-
porary residential complex-
es as per the ‘master plan’.
• Dismantle/ Disable/ Care-
fully take-out existing but
dilapidated utility services.
More broadly, the services
e.g.:
• Electricity connections
• Water supply lines
• Septic tanks (if any)
• Sewerage network
• Drainage network
• SWM structures (vats, etc)
• Any other
• Carefully dismantle the ex-
isting residential hutments/
houses within the slum area.
• Crystallize the empty cluster
thus formed by a temporary
boundary, e.g., barbed wire
fencing/ corrugated or plane
plastics sheeting, etc.
• Demarcate the proposed
road alignments as per ‘mas-
ter plan’.
• Fix-up the proposed road
 etc.
Levels as per the detail engi-
neering set within the ‘mas-
ter plan’.
• Th
 e consequent construc-
tional perspective is obvi-
ously sub-divided in three
major layers:
• Sub-structures related to
common facilities, e.g.,
drainage, sewerage, wa-
ter supply lines with its
appurtenances e.g. MH
shafts/ catch-pits/ gul-
ly-pits/ valve chambers,
etc.
• Super-structures related
to common facilities, e.g.,
roads with kerb-channels.
For the sewerage and
drainage networks fixing
MH frames and covers
on already erected shafts
(sub-structure), fixing of
cover slabs and gratings
for catch/ gully pits, fixing
of cover slabs for valve
chambers for water sup-
ply lines, etc, and build-
ing of SWM structures,
transformer building(s),
• Comprehensive construc-
tion of new residential
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
buildings/ commercial-in-
stitutional complexes
including compatible
and befitting residential
units for the original slum
dwellers, etc. for their en-
vironmentally safe and
socially acceptable com-
prehensive rehabilitation
as per master plan.
The Best Management Prac-
tice (BMP) for the massive re-
habilitation programme shall
comprise of construction of
temporary housing units for
relocation of existing slum
dwellers elsewhere and subse-
quently translating the entire
cluster to a ground-zero status
in the true sense after careful
extrusion of all U/G and over-
ground utilities, refurbish the
entire slum population again
to the socio-environmentally
optimized and techno-com-
mercially sound refurbished
cluster including rational utili-
zation of vacant places within
the priceless land for commer-
cial/ institutional/ industrial
purpose. The BMP, after con-
version of the cluster to a vir-
tual ground-zero, shall be ini-
tiated (topmost priority) with
construction and installation
of sub-structure components
of sewerage and drainage
networks and then proceed
with a pre-framed route-map
developed in terms of the
prevailing site conditions and
constraints.
This virtual case study is
crystallized to sewerage and
drainage sub-structures relat-
ed aspects of the BMP only.
Frontier Technology
Structured Wall
Thermoplastics
Piping System (DWC
PE Pipes) for S&D
Infrastructure Building
The entire underground
sewerage, as well as the
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
drainage network, need to be
accommodated within the
demarcated road alignments
that also prior to any cutting/
filling for road construction:
• Carefully construct and in-
stall sewerage and under-
ground drainage facilities
within the demarcated road-
way corridor as per approved
plan and detail engineering.
• Covers and frames for the
nodal structures, e.g., man-
holes/ gully-pits at this stage
need not be provided. The
construction of MH shafts
and gully/ catch pit cham-
bers shall be limited up to
a pre-fix level so that the
system installation can be
made compatible later to the
proposed permanent road
profiles as well as ground
levels and plinth levels of
contiguous structures as per
the ‘master plan’.
• Interconnection lines be-
tween the sewer/UG drain
and gully pits (DWF)/ catch
pits (WWF), however, shall
be installed at this sub-struc-
ture building stage as well.
As indicated, the implemen-
tation of the underground
system needs to be carried out
exclusively under the demar-
cated roadway corridor prior
to its ultimate development as
permanent roadways. There-
fore, it is essential to identify
a ‘frontier technology’ gravity
flow pipe material system hav-
ing at least the following ad-
vantageous perspectives:
• Very light for easy trans-
portation and stacking and
manual handling/ haulage
but still structurally inte-
grated enough to withstand
the uncertain shock load-
ings (live + overburden) ex-
pected during construction
(non-availability of adequate
cushion). The proposed sys-
tem shall also ensure supe-
 COVER STORY
Figure 2: Sustainability of Pipe
Materials
rior hydraulic performance
as well.
All such advantageous as-
pects can only be clubbed to-
gether in one package - if the
structured wall thermoplastics
non-pressure piping system, in
the form of DWC PE pipes, is
opted for the purpose.
The typical configuration of
this unique piping system is
reproduced in Figure 1.
The sustainability of pipe
materials for gravity flow
conveyance of wastewater, be
it comparatively clean (e.g.,
storm drainage/ irrigation wa-
ter/ infiltration gallery system,
etc.) or domestic sewage or
even highly toxic (chemical/
industrial) effluent can be sur-
mised through Figure 2.
The mentioned revolution-
ary system has every potential
to outscore all other conven-
tional ‘gravity flow’ piping
instruments in terms of the
above perceptions. One shall
appreciate that for this specif-
ic case-study, as identified in
the preceding diagram, three
of above aspects shall play the
vital role in the proposed reha-
bilitation process:
• Ease in transportation and
manual handling particular-
ly when work sites are almost
inaccessible (non-availabil-
ity of proper road network)
and moreover when the
available spaces for stacking
of the pipes are alarmingly
limited.
• Fast and easy installation.
• High structural integrity.
Techno-Financial
Explanations
Economic Viability
When holistically analyzed
(supply of pipe + all the al-
lied installation costs includ-
ing trench excavation), DWC
PE piping system shall tech-
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
no-commercially outscore all
other conventional rigid as
well as solid wall plastics pip-
ing systems. This economic ad-
vantage is further maximized
in terms of annual amortized
costs.
Structural Performance
The structural performance
of DWC PE piping system is
outstanding because of its
non-smooth outer surface (an-
nular corrugation). The pro-
file ensures a comparatively
much higher CG as well as the
second moment of area than
its Identical Sized (IDs) solid
wall flexible pipe alternatives,
and therefore, shall be struc-
turally more integrated. The
comprehensive flexibility of
the system also ensures much
lesser ‘design loadings’ since
only prism portion of the ver-
tical over-burden load will be
attracted by such a unique pip-
ing system. In cases of identi-
cal sized rigid pipes, they are
destined to receive the extra
quantum related to the ‘tan-
gential trapezoidal’ load be-
cause the surrounding ‘backfill
envelope’ has lesser strength
to absorb the ‘dead load’ trans-
ferred from the side prisms.
Hydraulic Performance
Hydraulic performance of
a buried conduit depends on
the degree of smoothness of
its internal surface. DWC PE
piping system by far has the
minimum roughness (low
manning’s ‘N’) and does not
change with aging. When laid
at identical gradient can con-
vey at least 15% more flow
than other alternatives con-
stantly throughout its materi-
al life. If we see the other way
round, the system can be laid
at economically flatter gradi-
ent to accommodate and trans-
port identical flows.
Chemical Properties
DWC PE pipes on its inher-
ent strength of the properties
pertaining to PE material itself
is totally inert to all sewage sol-
ids (biological and chemical),
hence the virtually negligible
deposition is expected. On the
other hand, the imperative for-
mation of H2SO4 fumes also
cannot affect the pipe crown
as well and accordingly ‘crown
corrosion’ is non-existent.
Figure 3
Life Span
Due to non-adherence of
sewage solids (biological and
chemical), abrasion of the in-
ner surface of DWC PE pipes
is almost negligible resulting
in prolonged material life. The
life-span of the pipe is very
long and approximated for
about 80-100 years.
Transportation, Handling
and Stacking of Flexible
Plastics Sewer Materials
Extreme light weight and
availability in larger pipe
PROJECT FILE
Location: Sewerage &
Drainage Networks in Mega
Cities
Products/Technology In-
volved: DWC PE Pipes
lengths as well as allowable
higher stack heights, along
with possibility of telescopic
nesting ensures easy, quick
and user-friendly transporta-
tion, handling, and stacking.
Fast and Easy Installation
Installation of DWC PE
piping system is extremely us-
er-friendly because of its light-
weight and simple jointing
procedure (push-fit joints in a
couple of minutes’ time).
At adverse locations such
as the case is here, the pipe
assembly can be made at GL
and lowered into a long trench
at utmost ease with manual/
semi-manual operations. Such
advantageous applicability
ensures user-friendly and fast
Installation of the system.
Minimum Maintenance
Almost ‘zero’ maintenance,
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
because of non-adherence of and long-lasting foundation
sewage solids on the chem- for the years to come.
ically inert pipe interior.
Therefore, ensures the least About the Authors
possibility of corrosion and Arnav Jhunjhunwala is
zero to very low damages. The the Director of Alom Poly Ex-
manholes are the only nodes trusions Ltd. He holds a B.Sc.
where regular cleaning shall degree in Information Systems
be necessary. and Business Management
Environment-Friendly
The manufacturing process
of DWC PE piping system
involves the lowest quantum
of GHG (CO) emission when
compared to all categories
of rigid as well as flexible
non-pressure piping systems.
Emission further minimized
considering optimally min-
imum transportation trips
(light Weight and telescope
nesting) and installation time.
Conclusion
Indian megalopolis has
inherited slums which are
retarding the desired pace of
sustainable urbanization sig-
nificantly. from Carnegie Mellon Univer-
The rehabilitation and refur- sity and has been spearhead-
bishment of such EWS clusters ing the company for the last 6
have become imperative to years.
improve the urbanization pro- Anik Kumar Roychowd-
cess with an ultimate goal to hury is the Principal Advisor
enhance the quality of life of (Technical Marketing) to Alom
such urban poor without dis- Poly Extrusions Ltd. He holds
lodging them from their roots an MS degree in Environmen-
and yet utilize the priceless tal Engineering from the Uni-
urban core clusters for institu- versity of Massachusetts, USA.
tional/ commercial/ industrial He has an experience of more
purposes.
Execution of such multi-fac-
eted development works calls
for a comprehensive BMP cov-
ering all the micro aspects of
the holistic process. The pro-
cess needs to be initiated with
the installation of sewerage/
drainage infrastructure under
the ‘ground-zero’ (subsequent
to shifting of the inhabitants
and dismantling of existing di-
lapidated utility services and
dwelling houses) status.
Such huge task calls for
utilization of ‘Frontier Tech-
nology Product & System’ in
the form of Structured Wall
Thermoplastics Pipes (DWC than 35 years in the wastewa-
PE Pipes) as the most effec- ter management sector having
tive and techno-commercially held the posts of Chief Engi-
reliable instrument to fulfill neer in Kolkata Metropolitan
the objectives. DWC PE pipes Water & Sanitation Authority
in this domain will unequivo- and Principal Consultant in
cally support to build a strong Kolkata Municipal.
January 2019 63
 COVER STORY
The Smart Choice - Putting Your Control Valve Online
Sheridan retrofits an existing control valve and enters the automated world of water
efficiency.
By Ryan Spooner
The Project Site
EVERYWHERE AROUND
US, there are networks of wa-
ter systems storing, controlling
and moving water from one
place to another. However,
with every twist and turn of
water through these distribu-
tion networks, the risk of water
loss increases. Those losses ac-
celerate with aging infrastruc-
ture, over pressurized systems
and lack of maintenance.
For years, water manage-
ment systems have exclusively
used mechanical components.
However, in recent years there
has been a push to develop
better methods for controlling
water and having external
interaction with the system.
64 January 2019
The focus of these solutions
is aimed at reducing mainte-
nance, saving water and re-
ducing pipe breakage through
remote control. By adding
instrumentation and automa-
tion to existing systems, users
can quite easily gain control
over their entire system. In-
strumentation, such as flow
meters and pressure transmit-
ters, give real-time data of a
system’s current working con-
ditions. By adding automation
tools such as control panels
and SCADA integration, users
can also manipulate and con-
trol the system. Here’s a simple
example: To reduce pressures
in a system during off-peak
hours, users can establish a
sequence of control outcomes
through SCADA to automati-
cally throttle back the system.
It’s a simple step that can pro-
duce major cost savings; by re-
ducing pressure when demand
is low, it can result in a signif-
icant decline in water loss - as
well as less pressure stress on
the system - which reduces
pipe breakages and leaks.
The City of Sheridan, Wyo-
ming wanted to add automa-
tion and instrumentation to
bring part of their system on-
line. This would allow for more
control over their water system
while implementing system re-
dundancy. Their water system
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
is fed from two water sourc-
es, which can be treated at
two different water treatment
plants and then distributed to
the public. Different storage
tanks are also utilized through
the distribution system.
The City identified an op-
portunity to repurpose an
existing pressure reducing
valve so they could leverage
gravity flow from an upstream
treatment plant to fill a water
storage tank. By reconfigur-
ing the valve operation with
instrumentation and automa-
tion (in combination with a
realignment of buried valves
in the yard), they could bring
this otherwise hidden valve
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
live into their system. The proj-
ect would save them power as
they would not need to use the
booster station to fill the tank;
however, it could remain as
a redundancy when needed.
Having two options to fill the
tank means the city can use
real-time data to choose to run
either option as best suited.
The new automation will en-
able this to be done remotely
from the control room at the
head office.
The existing Singer Model
106-PR was repurposed to a
model 106-2SC-PCO. The cur-
rent valve now has the capaci-
ty to interact and be controlled
by a control panel via a new
valve mounted solenoids that
replaced the hydraulic con-
trolled mechanical pilots. An
electronic valve position indi-
cator and differential pressure
transmitter were also added to
the valve. To control the new
reconfigured valve for both
flow and level control, a Sing-
er industrial control panel was
added. The control panel uses
the feedback from the valve
position transmitter and dif-
ferential pressure transmitter
to calculate the current flow
through the valve. The level
sensor at the water tank mea-
sures the current water level
and sends that feedback to
the control panel. With all the
instrumentation data feeding
back to the MCP-TP, the con-
trol panel can now control the
valve to ensure the user set lev-
el in the tank is always main-
tained.
To ensure over-drafting of
water from the upstream sys-
tem is not an issue, the control
panel also takes into account
the flow rate and ensures it
maintains the user-set flowrate
while filling the tank. The us-
er-set flow rate can be adjust-
ed to ensure the tank is filling
 COVER STORY
Singer Model 106 2SC-PCO Control Valve After Retrofit
fast enough but not too fast to
overdraft the system. The flow
and level set-points can be
changed and manipulated at
any time to optimize the oper-
ation of the system.
The user-set set-points for
tank level and the flow rate is
set locally at the MCP-TP con-
trol panel via a touch screen
MCP-TP Field Wiring Connection & SCADA Ethernet Connection
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
display, or via the SCADA
control network. The control
panel was integrated into the
city’s existing network using
Ethernet communication. This
allows remote access to the site
from the main control room to
view/control the current flow,
level, valve position, current
alarms, control modes and
gives easy access to set all the
control set-points. Essentially
the integration gave the con-
trol room the same access as
if they were standing right in
front of the MCP-TP control
panel pushing the touchscreen
buttons on the HMI.
Singer staff, along with Ja-
cob McGough of Pipestone
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
Equipment, finalized the com-
missioning of the project on
site. This included a full set-up
of all the instrumentation and
testing of the control sequenc-
es of the MCP-TP panel and its
control of the valve. The final
steps were concluded when
the system went live and the
City of Sheridan operators
could test all the SCADA con-
trols and fully control the new
system. Marcus Weaver the
integrator and electrical tech-
nician said, “I was really happy
with the support we got with
field programming coordi-
nation and follow-ups, it was
above and beyond our expec-
tations and solidified our con-
fidence in the system.”
For the people of Sheridan,
this means they now have
another layer of security and
dependability on this part of
their water supply system,
while saving on pumping
costs. For the operators of
Sheridan’s water system, it
means less time spent in the
field monitoring and manag-
ing flow requirements. “This
valve helps us operate, mon-
itor and diagnose our water
system remotely and in real
time,” said Ken Hirschman,
Sheridan’s Utility Mainte-
nance Superintendent. “I am
excited to see this technology
PROJECT FILE
Customer: City of Sheridan
Location: City of Sheridan,
Wyoming, USA
Service Provider: Mueller
Water Products (Singer)
Products/Technology
Involved: Valves
expanded into our other exist-
ing infrastructure so that we
can monitor how our pressure
zones are operating remotely
by using our existing SCADA
system. These types of elec-
tronic operations and moni-
toring are all important steps
in moving toward a smart and
efficient utility”.
Jacob McGough, Applica-
tion Engineering and Sales
with Pipestone Equipment
said, “Currently, 25% of our
sales in the hydraulic control
valve market is being offered
with electronic capabilities.
This percentage has been on
the rise over the last couple
of years as more people are
introduced to the vast im-
provements of these types
of solutions for mitigating
non-revenue water loss and
resolving aging infrastructure
problems.”
In today’s world, there is of-
ten a tendency to view things
as disposable and simply re-
place the old with the new.
This is not always necessary;
sometimes a simple upgrade
can bring on a whole new
world of possibilities. This is
the case for many water con-
trol systems, by adding instru-
mentation and automation
you can often streamline oper-
ations and significantly reduce
costs without the big expense
of a complete replacement for
the same functionality.
About the Author
Ryan Spooner is the Singer
Automation & Instrumenta-
tion Engineering Manager for
Mueller Water Products, Inc.
Ryan has a degree in mecha-
tronics engineering and de-
signs and builds customized
control panels and performs
commissioning and valve inte-
gration. Ryan also runs opera-
tor training session’s on-site as
well as lab demos at the manu-
facturing plant.
January 2019 65
 COVER STORY
Xiga 40 Performs Well Beyond Expectations
at the Largest Membrane-Based Drinking
Water Plant in Germany
The German water company WAG Nordeifel was pleasantly surprised to find that
the Xiga 40 membranes in its drinking water plant served a full twelve years without
any problems.
By Pentair
TREATING RESERVOIR
WATER to produce drinking
water is a big responsibility,
especially in quantities rang-
ing from 1800 to 6000 cubic
meters an hour. The German
water company WAG Norde-
ifel was pleasantly surprised
to find that the Xiga 40 mem-
branes in its drinking water
plant served a full twelve years
without any problems. Since
they had counted on an eight-
year module replacement in-
66 January 2019
terval, it makes a clear-cut case
for safe, reliable, and cost-effi-
cient membrane-based drink-
ing water production from
surface water.
When treating surface water
to produce drinking water in
large quantities, the highest
priority is public health and
the certain removal of microor-
ganisms, bacteria, and viruses.
In the German town of Roet-
gen, membranes are doing the
job very well. X-Flow’s Xiga 40
membrane modules are cur-
rently being replaced in three
stages. They served for twelve
years in continuous operation
where only eight were expect-
ed, making the operations
of Germany’s largest mem-
brane-based drinking water
plant highly cost-efficient.
Roetgen is a small munic-
ipality in the northern Eifel
region, situated on the border
with Belgium. Behind a 35-me-
ter high dam, the local stream
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
Dreilägerbach has formed a
large reservoir for the produc-
tion of drinking water. If water
were not constantly flowing
in, this reservoir would ensure
the supply of water for about
one month. The Roetgen wa-
ter treatment plant is operated
by the Water Collection and
Preparation Company Nor-
deifel (WAG). The company
produces drinking water for
the greater Aachen region, the
town of Düren, and even the
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
municipality of Vaals and the
town of Kerkrade in the Neth-
erlands.
Reservoir Feed Water
The water from the reservoir
is sent through various piping
systems into the Roetgen treat-
ment plant. Whereas in some
parts of the world membrane
technology is already playing
an important role in the supply
of drinking water, this is not
yet the case in Germany. “Our
ultrafiltration membrane plant
is one of the largest and most
advanced in Europe, and by far
the largest in Germany”, says
Walter Dautzenberg, Techni-
cal Director at WAG Nordeifel.
‘Every year we supply around
35 million cubic meters of
drinking water to more than
600,000 people. The raw water
comes exclusively from dams
in the Eifel. We treat this raw
water at two sites to produce
drinking water; about 26 mil-
lion cubic meters here in Roet-
gen, and about 9 million cubic
meters at the Wehebach dam.”
Removing Turbidity
and Microbiology
Membranes are increas-
ingly important in drinking
water production as hygiene
regulations often require the
complete removal of microor-
ganisms. The main advantag-
es of membrane technology
are the low energy use and
the removal of turbidity and
microbiology. Adding chemi-
cals such as chlorine is usually
not necessary at all, as patho-
genic germs are retained by
 COVER STORY
the membranes. Increasingly
small pore sizes serve differ-
ent goals in drinking water
production: microfiltration
and ultrafiltration for particle
removal, nanofiltration and
reverse osmosis for softening
and desalination. In Roetgen,
the Xiga 40 modules apply
UF technology to achieve an
impressive LOG 6 bacteria
reduction and a LOG 4 virus
reduction.
Economics and
Performance
In Roetgen, the decision
to build a membrane-based
water treatment plant was
based on economics and per-
formance. Dautzenberg: ‘Our
plant started operating in De-
cember 2005. Before that, we
had a normal, two-stage open
rapid filtration plant, a classic
sand filtration operation as is
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
typically used in Germany to
produce drinking water from
reservoir water. At the time our
plant had already been in op-
eration for over 30 years, and
we were considering how best
to renew it. When the planning
calculations with convention-
al and membrane technology
showed about the same eco-
nomics, we decided in favor
of membrane technology be-
cause it appeared to be more
future-proof and because the
cleaning performance is sig-
nificantly better”.
Stable and Reliable
Operations
The Dreilägerbach reservoir
is not the only one the Roet-
gen water plant can depend
on. Every year, millions of cu-
bic meters of raw water come
from up to four other reser-
voirs. An ingenious system
of tunnels, pumping stations,
transfer, and bypass pipes al-
lows WAG Nordeifel to choose
from which storage lake to take
water. The water quality in an
open reservoir can be compro-
mised, for example by weather
effects, or an oil or fuel spill
from a road accident. In or-
der to keep the plant running
and the region supplied with
drinking water at all times, the
filter systems can be divided
and a reservoir can be taken
“offline” if it needs time to re-
cover. Compared to tradition-
al systems, membrane-based
treatment is also much better
able to deal with variations in
raw water quality, making op-
erations much more stable and
reliable.
Exceeded Expectations
According to Dautzenberg,
the Xiga 40 membranes have
far exceeded expectations.
“We wanted a skid design in
which you could use mem-
branes from different manu-
facturers. The idea was to keep
our options open in case there
are developments in price and
quality and to retain the ability
to make the best choice when
the time for the replacement
has come. Meanwhile, it has
become clear that the service
life of the Xiga 40 is much
better than we had expected.
We counted on eight years,
we hoped for ten years, and
they have worked well for
over twelve years. We have
never used chlorine to clean
the membranes, which con-
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
tributes to a longer life. The
number of leaks in the mem-
branes was also much lower
than expected, averaging four
per month”.
Recommending
Membrane Technology
In the Roetgen drinking wa-
ter plant, twelve blocks with
Xiga 40 UF membranes were
installed in December 2005. In
the course of 2018 and 2019,
they are being replaced in sev-
eral stages. In many drinking
water operations, the main pa-
rameters are energy consump-
tion, production continuity,
and final product quality.
However, from WAG Norde-
ifel’s point of view, these mat-
ters are either less relevant or
set in stone. The system works
with dam pressure, so only
the backwashing procedure
requires energy input. Produc-
tion closely follows demand,
and quality is prescribed by
the German Drinking Water
Ordinance.
Walter Dautzenberg: “In this
PROJECT FILE
Customer: WAG Nordeifel
Location: Roetgen Water
Treatment, Northern
Eifel, Germany
Service Provider: Pentair
Products/Technology
Involved: Xiga 40
Membranes
facility, the filtrate quality in
the microbiological sense has
always been inconspicuous,
which was not always the case
with sand filtration in the past.
This plant has significantly
improved the stability of the
treatment process and particle
retention. We have therefore
recommended membrane
technology in general and
these membranes in particular
to colleagues who also treat
reservoir water in Germany.
We also feel well looked after
by Pentair’s customer service
over the years. Together we
were able to determine the
right time to replace the mem-
branes.”
January 2019 67
 COVER STORY
Controlling the Stormwater Runoff at New
South Carolina Interchange
Named Project of the Year for the Corrugated Plastic Pipe Association (CPPA)
Division of the Plastics Pipe Institute, Inc. (PPI), it has won the award for the pipe
manufacturer, Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc.
By Plastics Pipe Institute, Inc.
MORE THAN 41,000 feet
of large diameter corrugated
high-density polyethylene
(HDPE) pipe has already been
used for the new stormwater
drainage system during the
rebuilding of the third busiest
interchange in South Carolina,
here in the United States. The
watertight pipe was selected
for this design-build project in
Greenville because it met AAS-
HTO M294 requirements, has
a long projected life, and could
be delivered on a just-in-time
basis to the job site. Named
Project of the Year for the
Corrugated Plastic Pipe As-
sociation (CPPA) Division of
the Plastics Pipe Institute, Inc.
(PPI), it won the award for the
pipe manufacturer, Advanced
Drainage Systems, Inc. (ADS),
Hilliard, Ohio. PPI is the major
68 January 2019
North American trade associa-
tion representing all segments
of the plastic pipe industry.
The South Carolina De-
partment of Transportation
(SCDOT) Interstate 85-385
Gateway Project under con-
struction involves creating
a new interchange within
the general footprint of the
current interchange by stag-
ing construction of the new
lanes, ramps, and bridges
while maintaining the flow of
190,000 vehicles a day. Ten
new bridges including two
flyovers, rehabilitation of two
existing bridge structures, and
modifications to the substruc-
ture of one existing bridge,
are also part of this new inter-
change system. It is South Car-
olina’s largest transportation
infrastructure project in more
than 10 years. The new storm-
water drainage system will be
installed throughout the USD
231 million project, scheduled
to be completed in 2020. AAS-
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
HTO M294 pipe, such as the
ADS N-12® HDPE pipe, has
been approved in South Caro-
lina.
“Originally, the project
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
called for a reinforced concrete
pipe - RCP - to be used in most
of the storm drainage, while
HDPE was only considered for
a small portion of the project,”
explained Daniel Currence, P.
E. director of engineering for
the Corrugated Plastic Pipe
Division of PPI. “A decision
was made, however, to move
to HDPE for the vast majority
of the job, after the contractor
realized that it could be de-
livered on time and with high
quality. This change allowed
the contractor to get the pipe
they needed on a just-in-time
basis to the exact spot where
it was needed. The pipe has
watertight bells and spigots
which are extremely easy to
connect. The favorable weight
of the pipe makes it very ef-
ficient to be installed, about
twice as fast as RCP, which
lowered the total installed
cost. These benefits added
up to reducing the cost of the
stormwater system.”
The HDPE pipe ranging in
diameters from 12 to 48 inch-
 COVER STORY
es usually comes in 20-foot
lengths from the plant in Char-
lotte, North Carolina or other
ADS plants in the region but.
some custom 13-feet lengths
were made to meet the con-
tractor’s needs.
Currence elaborated on the
properties of the pipe, “The
HDPE material will not cor-
rode, rust or degrade due to
biological attack so the pipe
resists bio-clogging and will be
able to maintain high and con-
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
sistent flow capacities over the
service life of a system. And
HDPE pipe has a very favor-
able strength-to-weight ratio.
“This plastic pipe system is a
sustainable and environmen-
tally responsible choice that
will serve generations to come.
HDPE pipe is strong, durable,
light-weight, flexible and eco-
logically friendly during man-
ufacturing because it requires
significantly less energy to
fabricate, transport and install
than metal or concrete pipe.
With superior resistance to
corrosion and abrasion, plas-
tic piping systems also supply
long service life and excellent
joint performance - all adding
up to exceptional value.”
He said that some PPI mem-
bers involved in the manufac-
ture of pipe used in stormwa-
ter drainage systems now also
use post-consumer recycled
plastics in some products.
Studies have shown that cor-
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
rugated high-density polyeth-
ylene (HDPE) pipe manufac-
tured with recycled materials
performs the same as a pipe
made from all virgin HDPE
resin.
“North American standard
specification bodies,” Currence
explained, “have expanded ex-
isting corrugated HDPE pipe
standards to include recycled
resins, permitting the use of
recycled HDPE drainage pipe
within the public right-of-way.
Receiving the Project of the Year Award for the Corrugated Plastic Pipe Divi-
sion from PPI President Tony Radoszewski (right) and the Division’s Director
of Engineering, Daniel Currence (left) is Greg Bohn, Director of National
Engineering and Product Development for ADS.
PROJECT FILE
Location: South Carolina,
USA
Service Provider: Plastics
Pipe Institute, Inc. (PPI),
Advanced Drainage Systems,
Inc.
Products/Technology
Involved: HDPE Pipes
This shift toward using recy-
cled content.” he said, “pres-
ents an opportunity for design
engineers and public utility
agencies that are seeking to re-
duce their overall environmen-
tal footprint associated with
storm drainage projects.”
The Projects of the Year
program is held annually by
PPI to recognize the use of
plastic pipe in exceptional ap-
plications for all of PPI’s five
divisions. Submissions are re-
viewed, evaluated and voted
upon by PPI members.
The Plastics Pipe Institute,
Inc. (PPI) is the major North
American trade association
representing all segments of
the plastic pipe industry and is
dedicated to promoting plastic
as the materials of choice for
pipe and conduit applications.
PPI is the premier technical,
engineering and industry
knowledge resource publish-
ing data for use in the devel-
opment and design of plastic
pipe and conduit systems. PPI
collaborates with industry or-
ganizations that set standards
for manufacturing practices
and installation methods.
January 2019 69
 COVER STORY MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES

PlantStruxure System Helps Water Utilities in

Germany and China
The PlantStruxure solution is a collaborative architecture that enables infrastructure
and industrial companies to meet their automation needs while delivering on
growing energy-efficiency requirements.
By Schneider Electric

We have to ensure uninterrupted

AVU is a Utility Company in Western Germany Serving Residents and Businesses in Seven Cities
Case: Fuzzy Logic
Capabilities in
PlantStruxure Help
Water Utility Improve
Operations
Aktiengesellschaft für Ver-
sorgungs-Unternehmen (AVU)
is a utility company in western
Germany that provides water,
electricity, and gas to more
than 200,000 residents and
numerous businesses in seven
cities. Its water service sup-
plies more than 9 million cu-
bic meters of water a year and
operates two water treatment
plants, nine water storage fa-
cilities and more than 1,000
kilometers of the pipeline with
10 pumping stations.
The Challenge
AVU sought to modernize
the control system at its wa-
ter treatment plant to address
these challenges:
o Reduce energy consumption
o Ensure a better water quality
o Eliminate the need for oper-
ators at remote sites 24/7
Pumping water in and out
the plant consumes a large
amount of energy, but it is nec-
essary to ensure that the water
reaches the entire service area
and to maintain good water
quality by regularly replacing
all the water in the tanks. With
that in mind, AVU sought a
way to minimize energy us-
age by reducing pumping
hours - while still complying
with disinfection regulations
and meeting consumption
demands and ensuring water
quality.
AVU also found that water
levels in several of their tanks
were not high enough to main-
tain water quality standards.
Furthermore, the chlorine con-
centration in the potable water
was manually controlled by
operators at all tank locations,
which made the consistency
prone to human error. High
operating costs also made it
unfeasible for AVU to contin-
ue to maintain operators at
their remote locations 24/7,
so they looked for an automa-
tion and control solution that
would require less physical op-
erator presence.
Because of the essential na-
ture of the services they pro-
vide, any upgrades of AVU’s
system had to be accomplished
with minimal downtime or in-
supply to our customers 24/7 every
day, in a cost-effective manner under
tight conditions, so automation is
a high priority. Schneider Electric’s
PlantStruxure solution is helping us
meet these targets in the context of
our operation.
- Markus Kosch, Engineer, AVU
terruption to the water supply,
and without impacting water
quality.
The Solution
After evaluating various
technologies, it became clear
to AVU that fuzzy logic con-
trol would be the preferred
approach to solving the issues.
AVU turned to Schneider Elec-
tric in search of a solution. The
global energy specialist pro-
posed a system based on its
PlantStruxure solution, which
is a collaborative architecture
that enables industrial and
infrastructure companies to
meet their automation needs
while delivering on growing
energy-efficiency require-
ments. The PlantStruxure solu-
tion offered AVU the advanced
process control package with
easy-to-use programming soft-
ware that they were seeking.
AVU’s targets of reducing
energy consumption and en-
suring a higher water quality
could be achieved by using
PlantStruxure’s fuzzy logic
control technology and the
library of elementary func-
tion blocks that interpret pre-
defined control rules. Before
the migration, AVU operators
controlled the pumps and
boosters manually and made
changes based on their own
interpretations of the data. Us-
ing fuzzy logic, the manual op-
eration can now be automated,
ensuring a simplified process
with improved consistency
and efficiency.
The Benefits
Improved Energy Efficiency
and Reduced Costs
With an improved capacity
for anticipating water usage,
AVU is able to operate fewer
pumps than before, be more
precise in their usage predic-
tions, and adjust the pumping
requirements accordingly. This
improvement, made possible
by the fuzzy logic capabilities
in PlantStruxure, has dramat-
ically reduced AVU’s ener-
gy consumption and energy
costs.
Increased Operator Efficien-
cy and Reduced Operational
Costs
AVU has achieved lower
labor costs through increased
and improved automation.

70 January 2019 SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD

 COVER STORY
AVU is a German
utility company
that provides water,
electricity, and
gas to more than
200,000 residents
and numerous
businesses. To
reduce save
energy, ensure
water quality, and
cut back on 24/7
staffing at its
water treatment
plant, AVU selected
PlantStruxure
solution.
The system provides high
availability through redun-
dancy and allows any software
modifications to be tested
without interrupting the con-
trol system. Ethernet provides
operators with high data avail-
ability to help them make
more informed decisions.
Centralized monitoring of the
remote sites reduces the need
for operators on site 24/7, low-
ering operating costs.
Improved Product Quality
Improved consistency of
water quality due to better
management of chlorine lev-
els has also been achieved
as a result of fuzzy logic con-
trol. When conditions such
as rain impact water quality,
the chlorine levels need to be
adjusted to ensure the water
continues to meet regulatory
standards and meets custom-
er satisfaction. The advantage
of fuzzy logic technology in
this instance is the simple and
transparent integration of the
knowledge and experience of
AVU staff with the easy-to-use
rules of a fuzzy logic control
system, resulting in a higher
quality output on a consistent
basis.
Optimized Engineering
Using the fuzzy logic ca-
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
pabilities, AVU was also able
to significantly shorten the
design development cycle as
well as simplify the complex-
ity of its system design. Rules
are much easier to implement
and debug, cutting down on
valuable engineering time and
expense and enabling them to
implement their system much
faster. Schneider Electric’s
software offered the customer
versatile fuzzy logic technol-
ogy that can capture informa-
tion from AVU’s experts on
their actions, both conscious
and intuitive, in their day-to-
day monitoring activities, and
easily translate it into system
rules.
Case: PlantStruxure
System Provides
Increased Reliability
for New Water Plant
The Foshan Water Group,
located in Foshan City, Guang-
dong Province, is a state-
owned company established
in 1964. The Group operates
water supplies and waste-
water treatment businesses,
including 16 water treatment
plants, an 1,857-mile distri-
bution line, and 10 wastewa-
ter plants. It supplies over 2
million tons/day of drinking
water and 880,000 tons/day
wastewater treatment capacity
for nearly 2.5 million inhabi-
tants over 508,295 acres.
The Foshan Xijiang Water
Treatment Plant in the Sans-
hui District supplies water for
urban and rural residents in
Sanshui and three neighbor-
ing districts. A new plant is
planned to be built in several
phases, with the first phase to
have 200,000 m3/d supply ca-
pacity.
As the engineering unit of
the Group, Foshan Dexun Wa-
ter Information Technology
Co., Ltd. devotes itself to water
and wastewater projects and
services. The automation part
of the Xijiang water plant was
implemented by Dexun.
The Challenge
The Xijiang plant is part of
an ambitious municipal proj-
ect to “build the second drink-
ing water source in Foshan,”
which is much like having re-
dundant water supplies. Prior
to the project, the city relied
solely on the Beijing River and
one major water plant facility
(which serves 365,000 inhabi-
tants over 86,486 acres) for its
drinking water.
This single water source was
not regarded as safe enough
by the municipal government,
so the decision was made to
count the Xijiang River as a
back-up source. Consequently,
a project was launched to real-
ize this goal of a back-up water
source and plant.
The Foshan Water group
sought an automation supplier
capable of providing a highly
reliable, open, cost-effective
and standardized system with-
in a tight schedule. Because
the group already used Schnei-
der Electric systems in the Bei-
jing plant and they performed
very well, Schneider Electric
was selected for the Xijiang
plant as well.
The solution needed to ad-
dress the following require-
ments:
o High reliability
o Open network
o 3D process visualization
o Standardized system
The Solution
The processes at the Xiji-
ang Plant are mainly divided
into raw water intake, lifting,
disinfection (chlorination),
filtration and sludge disposal
(discharge & dehydration).
Raw water and post-treatment
water are tested for standards
like turbidity, pH and elec-
trical conductance. Other
process variables like flow,
pressure, pump status, valve
position, filter head loss, water
level, and residual chlorine are
tracked.
Schneider Electric imple-
mented a total PlantStruxure
system, including the devel-
opment of the UAG WWW li-
brary for building the PAC and
SCADA programs.
The system is a typical sce-
nario of centralized monitor-
ing and distributed control.
The plant-level monitoring
center, the distributed field
control stations, and the site
equipment together consti-
tute the automation layer of
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
The Foshan Water Group, located in Foshan
City, Guangdong Province, operates water
distribution and wastewater treatment
plants for nearly 2.5 million inhabitants.
The group sought an automation supplier
capable of providing a reliable, open,
cost-effective and standardized system
within a tight schedule. The PlantStruxure
architecture increased reliability and
minimized downtime to help ensure a 24/7
water supply.
the entire plant. The QTM un adopted UAG to streamline
140CPU67160 HSBYs are the automation design. Dexun
adapted for controlling raw had already built a basic water
water intake pumps, lifting library for the Beijing plant
pumps, chlorination, and project and the library was
backwash. M340 series PACs optimized and applied to this
(CPU BMXP342020) are em- project.
ployed for controlling four
sludge discharge trolleys and Local Support with Strong
24 filters. All PACs and SCADA Industry Experience
system are linked to the optical Schneider Electric’s team of
Ethernet fibre ring via Modbus local experts in the water in-
TCP/IP. The SCADA system in dustry played a key role in the
the monitoring center is mutu- success of this project, starting
ally redundant. with presales visits, training
and on-site technical support
The Benefits to help maintain a reliable sys-
tem.
Increased Reliability
As part of the PlantStruxure 3D Visualization Offers Im-
architecture, the highly reli- proved Production Efficien-
able Quantum Hot Standby cy
and redundant SCADA system The graphics capabilities of
increase reliability and mini- the SCADA system are a criti-
mize downtime to help to en- cal factor in its overall usabil-
sure a 24/7 water supply. ity.
Vijeo Citect lets engineers
Standardized System Offers develop true color and easy-
On-time Delivery in Tight to-use graphics with 3D vi-
Schedule sualization that provide op-
Replicating the system on erators with an intuitive and
the tight schedule was a chal- consistent interface, facilitat-
lenge, but because many proj- ing improved production effi-
ects are primarily similar, Dex- ciency.
The Xijiang water plant is important
for Foshan City and one of its
success factors is Schneider
Electric’s solution.
- He Xiaoqing, Automation & IT Supervisor,
Foshan Water Group
January 2019 71
 COVER STORY MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES

Water Quality is Center Focus for Michigan’s

Genesee County Communities
In the wake of the clean-water public health catastrophe in Flint, Michigan, a dozen
communities in Flint’s own Genesee County are now receiving potable water from
one of the newest water treatment facilities to go into operation in the U.S.
By Jim McMahon
class treatment process con-
ducted by our previous water
supplier, the Great Lake Water
Authority, treating the same
Lake Huron water.”
Wright described the thor-
ough and deliberate planning,
construction, and operation of
the plant, how every action fo-
cused on safety and reliability.
Testing took place for four
months at the county water
treatment plant and multiple
locations along the distribu-
tion system. To ensure the
water is of the highest quality,
Genesee County completed
its lead and copper testing for
2017 while it was still connect-
ed to the Great Lakes Water
Authority. In addition to lead
and copper, the county water
facility completed a battery
of additional water sampling.
These tests measured parame-
ters such as temperature, pH,
hardness, chlorine, fluoride,
aluminum, zinc and sulfates,
and many other factors. The
Reactor Chamber of CONTRAFAST. In This Chamber Incoming Water Mixes with Previously Settled Solids to Promote Flocculation and Solids tests established a baseline for
Contacting. Chemical Addition is Also Introduced in This Process. future water testing.

RECENTLY, A DOZEN com-
munities located in Genesee
County, Michigan began re-
ceiving potable water from a
new multimillion-dollar water
treatment plant in neighbor-
ing Lapeer County’s Colum-
biaville Village. The USD 72
million facility, which services
more than 200,000 customers,
receives water from Lake Hu-
ron via the newly-built Kareg-
nondi Water Authority (KWA)
pipeline. The pipeline is capa-
ble of delivering 125 Million
Gallons per Day (MGD) of
raw water. The plant can treat
about one-quarter of that vol-
ume - 30 MGD.
But not all of the commu-
nities that originally com-
mitted to utilize the pipeline
will access its water. One of
those communities is Flint in
Michigan, the county seat and
population center in Genesee
County.
Flint, along with Genesee
County, was a key initiator of
the KWA pipeline. But in late
November 2017 Flint instead
opted to receive its water from
the Great Lakes Water Au-
thority which was created in
late 2014, following months
of debate on which source to
choose.
Earlier, in April 2014, Flint
stopped using treated water
from the Detroit water system
and began pumping water
from the Flint River for the
city’s drinking water source.
A lack of corrosion-control
chemicals caused the more
corrosive river water to dam-
age the city’s water infrastruc-
ture, and caused lead to leach
into the city’s water system,
resulting in a city-wide health
emergency by exposing Flint
residents to toxins.
The Emphasis on
the Water Safety
With the heightened empha-
sis on safe potable water fol-
lowing the highly-publicized
concerns over water safety in
Flint, Genesee County officials
have made rigorous efforts to
ensure its water meets State
and EPA requirements for the
communities and residents
serviced by the KWA pipeline
and the county’s new water
treatment plant. Genesee
County Drain Commissioner,
Jeff Wright, told the Flint News
in November: “We understand
the importance of water safe-
ty. Our plant mirrors the first-
The Plant Process
When Genesee County de-
cided to treat its own water and
build a new treatment plant, it
considered several options on
the type of treatment it could
utilize. The choices included
conventional treatment, re-
verse osmosis, and microfiltra-
tion. County officials chose a
conventional treatment plant
because they believed it was
the best system to deliver the
highest quality water to its res-
idents.
After traveling 67 miles
from Lake Huron, the raw wa-
ter reaches a 150 million gal-

72 January 2019 SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD

 COVER STORY
CenTROL Gravity Filter
lon holding pond where the is screened and released into
lake water can settle before it the plant.
CONTRAFAST® High-
Rate Sludge Thickening
Clarifier
Central to the performance
Supplied by water of the Genesee County Water
from Lake Huron Treatment Plant is its high-rate
sludge thickening clarifier. As
via the newly-built early as 2015, the county began
USD 274 million testing a clarifying technology
Karegnondi Water called CONTRAFAST, devel-
oped by WesTech Engineering,
Authority (KWA) at one of the City of Saginaw’s
pipeline, the USD reservoirs, which also receives
water from Lake Huron.
72 million Genesee The CONTRAFAST pilot
County Water operated like a miniature wa-
Treatment Plant is ter treatment plant, pulling
water from one of Saginaw’s
equipped with the two 90-million-gallon reservoir
latest-generation cells. A filtration pilot column
was included as part of the test-
process technology, ing to determine the filterabil-
including a ity of the CONTRAFAST unit
CONTRAFAST® effluent. Testing of the treated
water gauged pH levels, tur-
high-rate sludge bidity, and other factors. The
thickening process was designed to assess
clarifier, and the effectiveness of the entire
treatment process which Gen-
CenTROL® gravity esee County planned to use in
filters, designed its new plant and ultimately
by WesTech did select.
“The clarifier utilizes a com-
Engineering. bination of internal and ex-
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
ternal solids recirculation and
tube-settling clarification,”
said Jeff Easton, WesTech Pro-
cess Engineer. “It is capable of
running at four times the rate
typically used for conventional
clarifiers, and produces sludge
with as much as 10 percent sol-
ids by weight, eliminating the
need for a gravity thickener.”
The entire process takes
place in a single basin, great-
ly reducing plant footprint.
Here’s how the CONTRAFAST
clarifier works:
o Raw water is combined with
recirculated sludge and
treatment chemicals in a
center draft tube;
o A variable-speed impeller
mixes the flow at high G-val-
ues, accelerating flocculation
and densifying the solids;
o Water and densified solids
are recirculated within the
reactor chamber;
o A high velocity upflow port
prevents settling in the reac-
tor and transfers the water to
the settling chamber;
o A baffle directs the water to a
more quiescent settling area
where the solids settle out;
o Tube or plate settlers remove
residual solids;
o Effluent launders collect
clarified water;
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
o D ense sludge settles to the
basin floor where it is con-
tinually scraped and further
thickened;
o Thickened solids are contin-
uously recirculated to the
draft tube to seed future floc
and densify sludge;
o Periodic blowdown removes
solids from the process as
needed.
CenTROL® Gravity Filters
Once the CONTRAFAST
units have clarified the water,
it passes through two Cen-
TROL gravity filters in a cluster
arrangement. Each CenTROL
unit includes four gravity filter
cells arranged around a cen-
trally located influent distrib-
utor box, and backwash waste
control column. An operating
platform on top of the distribu-
tor box allows convenient visu-
al inspection of four filter cells
from this central location. Inlet
weirs within the distributors
evenly divide flow between all
online filter cells without the
use of electro-mechanical flow
control systems. Hydraulic
flow control through the filter
system eliminates potential
flow surging providing a con-
sistent high-quality effluent.
Use of a downstream ef-
PROJECT FILE
Customer: Genesee County
Water Treatment Plant
Location: Flint, Genesee
County, Michigan, USA
Service Provider: WesTech
Engineering, Inc.
Products/Technology
Involved: Sludge Thickening
Clarifiers, Gravity Filters
fluent weir system allows the
filter system to generate the
required backwash supply
without the need for addi-
tional storage or pumping
systems. The backwash of the
filter incorporates WesTech’s
MULTIWASH® Filtration Pro-
cess, using sustained simulta-
neous air-water backwashing
to return the filter media to
like new condition after each
backwash while minimizing
backwash waste generation.
Specially-designed baffles,
situated around the wash
troughs, prevent media loss
during the backwash process.
Water Independence
for Genesee County
Communities
The 94,000-sq-ft treatment
plant, accessory buildings, and
retention basins, positioned on
80 acres, put Genesee County
at the forefront of water supply
safety and innovation. Short-
ly after the facility opened,
Wright told the Division Index
(a publication in Michigan)
that the pipeline and treat-
ment facility were constructed
on time and under budget. He
also said that the facility will
save hundreds-of-millions of
dollars over the next 30 years,
stabilize water rates, ensure
the lowest water rates in the
Great Lakes region, and pro-
vide a solution that will last
100 years.
WesTech Engineering, Inc.
provides process solutions for
water treatment, liquids/sol-
ids separation, and biological
treatment needs to municipal,
industrial and minerals clients
worldwide.
About the Author
Jim McMahon regular-
ly writes on several water &
wastewater issues.
January 2019 73
 COVER STORY MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES

Septic Tanks Struggle in Florida but Raptor Gets

to the Grit
Fully automated, Lakeside’s Raptor Septage Complete Plant (SCP) is a self-
contained unit with a small footprint that compacts and dewaters captured
screenings to a solids content of 40 percent.
By Lakeside Equipment Corporation
solids) Facility (RDF), where
news had clearly travelled far
and wide about its efficiency.
A recent analysis showed
that approximately 66% of
the hauled waste brought
to the site by septic haulers
was not actually generated
in Indian River County itself.
These wastes came from com-
mercial, industrial and mu-
nicipal sources in addition to
residential septic tank clean-
ings located in Brevard, Palm
Beach, Martin, St. Lucie, and
Okeechobee counties.
Planned and built to serve
the needs of the Indian River
County community whose tax-
es pay for it, the RDF no longer
accepts out of county haulers
who previously travelled to the
facility from up to 100 miles
away.
The Rotating Rake Teeth of Lakesides Raptor Fine Screen Fully Penetrate the Cylindrical Screen Bars to Prevent Plugging and Blinding
Yet despite still receiving
such large volumes (100,000
WITH AN ESTIMATED 10 to a legislative staff analysis, the algae blooms that killed doubtedly see an increase in gallons) of septage from 30-
percent of Florida’s two mil- 59,500 pollute groundwater fish in the Banana River and volume at treatment plants 35 vac trucks on a daily basis
lion to three million septic that flows into the estuary. northern lagoon last year. such as Indian River County’s (even with no out-of-county
tank systems not working That pollution contributed to New legislation would un- Residuals Dewatering (Bio- vehicles), Indian River’s RDF
properly, there is understand-
able concern about pollution
to pristine bodies of water
such as the Indian River La-
goon on the east coast near
Vero Beach.
With some tanks current-
ly emptied only every fifteen
years, contributing to nutrient
and fecal coliform bacteria in
groundwater, moves are afoot
to introduce laws that would
require inspection and empty-
ing of tanks every three to five
years.
In Brevard County, for ex-
ample, which accounts for 71
percent of the lagoon, there
are 82,000 permitted septic
systems, of which according Rich Meckes Says That the Lakeside Septage Plant is Extremely Tough

74 January 2019 SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD

 COVER STORY
The Rotating Rake Teeth of Lakesides Raptor Fine Screen Fully Penetrate the Cylindrical Screen Bars to Prevent Plugging and Blinding
has been a tower of strength
since it opened in 2010. De-
termined to provide a highly
robust plant, the facility’s team
have made an exceptional-
ly strong case in justifying
the high specification of the
equipment it chose. The lowest
bid didn’t win.
“For grit removal”, explains
Rich Meckes, Indian River
County’s RDF Manager (who
has worked at the facility since
it opened), we looked at sev-
eral manufacturers and visit-
ed quite a few sites, but for a
system that was truly built for
We certainly didn’t anticipate
getting 10 years of service from
this combined screen and grit
removal system. If you can get a
decade out of any equipment on a
tough application at a wastewater
treatment plant, without any major
problems, you know you’ve bought
right. Considering the abuse that
the Lakeside Septage Complete
Plant has taken, it has been a great
buy. It shows no sign of stopping
- Rich Meckes, RDF Manager,
Indian River County
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
purpose, Lakeside’s complete
plant (combining screening
and grit removal) sets itself
apart. There are no failure
points”.
Fully automated, Lakeside’s
Raptor Septage Complete
Plant (SCP) is a self-contained
unit with a small footprint
that compacts and dewaters
captured screenings to a sol-
ids content of 40 percent.
“There’s nothing flimsy on
the plant”, added Meckes. “It
is designed with thick stain-
less steel. Everything is rug-
ged, and it is also far easier to
access than others we looked
at. You can open up the top
cover and all the maintenance
points are very conveniently
located. It’s clearly designed
by those who understand the
application and have thought
through the role of the opera-
tor”.
We Capture Way More
Grit and Rags than We
Ever Anticipated
Indeed. The pre-engineered
design reduces engineering
costs and the all stainless
steel construction resists cor-
rosion. At the heart of Lake-
side’s Septage Complete Plant
is the Raptor Fine Screen,
with rotating rake teeth that
fully penetrate the cylindri-
cal screen bars. This prevents
plugging and blinding caused
by grease and small debris,
enabling faster unloading
times to generate more reve-
nue.
Lakeside’s SCP is also avail-
able with an Acceptance Con-
trol System (RACS) - a securi-
ty access station that allows
authorized haulers to unload
their waste at a facility. Add-
ing the data management and
accounting system with the
RACS station provides admin-
istration capabilities to track
and invoice customers.
“We capture way more grit
and rags than we ever antic-
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
There’s nothing
flimsy on the
plant. It is
designed with
thick stainless
steel. Everything
is rugged, and
it is also far
easier to access
than others we
looked at. You
can open up the
top cover and all
the maintenance
points are very
conveniently
ipated”, added Meckes. “It’s
incredible what it pulls out.
located. It’s
We fill a four-yard dumpster clearly designed
every day - sometimes more by those who
than one per day. The Septage
Plant is extremely tough and
understand the
can handle pretty much every- application and
thing that comes its way”. have thought
He continued: “The con-
ditions it operates under are
through the role
crazy, but in nearly a decade, of the operator
there have been no bearing - Rich Meckes, RDF
failures, and we have only had
to carry out very basic daily
Manager, Indian
maintenance”. River County
Meckes explained that one
of Indian River County’s me- which is very helpful. Overall,
chanics simply opens the SCP we’re very happy with it - and
up for less than an hour per as a company, Lakeside has
day for a clean down with a been very easy to work with.
hose, and perhaps for a bit of The company’s agent, Fred
grease to be applied now and Trippensee (Trippensee and
again.
“It doesn’t always need a
Company), has also been ex-
tremely helpful.
clean”, said Meckes. “Another
You Know You’ve
PROJECT FILE Bought Right
“We certainly didn’t antici-
Customer: Indian
River County pate getting 10 years of service
Location: Florida, USA from this combined screen and
Service Provider: Lakeside grit removal system. If you can
get a decade out of any equip-
Equipment Corporation
Products/Technology ment on a tough application at
Involved: Raptor Septage a wastewater treatment plant,
Complete Plant (SCP) without any major problems,
you know you’ve bought right.
Considering the abuse that the
great thing about the machine Lakeside Septage Complete
is its overnight self-cleaning Plant has taken, it has been a
cycle. This stops the build- great buy. It shows no sign of
up at the bottom of the unit, stopping”.
January 2019 75
 COVER STORY
Jersey’s Shining Sludge Plant Sets Standards
With the logistical challenges faced by the island, the criteria of efficiency, ease of
maintenance and high performance was crucial, particularly for the plant’s pumps
and mixing systems.
By Landia
(Left to Right) Bob King and Gary Davies from Bellozanne STYW with Landia’s Paul Davies
JERSEY. THE LARGEST of
the Channel Islands. Famed for
its Royal new potatoes as well
as its equally delicious dairy
products from its iconic pure-
bred cattle - and now, for those
with an interest in exemplary
engineering standards of man-
agement, research, design, effi-
ciency, easy maintenance and
high performance - its sewage
treatment works.
Granted, the STW may never
76 January 2019
feature in any Channel Islands’
tourism brochure, but as home
also to one of the world’s lead-
ing international finance-cen-
ters, Jersey certainly knows a
thing or two about how to in-
vest money.
When the time came to re-
place the sludge plant (built
in 1959) at the island’s STW
to meet future environmental
standards (and a population
already in excess of 105,000),
customer and main process
engineering contractor soon
found that their respective
drivers to meet a 2035 design
horizon had plenty in com-
mon.
Three years on, yet the plant
at Bellozanne - at times carbon
neutral - still shines like new -
but this isn’t some strange coin-
cidence or due to Jersey’s kind
Gulf Stream climate.
From the outset, Jersey’s
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
Department for Infrastructure,
together with Doosan Enpure,
knew that with the logistical
challenges faced by the island,
the aforementioned criteria
of efficiency, ease of mainte-
nance and high performance
was crucial, particularly for
the plant’s pumps and mixing
systems. Fog or high winds can
soon stop goods from reaching
Jersey, so Bellozanne STW has
to be self-sufficient - and has a
back-up.
“The new plant gave us the
perfect opportunity to engineer
out old unwanted problems”,
said Bob King, Senior Engineer
(Waste Strategy - Mech & Pro-
cess) at the States of Jersey’s
Department for Infrastructure.
“Previously, for example,
we had an ongoing nightmare
with very costly maintenance
for compressors, which went
down even if there was just a
small amount of foam in our
old gas mixing system. We
also suffered from ragging and
problems with pipework and
fittings that simply weren’t of
a design”.
All Pipework and
Moving Parts Should
be on the Outside
of the Tank
Weighing up Bellozanne’s
drive towards a highly robust
plant where downtime would
be a thing of the past, Doosan
Enpure were also busy sourc-
ing kit that would meet key
requirements, especially for
low maintenance, as Michelle
Macleod, Principal Mechanical
Engineer explains:
“We certainly agreed straight
away that for the three new an-
aerobic digesters, all pipework
and moving parts should be
on the outside of the tank”, she
said.
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
“Externally-mounted equip-
ment would also improve
health and safety by elimi-
nating the need for working
at height, and confined space
entry”.
Together with Gary Davies,
Principal Engineer at Bel-
lozanne STW, Bob King (25
years at the plant) carried out
several field trips to research
suitable mixers, seeking equip-
ment that would also mix the
whole tank - away from sys-
tems that provide little or no
rotation.
“Eventually we visited
Landia in Denmark to see for
ourselves” continued Bob, “As
well as seeing the GasMix di-
gester mixing system, the set-
up and the people was impres-
sive the moment we walked
in - which gave us confidence
too in the type of service and
back-up that we were going to
get. We didn’t want any breaks
that would interfere with our
gas production. Lowest possi-
ble price wasn’t our objective
- not for one second. We were
making decisions on what was
most appropriate - for the long-
term. A mixing system that
could produce the most gas yet
be the lowest on maintenance
made perfect sense”.
Utilizing its proven chopper
pump to break down particle
size, Landia’s GasMix also in-
cludes multiple venturi noz-
zles, depending upon require-
ments.
Doosan Enpure’s Michelle
Macleod added: “Landia was
very helpful because we want-
ed everything at ground level,
meaning no access platforms
at the side of the tanks - which
saves time and money - putting
the solenoid valves that power
the pneumatic actuators down
to a solenoid box at ground
 COVER STORY
level in an explosion-proof en-
closure. We also wanted an iso-
lation valve included between
digesters and the actuated
valve so that we wouldn’t have
to decommission an entire
digester if we had a problem
with a valve. Operating times
also came into the decision
to choose Landia, rather than
systems that run flat out, so in
effect, it gives the operator the
flexibility and confidence to
fine-tune the mixing for maxi-
mum gas yields”.
At the old Bellozanne plant,
lime that caused a distinctive
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
rotten fish odor was used to en-
hance the treatment of sludge
- at a cost of £80,000pa but that
expenditure has gone.
Now there is Doosan En-
pure’s established pasteuriza-
tion technology that holds the
sludge at 55°C for a minimum
of 4 hours, prior to passing to
the anaerobic digesters.
“As well as the pasteurizers”,
continued Gary Davies, “the
investment in our CHP sees
minimal flaring of gas. It all
goes to the CHP - and we can
now use the excess heat to heat
the sludge. The whole focus
of our operation has changed,
because we look at gas produc-
tion every day and see how,
if possible, we can tweak it to
make it better. We might see if
we can thicken more, thicken
less, change feed rates - look at
what is coming in, look at what
is being washed away. We’ll
never stop wanting to learn
and improve”.
He added: “Doosan Enpure
are very good process peo-
ple to work with, helping us
achieve up to 500 kW of elec-
tricity (and the same again in
heat) - about £800 to £1,100
per day. The pasteurizers make
a big positive difference in
presenting the digesters with
much better material. Further
on in the process, we now have
far less grit/silt and rag to deal
with. Before we had to take a
digester out of service, bring
in costly tankers to remove two
to three meters of grit/silt and
rag - but now we’re very much
heading in the right direction”.
One area that did require
much more than mere fine-tun-
ing was the continuous furring
up of the new plant’s heat ex-
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
changers, which were having to
be cleaned every week - going
against Bellozanne’s quest for
low, low maintenance.
“Initially we blamed the
exchangers, as perhaps most
operators do (!)” said Bob. “We
tried linking them in series,
in parallel, but eventually we
found the remedy by intro-
ducing an air-line. Our heat
exchangers now have no trou-
ble reaching their required
temperatures and require very
little in the way of cleaning.
The downside to this was ad-
ditional wear to the pasteur-
izer mixing pumps, caused by
aerated sludge. This issue was
addressed by upgrading to
hardened impellers to improve
service life.”
Bellozanne and Doosan
Enpure also chose Landia
pumps for three separate tanks
containing digested sludge,
thickened sludge (fed to the
digesters via pasteurizers) and
unthickened sludge that comes
off the final clarifiers, which
is then thickened and added
to the thickened tank to maxi-
mize overall residence time.
As with the Landia chopper
pumps on the GasMix systems
of the three digesters, none has
required any spare parts till
now, since being installed three
years ago.
Good Mixing is Critical
Dave Garnett, Technical Spe-
cialist (Wastewater) at Doosan
Enpure says that Bellozanne is
achieving high Volatile Solids
(VS) destruction at an average
of around 60%.
“The pasteurizers must help,
but good mixing is critical with
the high-temperature feed to
the digesters to make sure that
everything is distributed prop-
erly. Landia’s GasMix is work-
ing very well indeed because
we’re seeing plenty of energy
produced by the CHP (that
has already more than paid for
itself ), so making a big reduc-
tion in OPEX”
He added: “It is interesting
that many digesters in the in-
dustry run on 2 to 2.5% solids
when with a simple retrofit to
a superior mixing system, they
could increase to 4% and see
an immediate pay off ”.
PROJECT FILE
Customer: Doosan
Enpure, Department for
Infrastructure - Jersey
Location: Bellozanne
Sewage Treatment Works
(STW), Island of Jersey
Service Provider: Landia
Products/Technology
Involved: Pumps, Mixers
The Digesters are
Being Mixed Properly
Gary Davies agrees: “From a
process point of view, the good
mixing we have here with the
Landia equipment is very im-
portant for consistency. It has
a very positive knock-on effect
all the way through, includ-
ing that big reduction in grit/
silt, because we can see that
the digesters are being mixed
properly”.
Further evidence of the
plant’s enviable performance
comes in the shape of the
sludge cake. Without lime,
there was some concern ini-
tially about how consistent it
would be, but according to Bob
King, the plant now produces a
far better product.
“It is much more appealing
to farmers, for whom we now
provide technical assistance
to help them with spreading
compliance, testing their fields
for them. We still have more
we can achieve in this area,
but we’ve already come a long
way since we used to have to
pay farmers to take the treated
sludge away!”
Gary Davies continued:
“Overall, we now have a far
more complex plant - yet our
investment in quality equip-
ment is saving us money. Not
everybody understands the
drivers when being on an is-
land. No point supposedly sav-
ing £1M on CAPEX if it’s then
going to cost you an extra £3M
in maintenance. This plant’s
performance proves that we are
winning the argument”.
Doosan Enpure’s Michelle
MacLeod agrees: “I’ve never
seen such a clean, tidy and
well-maintained site - which is
highly beneficial for the equip-
ment - run by people who are
very knowledgeable about the
process - and care about it”.
January 2019 77
 COVER STORY
UAE’s SAFI Water Treatment Plant Boosts
Water Recycling
SAFI distributes commercialized ‘recycled water’ which is used in industries that
require large amounts of it while maintaining a high quality, good salinity, and TDS
levels.
By Rolf Keil
Safi Water Treatment Plant in Ajman
THE SAFI WATER treatment
plant has built a strong reputa-
tion for itself in Ajman. Locat-
ed in the Industrial Zone, the
plant has undergone a revamp
from the ground up and now
resembles a commercial fuel
station with 24 filling bays of
which 16 bays are currently in
operation.
This makes it easier for driv-
ers to come in and fill up their
tankers, as the visual familiar-
ity makes for a good experi-
ence overall.
SAFI distributes commer-
cialized ‘recycled water’ which
78 January 2019
is used in industries that re-
quire large amounts of it while
maintaining a high quality,
good salinity, and TDS levels.
One of SAFI major clients is
Tabreed, the Ajman munic-
ipality’s incinerator facility,
and Star Cements, for whom
SAFI have built a pipe to sup-
ply water directly to the plant
here in Ajman.
SAFI (which means “pure”
in Arabic) is a joint venture
between Ajman Municipali-
ty, BESIX, Six Construct and
Veolia, and the water treat-
ment plant receives its tertia-
ry treated water directly from
Ajman Sewerage (ASPCL). Af-
ter undergoing ultra-filtration
and reverse osmosis filtration
processes, it is then pumped.
The total capacity of the plant
is 2.2 million imperial gallons
of water.
SAFI had 12 filling points
prior to the reinvention of this
plant. It was a simple facili-
ty with a few filing points - a
storage tank and building to
process the water. Today, SAFI
is the first company in the
region to bring the concept
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
of commercialized ‘recycled
water’ into practice. Prior to
the revamp SAFI Ajman had
a different look and feel. The
growing demand for treated
effluent (TE) prompted its
stakeholders to take it up a
notch.
A minor change in the di-
ameter of the pipe has allowed
larger outputs. SAFI pumps
are now 50% faster than be-
fore, which means we are able
to pump double the amount of
water as compared to our ca-
pacity at launch.
A 10,000-gallon tanker
which would take an hour to
fill-up now takes just 35 min-
utes after the change. This
means the frequency of trucks
will increase as more tankers
are able to fill up in a shorter
amount of time. For a tanker
to remain stationary, either at
a filling station or otherwise,
translates in loss of revenue
(for its company).
The fully rebranded prem-
ises was inaugurated on No-
vember 20, 2017, at the hands
of HH Sheikh Humaid bin
Rashid Al Nuaimi, Supreme
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
Council Member and Ruler of
Ajman.
As a private company, SAFI
is in it to make a profit and the
authority (Ajman Municipali-
ty) comes in with the legalities
to govern the project, and they
have been extremely coopera-
tive from the outset.
The success of this water
treatment and distribution
plant has prompted neighbor-
ing emirates to visit the facil-
ity. Fujairah is now looking
at replicating the system we
have, along with several other
authorities and bodies who
have visited our premises. Lo-
cal governments hold the key
to success in the public-pri-
vate business model.
The revamped SAFI Ajman
plant faces no competition
in the UAE and the future is
looking bright as well. SAFI
will build two new facilities
in 2018, one will be located
in the industrial area and the
other will be on the Al Zorah
Beachfront (both in Ajman).
Building a new plant from
scratch costs approximately
AED30m (USD 8.2m).
 COVER STORY
SAFI receives TE water from
Ajman Sewerage located in
close proximity. A rundown
of the multiple stage process,
from receiving the sewage wa-
ter to its purification.
The Wastewater Treat-
ment Plant (WWTP) has two
systems running in parallel
- called the WWTP Phase 1
and WWTP Phase 2. Although
both utilize similar processes,
each uses distinct technolo-
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
gies to treat the wastewater,”
he says.
The average daily capacity
at the Wastewater Treatment
Plant (WWTP) is around
135,000 m3. These flows are
expected to increase to meet
the increasing demands based
on planned future develop-
ments in Ajman.
As the primary supplier to
SAFI, the WWTP’s supply of
TE varies depending on the
season and the demands of
the various off-takers. SAFI re-
ceives an average of between
10,000 m3 and 14,000 m3 of
TE per day.
One of the main challeng-
es is to ensure the quality of
the discharged wastewater
complies with municipal reg-
ulations and does not contain
chemicals, biocides, pesti-
cides or other products in
such quantities that could be
MUNICIPAL CASE STUDIES
toxic or inhibitory to the bio-
logical treatment process.
This is achieved, to the ex-
tent possible, by continuous
monitoring of the wastewater
discharged to the sewerage
network; campaigns to ed-
ucate the customers on the
proper use of the sewerage
system; and continuous mon-
itoring of the performance of
the facilities.
It’s also important to accu-
rately assess the population
growth on a medium to long-
term basis to ensure that sew-
erage facilities are planned
sufficiently in advance to
meet the demands of a rapidly
increasing population, whilst
also ensuring that the best use
is made of the funds available
for investment in new facili-
ties.
Hence, monitoring popula-
tion trends and master-plan-
ning to anticipate the needs
for additional sewerage infra-
structure, and robust procure-
ment process are pivotal.
APSCL - the firm tasked
with managing the day-to-
day operations of the site - is
also providing expertise and
financial assistance to help
PROJECT FILE
Location: Safi Water
Treatment Plant,
Ajman, UAE
Service Provider: SAFI
(Ajman Municipality, BESIX
Concessions & Assets, Six
Construct, and Veolia)
Products/Technology
Involved: Wastewater
Treatment Plant (WWTP),
Water Recycling,
Biological Treatment
Ajman Municipality expand
the range and improve the
efficiency of its irrigation net-
work, all while increasing the
volume of re-use TE.
Maximizing the re-use of
the processed tertiary effluent,
biogas and sludge will pro-
mote sustainability, protect
the environment and (if pos-
sible) obtain financial benefit.
ASPCL also expects to award a
contract in the near future to
procure facilities to convert
biogas into ‘green’ electricity,
which will reduce emissions
to the atmosphere and reduce
the company’s operating costs.
About the Author
Rolf Keil is the Senior Man-
ager at BESIX Concessions
& Assets with a background
of more than 20 years in the
industrial manufacturing,
mining, water, power and
utility sectors. He had joined
BESIX as Project Develop-
ment Manager, focusing on
desalination and innovative
water treatment businesses, in
November 2016, after holding
senior international manage-
ment positions with Publicis
MCD, WA Granite, Hawle Ar-
maturen, CST Industries, and
Toray.
January 2019 79
 COLUMN
14th Finance Commission: Possibilities and Challenges
in the Way of Federalism
ONE OF THE CENTRAL cri-
tiques of our developmental
planning has been the nature
of its top-down approach.
Most of the schemes around
basic services, even when be-
ing state subjects, are run as
central schemes with states
sharing the costs. In the pro-
cess, the entire delivery mech-
anism remains to be a bureau-
cratic exercise. And this has
remained a reality despite the
existence of local governance
institutions, especially since
the 73rd and 74th Amendments
to the Constitution around
Panchayati Raj Institutions
(PRIs) and Urban Local Bodies
(ULBs). The challenge is that
there have been little teeth
given to these institutions in
terms of financial muscle till
recently. The amendments also
provisioned for the establish-
ment of State Finance Com-
missions (SFC) for sharing of
tax pool of the state with the
PRIs and ULBs.
It was in this context that the
ongoing tenure of the 14th Fi-
nance Commission (FFC) with
its vertical allocation of 42
percent to the states (a sharp
increase by 10% from the
previous 13th Finance Com-
mission) promised a radical
break in terms of the aspired
spirit of federalism. Below are
80 January 2019
some of the findings of a se-
ries of work done by WaterAid
India, giving us a few insights
into the working of something
still nebulous in its scope.
The Commission (valid for
the duration 2015-2020) stip-
ulated rules devolving more
planning power to the Gram
Panchayats (GPs) directly. The
FFC suggested that the FFC
fund should not be parked
with the state governments
for more than 15 days. In case
of delay, the states should pay
interest to the GPs. There are
several examples where the
states have had to pay interest
for the delay in the transfer of
funds. It was also recommend-
ed by the FFC that 10 percent
of the total transfer of funds
should be used for adminis-
trative purposes. The FFC also
provided a list of suggested
services that should be con-
sidered as basic service by
the GPs, with a rider that the
state governments could em-
phasize some of the services
as the state-specific priorities.
Instructions by the Ministry
of Finance were issued based
on the FFC recommendations.
It included the requirement
of preparation of a Gram
Panchayat Development Plan
(GPDP) for utilization of the
FFC grant.
Let us look at the ways in
which some of these recom-
mendations have panned out.
Due to a complex composite
weightage system, the num-
ber of village Panchayats vary
in different states as the crite-
ria for demarcation of village
Panchayats varies with the size
of the population. This has re-
sulted in varying allocation of
resources for the GPs. In Bihar,
per GP transfer is as high as 45
lakhs and in Chhattisgarh it is
as low as 8.7 lakhs. All in all,
FFC allocated INR 2,00,292
crores for the village Pancha-
yats, which is more than 3
times the allocation provided
to the Panchayats under the
13th Finance Commission. Yet
the utilization of the funds
has been patchy and vary-
ing across the states. Most of
the states were able to utilize
less than half of the allocat-
ed resources. Uttar Pradesh,
the state with a high concen-
tration of poor could utilize
only 2.02% of the funds trans-
ferred. The low utilization of
the FFC fund reflects the inad-
equate administrative capac-
ities of the village Panchayats
and many states have been
lagging behind in developing
guidelines for GPDP and its
implementation in respective
Gram Panchayats. A recent ex-
ercise by WaterAid India team
and its partners across five dis-
tricts of Uttar Pradesh brought
out lessons starkly.
The FFC defined the ba-
sic services as - water supply,
sanitation including sep-
tage management, sewerage,
stormwater drainage, solid
waste management, street
lighting, local body roads and
footpaths, parks, playgrounds,
burial and cremation grounds.
Most of the states followed the
list of basic services, however,
emphasis on various services
differed in different states.
The last two year’s analysis
clearly shows that internal
roads construction has been
taken up as a top priority e.g.
Telangana (43.5%), Sikkim
(35.96%), Rajasthan (28.36%),
Andhra Pradesh (27.30%),
Uttarakhand (25.8%), Tri-
pura (24.14%), and Odisha
(23.06%) followed by Chhat-
tisgarh (22.04%). However, the
internal roads construction
has been closely followed by
provisioning of water supply
e.g. in Telangana and Chhat-
tisgarh, expenditure on water
and sanitation combined is at
around 59% which is a sub-
stantial portion of the grants
spent on these two services.
This has to be read also in light
of the fact that since 2014-15,
there has been a sharp decline
of funds under the National
Rural Drinking Water Pro-
gramme of the central govern-
ment.
In states of Chhattisgarh
(36.41%), Himachal Pradesh
(31.86%) and Manipur (62%) a
major part of the FFC grant is
spent on sanitation. The repair
of the toilets constructed with
lower subsidy amount prior to
Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM)
and construction of many
missing toilets is also a grow-
ing demand at the village Pan-
chayat level which is possibly
met from the FFC funds in the
states where there is a high ex-
penditure on sanitation.
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
WATER WISE
The field experiences in dif-
ferent GPs in Madhya Pradesh
and Uttar Pradesh states high-
lighted several examples of
administrative supremacy
over the decisions of the Gram
Sabha due to the rigid guide-
lines of the state Governments
on utilization of FFC funds.
For example, a Sarpanch in
Raisen district of Madhya
Pradesh wanted to repair old
water supply pipelines and re-
place leaking taps. It could not
get approval as the state made
the construction of internal
roads as its first priority.
The larger issue which
comes out clearly is that de-
spite the planning envisaged
under GPDP being bottom-up,
district or state officials still
wield the wherewithal to
control the same as per their
whims and fancies. With the
ongoing work towards 15th
Finance Commission which
will commence in 2020, there
is a dire need to look into
these aspects. With the state
now largely withdrawing
funds from water and sanita-
tion (the latter likely soon in
the post SBM scenario), the
expenditure on water, sanita-
tion, and waste management
needs to be comprehensively
planned. There is a need to
develop GPDP specifically for
the water, sanitation and waste
management developing con-
vergence mechanism. More
importantly, there is a need to
invest in Panchayat capacity to
plan and to organize special-
ists at the disposal of GPs to be
able to look at the planning as
a comprehensive vision rather
than ad hoc is crucial.
But the early signs are prom-
ising and one hopes that this
will indeed lead to deepen-
ing of democracy in its truest
sense.
Avinash Kumar is Director
- Programme, and Policy at Wa-
terAid India.
@Avinashkoomar
 MARKET
POST EVENT
Women in Water
November 27, London, UK
Top industry leaders of UK shared their experiences at Women in Water.
Delegates to Women in Water had the Advantage of Networking at
the Highest Level.
OVER 100 DELEGATES at-
tended British Water’s inau-
gural Women in Water event
held in London on 27 Novem-
ber 2018. The event sold out
weeks in advance and attend-
ees heard career advice from
water industry leaders and
took advantage of the opportu-
nity to network at the highest
level.
Northumbrian Water’s Chief
Delegates Network at Women in Water.
82 January 2019
Executive Heidi Mottram is
the first woman to lead a UK
water utility. She described
how gender-enlightened poli-
cies at British Rail in the 1980s
brought her into an operations
management training scheme:
“I wound points, operated sig-
nal-boxes and coupled trains
together in the middle of the
night,” she said.
Advising anyone wanting to
Northumbrian Water Chief Executive Heidi Mottram (l) and Angela
Smith MP Share Experiences from their Careers at Women in Water.
advance their career, she deliv-
ered a tough message: “Doing
your job well is not enough,
you’re going to have to stand
out and do things outside your
remit that make a difference.
Mottram recommended
building as big a base as possi-
ble by moving jobs and trying
different things. “You’re going
to have to move at a bit of pace,
be brave,” she said. “I was mov-
ing jobs every two-and-a-bit
years and always doing more
than was needed.”
Mottram said she didn’t see
herself as ambitious or driven,
“I’m motivated where I think
I can do something better,
where I can do something dif-
ferent and add some value.”
Kate Davies, Chief Operat-
ing Officer, EU Skills, revealed
the stark gender gap in the
UK water industry where only
20% of the workforce is female
against a national average of
47 percent. This actually com-
pares favorably with other
utilities where the figure is 17
percent. “Water is ahead, and
we’re going in the right direc-
tion,” she said, pointing to a
glacial 2% shift over 10 years.
Inspirational stories from
women’s careers included
Alice Elder, Senior Asset En-
gineer at Affinity Water, who
came into the industry after re-
alizing she wanted to do some-
thing with a tangible benefit to
people. She talked about the
value of mentors and how in-
spiration had come from men
as she “didn’t see women in po-
sitions of leadership and man-
agement” at the time.
“My mentors were great,” she
said, “they could see the value I
brought and what I could offer
a team. It’s a really important
role for men to recognize the
qualities we bring,” she said.
Karen Dingley, Head of Min-
ing & Water Services at WSP
told a similar story about the
mining industry where she
might be the only woman
on isolated sites around the
world. She urged women in
the water industry to “Get into
schools, encourage girls to get
into maths and science.”
Lila Thompson, British Wa-
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
EVENTS
ter’s Chief Executive (elect)
said, “The event has exceeded
my expectations in terms of
the range of women that came,
their experience, skills and the
departments they represent.
The stories we’ve heard have
been inspiring, showing what
is possible for women in this
sector.”
Looking ahead Thompson
said, “I’d like to see even more
interaction and more practi-
cal advice at future Women in
Water events. Also, this is an
event for men and women, so
I would like more men to join
future events. Men are criti-
cal in helping women on that
journey, as we’ve heard today,
and where women are in lead-
ership roles, the relationships
will be reciprocated.”
Women in Water was host-
ed by PA Consulting and
sponsored by Anglian Water,
Thames Water, and Cranfield
University.
British Water Chief Executive
Lila Thompson Welcomes Dele-
gates to the Inaugural Women in
Water Event.
 Global Summit
on Waste
Management
28th Feb - 1st Mar 2019,
Hotel Le Meridien, New Delhi, India
Theme:
Waste to Wealth - creating a circular economy

Global Summit on Waste Management - GSWM - 2019 is envisaged as a 2 day exhibition cum conference focusing on all
aspects of waste management in India. The exhibition will showcase the latest technology & solutions from across the world ,
while the conference will deliberate on the issues & solutions and chart a way forward in the presence of invited international
and Indian policy-makers, domain experts & government officials,. Delegates will comprise of decision makers , scientists,
researchers, entrepreneurs, suppliers, innovators, students and many more.

Key Topics and areas:

• Best & Next Practices in Sustainable Waste Management • Circular Economy • Zero waste system • E-Waste • Waste to Energy
• Upcycling • Bio Waste • Waste water • Plastic Waste • Agriculture waste • Food Waste • Menstrual Waste
• Construction and demolition • Industrial waste • Waste management for oil, gas and petrochemical industries • Hazardous waste
• Medical waste • Recycling technologies • Composting • Policy, financing, planning and regulation • Smart waste • Waste Logistics

Shailendra Kumar I +919868332325 I shailendra@gswm.in | www.gswm.in

Concurrent Event
Global Summit on
Waste to Energy
28thFeb -1st Mar, 2019, Hotel Le Meridien, New Delhi
Towards a future where there will be no difference between waste & energy
 MARKET
POST EVENT
A Grand Meetup for the HVAC Industry in Bengaluru
November 30, Bengaluru, India
The showstopper of the conference was the panel discussion on “Role of Smart
Metering in Achieving Energy-Efficiency”.
Panel Discussion Members (L-R) Dr. Rupesh Iyengar, Kiran Kumar, Srirangarajan Kadaba, TN Gurumurthy,
and Satish Karath
THE EVENING OF November
30, 2018, Kamstrup launched
the first edition of the Annual
Cooling Conference success-
fully in Bengaluru, in associa-
tion with their trusted partner
Virgo Technologies and sup-
ported by ISHRAE.
The event witnessed an
amalgamation of consultants,
contractors, builders and de-
velopers, facility managers,
BMS and MEP experts from
the HVAC industry. Air con-
ditioning is an integral part
of buildings of today and to-
morrow and the conference fo-
cused on building a dialogue
around achieving energy-ef-
ficiency and sustainability in
the field.
The audience seemed ex-
84 January 2019
cited to see the latest product
updates in BTU metering and
latest analytics solution for en-
ergy and water from Kamstrup
in India.
Presence of popular con-
sultants and contractors like
eQube, Cerebration consul-
tants, ePlus, VKBS, Bluestar
etc., builders and developers
like Brigade, CBRE, Karle In-
frastructure, and HVAC ex-
perts was marked during the
conference.
“We need to build the in-
frastructure that will last for
years to come. As consultants,
it is not the meter or the data;
it is the responsibility we have
towards the infrastructure that
matters the most” said, Rakesh
Sahay, eQube consultants, the
keynote speaker at the confer-
ence.
The showstopper of the
conference was the panel dis-
cussion on “Role of Smart Me-
tering in Achieving Energy-Ef-
ficiency”. The speakers were
from diverse backgrounds
Rakesh Sahay, Keynote Speaker at ACC 2018
shared their experiences and
presented unique viewpoints
in terms of challenges and
contribution of BTU meters.
The discussion took an inter-
esting turn when panelists
indicated their expectations
towards product development
and digitalization within the
industry.
“Kamstrup has always been
on the epitome of research
and development and we
will continue to bring val-
ue through our cutting-edge
technology in measuring and
monitoring of energy and wa-
ter consumption”, said Suneel
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
EVENTS
Bhambere, Director, Kamstrup
India operations.
Kamstrup is a leading sup-
plier of energy and water
metering solutions. Its solu-
tions support utilities and
are also applied in properties
with individual metering. Its
solutions include consump-
tion meters, smart metering
systems, hosting and services,
analytics and smart grid appli-
cations. All of its products are
produced with the highest cer-
tifications for environmental
safety and quality in its auto-
mated production facilities in
Denmark.
 MARKET
POST EVENT
CII Waste & Resource Management
Summit 2018
November 16-17, Hyderabad, India
11 companies were awarded with CII GreenCo (Green Company) rating for their
sustainable business practices.
WHILE ADDRESSING AT
the inaugural session of 9th
Waste & Resource Manage-
ment Summit 2018, Henri-
ette Faergemann, Counselor,
Environment, Energy & Cli-
mate Change, EU Delegation
to India, clearly underlined
that the European Union (EU)
and Indian industry should
explore new areas of partner-
ship in waste management
and resource conservation.
EU in partnership with India
has developed projects which
86 January 2019
address various ecological is-
sues and concerns and in the
process is offering new growth
opportunities to the stakehold-
ers, she added. Indian indus-
try through its multi-pronged
approach has made excellent
strides in highlighting busi-
ness case for green businesses,
she highlighted.
Ulhas Parlikar, Chairman,
Waste & Resource Manage-
ment Summit 2018 explained
the need and importance of
focusing on Circular Economy.
EVENTS
Target “waste” as a “resource” set new global benchmarks in from linear to circular econo-
and Convert “waste” into a “re- environmental management. my: Stakeholders perspective;
source’’, should be the mantra, This indeed augurs well for Towards resource efficiency;
he highlighted. Focusing more economy and ecology, she add- Best practices on circular econ-
on waste management hier- ed. CII through its gamut of omy; Extended producers’
archy will drive the circular services is committed to offer responsibility - plastic and
economy and in the process the competitive advantage to e-waste management; Re-
avoid environment becoming Indian industry, she said. source security and zero waste
a sink for polluting rejects, he As part of CII Waste & Re- to landfill.
said. The circular economy source Management Summit The inaugural session was
needs immediate attention, 2018, CII also organized a con- marked by award of CII Green-
was his clarion call. ference on alternate fuel and Co (Green Company) Rating
KN Rao, Chairman, CII - raw material utilisation. The to 11 companies for adopting
GreenCo Mumbai Forum & Di- 2-day event focussed on topics and promoting sustainable
rector-Energy & Environment, including: Approach towards business practices in their op-
ACC Ltd said that cement resource efficiency - journey erations.
sector is leading with exam-
ple and in the last few years,
sustainability has become
one of the strategic areas for
the sector. The sector is con-
scious about the impact they
are creating and are taking ex-
tensive initiatives to minimize
the negative externalities and
maximize the positive exter-
nalities, he added.
Seema Arora, Deputy Di-
rector General, CII said that
Indian industry is well poised
to become one of the global
leaders in sustainability and
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
 4th Edition
21, 22 & 23
Mar - 2019
CHENNAI TRADE CENTRE

India’s Largest Trade Show for

Water Treatment,ETP & STP Applications

· 150 stalls · 6000 + Trade Visitors · New Technologies

· Support from Distilleries, Dyeing &Tannery Units and
Associations representing water and waste water

Organised by Stall Bookings

W T E
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