THE WATER SUPPLY PROGRAM IN RURAL AREAS

In 1998, the Ministry of Public Works and Territorial Development launched the
Water Supply Program in Rural Areas, through an international public
procurement for the design, execution and financing of water supply systems
for villages. The public procurement was attended by several international
companies. The purpose of this Program was to provide rural areas with
permanent drinking water supply at the European quality standards and the
replacement of local fountains that are often contaminated or dried out.
In August 1998, the joint venture composed of SOLEL BONEH TAHAL JV
knocked down the bid for the amount of US$ 220 million together with the
MIVAN KIER joint venture which adjudicated a value of US$ 120 million.
To implement this project, the joint venture incorporated two companies in
Romania, namely TAHAL ROMANIA a design services provider and
SOLEL BONEH INTERNATIONAL ROMANIA for execution works.
Design works started soon after the signing of contracts and the provision of
the necessary funds, while the execution of first water supply systems started
in October 2000.
The water supply system is a complex project that is designed, sized and
tailor-made for each system individually depending on the configuration of the
village or villages included in the project, the future development plans, the
geography of the area, the topographic and geological features, the potential
water sources and quality of such water sources, etc.
The water supply project includes: the creation or development of the water
source (drilling, dam, bank intake or connection to an existing main pipe), the
treatment of water quality in chlorination plants, and in water treatment plants
designed and built according to the physical and chemical parameters of water
at source, storage tanks, pumping stations, main and distribution pipes and
water supply points in the form of drinking fountains.

Although parts of the systems such as the pumping stations, chlorination and
treatment plants seem to be identical due to their, appearance each system
and each of its parts is actually designed, sized and executed to meet the
demands of the specific system.
It is worth saying that systems have been designed and executed to also
ensure water consumption in the future when individual household connections
shall be made, which is legally conditional by the prior implementation of the
sewage system.
The project was implemented in 27 counties and included the execution of
420 water supply systems for 649 villages and about 900 thousand
inhabitants. The value of investments per capita amounted to about
US$ 365/inhabitant.
The companys policy was to use more local manpower and subcontractors to
help boost the social and economic development of each county included in
the program. To get an overall picture of the extent of works, we point out that
the project offered in its peak phase a number of about 2500-3000 workplaces
per working day.
The following have been achieved in this project:
13 Surface catchments (dams or bank water procuring);
483 Boreholes at depth between 15320 m (across the total
length of 51.800m);
5.502 km of main and distribution pipes (with diameter between
63560mm);
348 Pumping stations;
224 Chlorination plants;
85 Water treatment plants (to eliminate or reduce to admissible
values according to European standards the level of iron,
manganese, ammonia, lead, turbidity, nitrites, nitrates,
carbon dioxide, etc.);
504 Storage tanks of sizes between 151,000 cubic meters (with
an overall storage capacity of 134,650 cubic meters);
15.131 Street drinking fountains.
Not to mention that the pumping stations, water treatment and chlorination
plants and tanks respectively are pre-engineered, and this played a major part
in both the enhancement of reliability and quality of executed systems and in
the execution of works according to the contractual execution schedules.

On reception of the systems upon their completion, water quality checks have
been carried out apart from the control of their operation (in compliance with
European standards) and local system operators have been trained. During
the 2 years warranty term, system performance and operation has been
checked and operators have been trained additionally, where appropriate.
Due to the efficiency of the systems, their reliability and the quality of the
supplied water, as well as the request of County Councils to include the
execution of other systems in this Program, the project value has ultimately
risen to US$ 330 million.
The project extended over 4 governments and was completed within the
contractual deadline of July 7, 2009. The latest systems executed shall be
covered by the warranty until August 2011.
In the harsh winter of 2005/2006 (when extremely low temperature of -20 oC
and -25oC has been recorded for longer periods), the 226 systems out of
warranty at that time have been spot-checked. The results found, that 222 out
of 226 are operational. The failures of the other 4 systems were caused by
reasons beyond the control of the contractor, namely by the electric power
failure or by administrative measures to suspend operation taken by the local
council.