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 CONTENTS February 2019 Vol 01 | Issue 04

16 18 20 22

24
WATER 27 28

PURIFICATION
& TREATMENT
32
BUSINESS 42
Smart Water & Waste World looks
at the rapidly changing structure
of water purification & treatment
market and new power dynamics
within the segment with the
emergence of regional water
associations and entrepreneurs.

Inside>>

08 EDITOR’S NOTE 22 THE SECOND 31 ONCE A JOINT EFFORT OF

BUSINESS COMMUNITY FROM 46 TECH UPDATE
OPINION GUJARAT - NOW A MAJOR WATER UPGRADING PUMP PACKING
10 IN THE NEWS 22 FIVE STEPS TO SAFE WATER REUSE 32
SHOW
LOW COST & LOW TECH SOLUTIONS
TO MECHANICAL SEALS

15 PRODUCTS 42
PROGRAMMES
WATER HARVESTING IS THE BEST
FOR IMPROVING WATER QUALITY IN
RURAL UGANDA
48 CSR UPDATE
SOLUTION TO REMOVE WATER GRUNDFOS INDIA BRINGS

EXPERT VIEW
CLEAN DRINKING WATER TO
16 SCARCITY
35 TECH FOCUS THIRUVANAI KOIL VILLAGE

OUT OF THE BOX

KEY WATER CHALLENGES IN INDIA 35 THE NEW LONG RANGE GUSHER
24
AND LESSONS FROM THE REGION
- INTERVIEW WITH VIJAY KUMAR,
REGULATING A SHITLOAD
36 BASIC ENGINEERING AS 50 MARKET
AUSTRALIAN WATER PARTNERSHIP FRANCHISE CONCEPT
38 LANDIA PUMPS CLEAR THE FOG AT 50 POST EVENT: 9TH WATER QUALITY
INDIA ASSOCIATION (WQIA)
TEXAS LIFT STATIONS
18 MARKET 25 COVER STORY GENERAL BODY MEETING

18 THE ELECTRICITY METER MARKET 40 PROJECT 51 POST EVENT: 4TH NATIONAL

IS MORE MATURE THAN SMART
WATER METERS
26 ENSURING B2B INTERACTIONS
AND STRONG-CONNECT WITH
TRACKER SUMMIT SUSTAINABLE ON WATER
& SANITATION
- INTERVIEW WITH AMIT VAIDYA, THE WATER PURIFICATION 40 IMMERSIVE DIGITAL TWINS
SENSUS INDIA COMMUNITY HELP SHANGHAI RAILWAY

49 THERE IS MORE THAN ZLD FOR 27 GLOBAL RESIDENTIAL, LIGHT

ENGINEERING 60 SUBSCRIPTION
41 BRINGING SMART WATER
FORM
TEXTILE PLANTS IN INDIA COMMERCIAL AND HORECA
SOLUTIONS TO COLORADO
WATER TREATMENT SYSTEMS

URBAN WATER
HYDRATION MARKET
20
28 WORKING ON INNOVATIVE 44 COLUMNS
TRACKING DOWN MICROPLASTICS ECOLOGICAL WATER SOLUTIONS
- INTERVIEW WITH DANIEL
44 URBAN WATER
- INTERVIEW WITH DENNIS
VENGHAUS, TU BERLIN ABRAHAM, MD, JOSAB INDIA 45 WATER WISE

6 February 2019 SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD

 << editor’s note

The Serious Business

of Purification
L
et me begin by sharing some facts and results of recent market studies about water purification
which affects 3.3 billion people around the world. Around 900 million people still lack access
to the clean water and sanitation facilities. India has the world’s highest number of people
who still do not have access to clean water. As per the World Bank, per capita availability of renewable
internal freshwater in India is only 1,118 m3 (while the global average is 5,917 m3).
The levels of TDS (Total Dissolved Solids), hardness, chlorides, and nitrates have crossed permissi-
ble limits in Indian cities like Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, and
MAYUR SHARMA | Editor Pune.
According to Allied Market Research, the Water Purifier Market is expected to garner USD 45.3 bil-
mayur@smartwww.in
lion by 2022, registering a CAGR of 10.4% during 2016-2022. Countries such as India and China are
@SmartWWW_IN likely to unfold attractive business opportunities in this market in the coming years.
A Transparency Market Research (TMR) report says that the regional analysis of water purifier mar-
ket highlights the growth of the Asia Pacific region in the global market. The region accounts for ap-
proximately 60% of the world population which becomes a strong influencer of the market. The region-
al market is expected to register a CAGR of 11.9% over 2017-2025. The replacement filters segment
is likely to lead the global water purifiers market with a strong 9.50% CAGR throughout this period.
As per industry analysts, in India, around half a million households purchase water purifiers ev-
ery year. The market is growing at 15-20% per year. They say that the market for low-cost purifiers is
growing at 35-40% a year. A Transparency Market Research forecast says that the Indian water purifier
market will be worth USD 4.1 billion by 2024.
According to ResearchAndMarkets.com, the basic RO is a major market shareholder in the Indian
Water Purifier market but will be beaten by RO + UV + UF by the end of 2022-23. In 2016-17, RO+ Wa-
An over-indulgence ter Purifier and UV Water Purifier have contributed more than 75% to the total water purifier market
of anything, even in value terms.
There is a huge price difference between the organized and unorganized players in the Indian water
something as pure as purifier market. While some top brands among organized players in India are claiming of capturing
water, can intoxicate. 10% market share in water purifiers in the next 3 years, the unorganized players are trying their best
to be organized through emerging e-commerce online platforms. While these platforms have undoubt-
- Criss Jami edly created a level playing field by providing robust distribution channels, the quality of components
and after-sales service will go a long way in deciding who gets the lion’s share in the long run.
The prime focus of water purifier companies in the coming years will be on...smaller and more com-
pact water purifiers, eliminating the need of electricity in water purification process, remineralization,
and the launch of Smart Purifiers (use of IoT for real-time water quality sensing and connecting the
consumers with service-providers based on these readings).
Our next two magazine issues will be March (Reviving Our Rivers, Sewage & Sludge Management),
and April (Jal Sabha 2019 Special Issue, Reverse & Forward Osmosis). And we welcome editorial con-
tributions on these and all other topics which you find significant for the water sector.

Smart Water & Waste WorldTM Vol 01 No 4 February 2019

FOUNDER & CEO Pages 64
Kailash Shirodkar Printed and Published by Shailesh
Ramaswamy Iyer, B-305, Gopinath Copyright © 2018
EDITOR Smruti CHS Ltd. Goddeo, Bhayander
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8 February 2019 SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD

 IN THE NEWS
Subhash Sethi Receives ‘ET WABAG Secures Desalination Order from
Most Promising Business Mangalore Refinery
Leaders of Asia Award’ Mayur Sharma struction, and commissioning successful commissioning,
Mayur Sharma
India
‘THE ECONOMIC TIMES
Most Promising Business
Leaders of Asia Award 2018-
19’ was conferred to Subhash
Sethi, Chairman, SPML Infra
Ltd for his business acumen
and exemplary leadership
during the ‘3rd Economic
Times Asian Business Leaders
Conclave’ held in Hong Kong
in January 2019.
On receiving the award, Sub-
hash Sethi, Chairman, SPML
Infra Limited said: “I wish to
express my sincere gratitude to
The Economic Times and jury
members for this appreciation
and honor. I have accepted this
award on behalf of thousands
of SPML family members
whose absolute dedication
with commitment and excel-
lence has earned this honor.
With diverse knowledge and
innovative technology solu-
Brown Brothers
Engineers Acquire GT
Water Technologies
SWWW Staff
Australia
BROWN BROTHERS ENGI-
NEERS/Kelair Pumps has ac-
quired GT Water Technologies
(GT Water) a company special-
izing in services around water
storage tanks to the building
and fire safety markets.
GT Water is a young,
fast-growing company based
in Melbourne.
GT Water is particularly
strong in pump systems and
assemblies with the main
products being storage tanks
and systems for fire suppres-
10 February 2019
tions and a legacy of more
than 600 landmark projects,
we are committed to making
significant contributions in
providing clean drinking wa-
ter facilities and proper elec-
tricity connections through
advanced power transmission
and distribution networks to
the millions of Indian homes
and transforming their lives
for a better future.”
The conclave was held under
the theme of “Rethinking Asia”.
sion, hydraulic systems for
stormwater, sewage and do-
mestic hot water, as well as
pump service and installation
for the industry.
“Although a young compa-
ny, GT Water has quickly es-
tablished its service business,
demonstrating strong, prof-
itable growth and has a prov-
en record of taking market
share,” says Ole Weiner, CEO,
AxFlow Holding. “This is in
line with AxFlow’s strategy of
adding value through product
selection, system design, and
construction, as well as local
service.”
India
VA TECH WABAG Limit-
ed has secured Rs. 467 crore
worth order from Mangalore
Refinery and Petrochemicals
Limited (MRPL) towards en-
gineering and construction of
a 30 MLD seawater desalina-
tion plant expandable up to 70
MLD in Mangaluru, Karnataka.
The scope of this design and
build contract includes engi-
neering, supply, erection, con-
The Ténès Desalination Plant Reaches
200 Million Cubic Meters of Produced
Drinking Water
Abengoa developed the plant and carries out its
operation and maintenance since 2015.
SWWW Staff
Algeria
THE TÉNÈS DESALINA-
TION plant, in Algeria, built
by Abengoa, has reached 200
million cubic meters of pro-
duced drinking water.
of a 30 MLD seawater desali-
nation plant over a period of
22 months. WABAG will build
the plant using state of the art
technologies, including seawa-
ter reverse osmosis, brackish
water reverse osmosis, and ul-
tra-filtration systems. The proj-
ect also includes cross-country
piping of 11 kilometers to de-
liver the water to MRPL’s refin-
ery. The plant aims to minimize
the freshwater dependency of
MRPL once completed. Post
The plant built by Abengoa
with reverse osmosis tech-
nology and with a capacity of
200,000 m3/d started its com-
mercial operation in February
2015.
Since then, Abengoa is in
charge of its operation and
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
WABAG will also be awarded a
contract towards the operation
& maintenance of the plant for
a period of 10 years.
Commenting on this order,
Pankaj Sachdeva, CEO - India
Cluster said, “This desalina-
tion order win on the back
of similar order in Africa last
quarter, is a testimony to WA-
BAG’s technological edge in
providing innovative solutions
at competitive prices across the
globe.”
maintenance, which will be
carried out by the company for
a period of 25 years.
The plant supplies the city
of Wilaya de Chlef, in the
North-West of the country,
some 200 km west of Algiers,
on the Mediterranean coast,
thus helping to counter the
water scarcity problems in this
area.
In addition, the plant fea-
tures a system to generate elec-
tricity sustainably by taking
advantage of the brine surplus
in the reverse osmosis process,
which allows the facility’s ener-
gy consumption to be reduced.
Another environmental in-
novation that has been intro-
duced by this plant is the CO2
production equipment from
natural gas for the remineral-
ization of the water prior to
entering the water grid.
This makes the water less
corrosive after the reverse os-
mosis process.
 IN THE NEWS

Xylem Supported Safe Water Nitin Gadkari Lays Foundation Stones

Project Earns Top Ranking in for Namami Gange Projects in Agra and
Manchester City’s Campaign Mathura
The ‘Safe Water Project’ Will
benefit over 5,000 children in
Bangalore, India.
SWWW Staff
India
XYLEM HAS ANNOUNCED
that the ‘Safe Water project’ it is
supporting in Bangalore City,
Karnataka, India, garnered
more than 450,000 votes from
players, partners and football
fans around the world - earn-
ing the top ranking in Cityzens
Giving’s fifth annual cam-
paign. Bangalore’s Safe Water
Project, Water Goals, which
focuses on improving access
to safe, clean water for over
5,000 children in the area, was
the most popular project and
will receive £92,000 in grant
funding.
“As part of our mission to
solve water, our company is
deeply committed to creating
economic and social value,”
said Patrick Decker, Xylem
President, and Chief Executive
Officer.
“It’s very encouraging to
have fans support our Safe
Water project because it re-
flects growing awareness and
concern about the impact of
water challenges on children
and communities around the
world,” said Joseph Vesey, Xy-
lem Chief Marketing Officer &
Chair, Xylem Watermark Com-
mittee.
A concession agreement for Namami Gange
projects in Prayagraj also signed.
Mayur Sharma
India
UNION MINISTER OF India
for Water Resources, River De-
velopment and Ganga Rejuve-
nation Nitin Gadkari recently
laid the foundation stones of
six Namami Gange projects in The Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development &
Ganga Rejuvenation, Nitin Gadkari at an Event in New Delhi. The
Agra and Mathura.
Secretary, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuve-
The four projects in Mathura nation, U.P. Singh can be Seen with Him (Photo Credit: PIB India).
have a sanctioned cost of Rs.
511.74 crore. The projects in Namami Gange projects in thority (CGWA) has notified
Agra include comprehensive Prayagraj. Two projects have revised guidelines to regulate
Sewerage Scheme for creating been sanctioned for sewage and control groundwater ex-
and upgrading STPs a sanc- management in the trans-Gan- traction in India, which will
tioned cost of Rs 857.26 crore, ga/Yamuna areas in Prayagraj be effective from 01.06.2019.
etc. and O&M of existing sewerage The entire process of grant
Nitin Gadkari also presided assets costing Rs. 908.16 crore. of NOC will be done online
over the ceremony of signing In another development, through a web-based applica-
of Concession Agreement for the Central Ground Water Au- tion system.

Narayan Krishnamohan Appointed as DuPont Water Solutions

MD of BASF India
SWWW Staff
India
THE BOARD OF DIREC-
TORS of BASF India Limited
has approved the appoint-
ment of Narayan Krishnamo-
han as Managing Director of
BASF India Limited, effec-
tive April 1, 2019. He will
also lead BASF’s business in
South Asia, including India,
Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and
Pakistan.
Narayan Krishnamohan
has been with BASF for more
than 24 years, having started
his journey in BASF India
Ltd, and subsequently han-
dled various regional and
global leadership responsi-
bilities in Singapore, Germa-
ny, and Hong Kong.
Effective April 1, 2019, Narayan Krishnamohan will be Ap-
pointed as the New Managing Director of BASF India Ltd.
BASF has also co-founded
a global alliance of nearly
30 companies to advance
solutions that reduce and
eliminate plastic waste in the
environment. The Alliance
to End Plastic Waste (AEPW)
has committed over USD 1.0
billion with the goal of in-
vesting USD 1.5 billion over
the next 5 years to help end
plastic waste in environment.
Opens New Reverse Osmosis
Membrane Manufacturing Line
DWS also announces a global
price increase for ion exchange
and reverse osmosis products.
SWWW Staff
Saudi Arabia
DUPONT WATER SOLU-
TIONs, a part of the DuPont
Safety & Construction busi-
ness, has opened its new
Reverse Osmosis (RO) pro-
duction line at Jubail Indus-
trial City II in the Kingdom
of Saudi Arabia. The facility
will manufacture membrane
technology and enhance pro-
duction capabilities at the ful-
ly integrated Sadara Chemical
Company complex. The new
production line is expected to
be operational in early 2019.
Effective Jan. 15, 2019, or as
contracts allow, DuPont Water
Solutions has also announced
a global increase on the pric-
es of ion exchange resins and
reverse osmosis membranes
used for water treatment and
other industrial applications.
Ion Exchange Resin price in-
creases range from 5-20%, and
Reverse Osmosis membrane
price increases range from
5-10% for selected products/
applications.

SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD February 2019 11

 IN THE NEWS

Wilo Opens a New Facility in Dubai
The pump manufacturer aims to strengthen its
commitment in the near and Middle-East.
SWWW Staff
Dubai
THE WILO GROUP is cele-
brating the official opening of
its new facility in Jafza (Jebel
Ali Free Zone), Dubai. “With
the opening of our first office
in Dubai in 2008, we laid the
groundwork for successful de-
velopments in the Near and
Middle East. This new building
and its functional expansion
account for the strategic signif-
icance of this central location
within the region,” says Oliver
Hermes, Chairman, and CEO
of Wilo Group.
“Since the founding of our
first office about ten years ago,
we have become a major suppli-
ERI Awarded USD 4.4 Million
for Desalination Projects in
the Sultanate of Oman
SWWW Staff
Oman
ENERGY RECOVERY, INC.
has announced total awards
of USD 4.4 million to supply
its PX® Pressure Exchanger®
technology for the desalina-
tion projects in the Sultanate
of Oman.
Energy Recovery will sup-
From Left to Right: Yunjoong Kim (WILO SE), Georg Weber (CTO ply its PX-Q300 Pressure
WILO SE), Mohammed Al Muallem (Chairman of DP World & Jafza),
Peter Fischer (German Ambassador to the UAE) and Yasser Nagi
Exchangers for multiple facil-
(Group Director Sales Area MENA) at the Opening Ceremony. ities, which will collectively
produce up to 200,000 m3 of
er of pumps and pump system showrooms, and a logistics cen- water per day, the equivalent
solutions in local markets,” said ter, the Wilo complex, which of filling 80 Olympic-size
Georg Weber, Chief Technol- covers over 8,000 square me- swimming pools.
ogy Officer of the Wilo Group, ters, will also feature dedicated Energy Recovery estimates
during his opening remarks. training rooms and its own as- the PX devices will reduce the
In addition to office space, sembly line. facilities’ power consumption
for all projects by 16 MW, sav-
ing over 138 GWh of energy
per year and helping the facil-
ities avoid over 82,800 tons of
CO2 emissions per year.
Rodney Clemente, Energy
Recovery’s Vice President, Wa-
ter, informed, “We have seen
unprecedented large-scale de-
salination activity in the Sul-
tanate of Oman over the past
five years.”
Chris Gannon, Energy Re-
covery’s President & CEO,
stated, “We are continuing to
see growth in the global de-
salination market, in part be-
cause desalination offers one
solution to the growing water
scarcity in different parts of
the world.”

Multi-Million Deal with Gasum Kemira and Valmet Collaborate

Signed by Paques Europe to Bring Improvements in
Wastewater Treatment Processes
Kemira has also formed a joint venture
in South Korea called Kemira Yongsan
Chemicals Co., Ltd.

SWWW Staff why this collaboration with Kemira is

Finland a great opportunity for us,” says Heli
Located in Southern Sweden, Stora Enso’s Nymölla Mill Has an Annual Production Ca-
Karaila, Business manager, Wastewa-
pacity of 3,40,000 Tonnes Pulp and 4,85,000 Tonnes Woodfree Uncoated (WFU) Paper. TWO GLOBAL LEADERS, chemicals ter, Automation, Valmet.
company Kemira and process technol- Kemira has also signed an agree-
SWWW Staff Stora Enso have signed a contract in ogy, automation, and services compa- ment to establish a joint venture
Sweden October 2018 to build a biogas plant ny Valmet, have signed a partnership - Kemira Yongsan Chemicals Co.,
at Stora Enso’s Nymölla paper mill in agreement in Europe for collaboration Ltd (NewCo) in Ulsan, Republic of
A MULTI-MILLION contract was re- Sweden. The plant, built and operated in the water and sludge treatment cus- Korea, with Yongsan Chemicals, a
cently by Paques Europe with Gasum, by Gasum, will turn the mill’s waste- tomer applications. privately-owned chemicals company
the Nordic gas sector, and energy mar- water effluent into renewable energy. “It makes perfect sense to partner in South Korea. NewCo will produce
ket expert from Finland. The contract Gasum plans to produce Liquefied up with leading industrial automation dry polyacrylamide (DPAM), cationic
included the supply of BIOPAQ®ICX Biogas (LBG) and sell this as fuel hardware, software and equipment monomer Q9 (AMD) and other chem-
anaerobic bioreactors and a THIO- for cars, buses, trucks, and ferries. service provider like Valmet,” says Ap- icals, which are used for retention
PAQ® gas desulphurization installa- The Nymölla biogas plant project in- plication Development Manager Jussi and drainage in packaging and paper
tion in order to treat the wastewater cludes biogas production, upgrading, Ruotsalainen from Kemira. production, as well as in wastewater
stream and production of biogas from and liquefaction. The expected LBG “Polymers and chemicals are an im- treatment and in sludge dewatering.
Stora Enso’s Nymölla paper Mill. production of the plant is 220 MWh portant part of the wastewater treat- Kemira’s will make a multi-million in-
The energy company Gasum and per day. ment process which is one reason vestment in the joint venture.

12 February 2019 SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD

 IN THE NEWS
AquaVenture Announces
Participation of OPIC and
Extension of Long-Stop Date
in Ghanaian Acquisition
SWWW Staff
Ghana
AQUAVENTURE HOLD-
INGS Limited has announced
that the Overseas Private In-
vestment Corporation (OPIC),
the U.S. Government’s devel-
opment finance institution,
has received approval from its
investment and credit com-
mittees to provide project fi-
nancing of USD 50 million for
an 18-year term in connection
with the company’s pending
acquisition of a desalination
plant in Accra, Ghana. OPIC
helps American businesses in-
vest in emerging markets.
The project financing, which
will restructure USD 50 mil-
lion of the existing project
Government of Mongolia Wärtsilä Wins Contracts to
and ADB Sign Wastewater Supply Aquarius UV Ballast Water
Treatment Improvement Project
for Five Additional Aimags
Management System (BWMS)
SWWW Staff
Mongolia
THE ASIAN DEVELOP-
MENT Bank (ADB) and the
Government of Mongolia
have signed a USD 20 million
loan agreement to expand the
scope of ongoing wastewater
treatment projects to an addi-
tional five provincial centers of
Mongolia.
Minister of Finance Khu-
relbaatar Chimed and ADB
Country Director for Mongolia
Ms. Yolanda Fernandez Lom-
men signed the agreement at a
ceremony in Ulaanbaatar.
“The new wastewater treat-
ment plants are closely aligned
with ADB’s Country Partner-
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
debt, is contingent upon the
completion of the acquisition
of the desalination plant by
the company.
In addition, the company
has entered into an agreement
with Abengoa Water Nungua,
S.L.U. (Abengoa) to extend the
long-stop date of the transac-
tion to March 31, 2019. The
long-stop date was previously
December 31, 2018.
Doug Brown, Chairman of
AquaVenture, commented:
“We continue to make signifi-
cant progress on this acquisi-
tion and I am pleased to an-
nounce OPIC’s involvement in
the project. We look forward to
becoming the long-term water
partner to the Government of
Ghana.”
ship Strategy for Mongolia
to improve people’s access to
services and strengthen envi-
ronmental sustainability by
ensuring that domestic and
commercial wastewater is
properly discharged,” said Ms.
Lommen.
In 2010, ADB approved a
USD 15 million grant to en-
hance water supply and sani-
tation services, road networks,
and district heating services in
two provincial centers of Mon-
golia. An additional USD 19.43
million on loan has supported
the construction of wastewater
treatment plants in four more
provinces since 2016.
The project is expected to be
completed by the end of 2021.
SUEZ Wins Two Contracts in Southern Indian
Cities to Implement 24x7 Water Supply
The contracts are part of the investment program
launched in 2014 by the Government of India and
the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to implement
24x7 drinking water supply in cities of Karnataka
state.
SWWW Staff existing water production plant
India and the upgrade and rehabili-
tation of existing distribution
SUEZ HAS WON two con- networks and house service
tracts in water distribution and connections. In Puttur, SUEZ
network management in Udupi will rehabilitate the drinking
and Puttur, two cities in Karna- water distribution system.
taka. These 12-year contracts, “Drinking water distribution
worth a total of €27 million, contracts in India are shifting
will ensure a continuous 24x7 towards water management
water supply to a population services for a whole city, as il-
of 2,00,000 inhabitants. A re- lustrated by the last contracts
markable population growth in won by SUEZ in Coimbatore,
these cities has led to increas- Davanagere, and now in Udu-
ing needs for drinking water pi and Puttur”, said Bertrand
and treatment infrastructure. Camus, Group Senior Execu-
In Udupi, SUEZ will be re- tive VP - Africa, Middle East,
sponsible for rehabilitation of India, Asia and Australia.
The work is being carried
out for ships being built at
yards in China. The orders
cover installations in a RoRo
ferry, two RoPax, six tankers,
and four container vessels.
“This continued strong de-
mand is a very positive veri-
fication of the efficiency, reli-
ability, and robustness of the
Wärtsilä Aquarius systems.
Owners around the world rec-
ognize the fact that our BWMS
solutions, which are backed
by Wärtsilä’s extensive global
The Wärtsilä Aquarius UV Ballast Water Management System service support network, pro-
vide assurance that their ves-
SWWW Staff ly awarded a number of con- sels can fully comply with the
Finland tracts to supply its Aquarius regulations, even with varying
UV Ballast Water Management levels of water quality,” says
THE TECHNOLOGY System (BWMS) to global ship- Arto Lehtinen, Director, Water
GROUP Wärtsilä was recent- ping operators. & Waste, Wärtsilä Marine.
February 2019 13
 IN THE NEWS

Freudenberg Filtration to Hong Kong Appoints Black & Veatch

Purchase Majority Shareholdings
of Apollo Air-Cleaner
SWWW Staff
China
THE FREUDENBERG FILTRATION
Technologies Business Group has signed
a contract in China to purchase the ma-
jority shares of Apollo Air-cleaner Co.,
Ltd. The company is a leading supplier of
air and water filtration solutions in Chi-
na. In 2017, Apollo had around 1,000 em-
ployees and generated 750 million RMB
in sales (approximately 96 million EUR).
“By purchasing the majority stake in
Apollo, we are strengthening our posi-
tion in China’s rapidly growing market
for filtration solutions,” says Dr. Mohsen
Sohi, Freudenberg Group CEO.
“Apollo is a great fit for Freuden-
berg,” says Dr. Andreas Kreuter, CEO of
Freudenberg Filtration Technologies.
“It is an innovative technology compa-
ny that complements our own portfolio
of filtration solutions for indoor air and
Apollo China Worker in the Factory
water purification. The company also has
first-class production expertise and ex-
cellent networks in the industry.”
The product solutions of Apollo keep
air or drinking water free of (ultra) fine
particles, dangerous gases, odors, and
microorganisms and protect health. At
its production site in Shunde, China, the
company has established high standards
for product quality, process efficiency,
and workplace safety, and is certified to
ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and TS 16949.
to Protect Town Against Floods
The Drainage Services Department
implements Hong Kong’s first large-
scale barrage scheme to build climate
resilience and promote sustainable
development in low-lying town.
SWWW Staff
Hong Kong
THE DRAINAGE SERVICES De-
partment (DSD) of the Government
of the Hong Kong Special Adminis-
trative Region (HKSAR) has appoint-
ed Black & Veatch to formulate and
design a barrage scheme to improve
flood protection levels in the low-ly-
ing town of Yuen Long.
The barrage scheme is part of
DSD’s strategy to provide world-class
wastewater and stormwater drainage
services to enable the sustainable de-
velopment of Hong Kong.
Black & Veatch optimized the orig-
inal flood alleviation scheme and
identified a favorable site for the
stormwater infrastructure. The bene-
fits will include improving drainage
performance of Yuen Long Nullah.
“The barrage scheme will be the
first of its kind in Hong Kong that uti-
lizes a series of large-capacity pumps
and tidal barrier for flood protection.
We are committed to supporting our
clients with leading-edge solutions
that are versatile, cost-effective, re-
silient and environmentally sustain-
able,” said Andy Kwok, Managing
Director, Black & Veatch Hong Kong.

Changes Announced in the Philippines’ Bases Conversion and

Executive Committee of Sulzer
Sulzer announces a reduction of
the size of its executive committee
and a new leader for its pumps
equipment division.
SWWW Staff
Switzerland
SULZER HAS APPOINTED
Fredéric Lalanne, currently Chief
Commercial and Marketing Offi-
cer (CCMO), as the President of
its Pumps Equipment division.
Michael Streicher, currently
President Pumps Equipment di-
vision, will step down from the
Executive Committee to assume
his new responsibilities as Glob-
al Head, Water Pumps Business,
a business with sales of approx-
imately CHF450 million. In his
new role, Michael will report to
Frédéric.
The functional sales responsi-
bilities will be eliminated from
the CCMO role, which will be re-
named Head of Group Business
Development, a non-Executive
Committee role encompassing
Strategy, Marketing, Digitali-
zation and the newly attached
M&A function which previously
reported to the CEO. Jonathan
Lloyd, currently head of Business
Development for Rotating Equip-
ment Services, will become Head
of Group Business Development,
reporting to the CEO.
All three above appointments
become effective on January 1,
2019.
Development Authority Signs Joint
Venture Agreement for New Clark City
Smart Water Utility
“By offering state-of-the-
art water and wastewater
services at competitive rates,
we are staying true to BCDA’s
promise for New Clark City
to become the Philippines’
most attractive destination
From Left to Right: Prime Water’s Fiorella Fabella, Gemma As- for residences and business-
piras, and Fe Robancos with BCDA’s President Vivencio Dizon, es, and the action-oriented
Executive VP Aileen Zosa, and VP of Finance Nena Radoc ethos of President Rodrigo
Duterte’s administration,”
SWWW Staff joint venture agreement with said BCDA President and
Philippines the Philippines’ Bases Con- Chief Executive Officer Vi-
version and Development vencio Dizon.
THE CONSORTIUM OF Authority (BCDA) to deliver “ADB is pleased to deliv-
Prime Water Infrastructure next-generation smart water er a successful outcome for
Corporation, Prime Assets and wastewater facilities for BCDA and support the devel-
Ventures, Inc., (PAVI), MGS New Clark City. opment of the Philippines’
Construction, Inc., and Isra- The Asian Development greenest and smartest city,”
el’s TAHAL Group, a global Bank (ADB) acted as transac- said the Head of ADB’s Of-
provider of sustainable in- tion advisor to BCDA on the fice of Public-Private Partner-
frastructure, have signed a project. ship (OPPP) Yoji Morishita.

14 February 2019 SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD

 PRODUCTS
SUEZ Water Technologies &
Solutions
SUEZ Water Technol-
ogies & Solutions has
introduced TrueSense
Analyze to digitally
monitor and analyze
boiler water chemistry,
which can reduce water
and energy usage, as
well as greenhouse gas
emissions.
TrueSense Analyze
measures key system
chemistry parameters
for optimization of chemistry usage and decreases
the total cost of steam production and asset manage-
ment.
SUEZ’s new TrueSense Analyze can be used across
multiple industries and boiler types, including typical
water tube and fire tube designs. It is a low-mainte-
nance analyzer that can function as a standalone sys-
tem or be integrated into existing control hardware,
such as SUEZ’s PaceSetter Platinum advanced water
and process control system. TrueSense Analyze also
can enhance personnel safety and system availabili-
ty by protecting critical steam-generating assets from
damaging waterside scale formation and corrosion.
It works in tandem with SUEZ’s boiler treatment
technologies, including the Solus AP line of all-poly-
mer dispersants for control of deposits in mid- to
low-pressure boilers. Additionally, the analyzer can
be connected to SUEZ’s industry-leading InSight as-
set platform management solution to leverage data
and analytics to maximize productivity and profit-
ability, including on-site non-productive personnel
activities.
Endress+Hauser
Endress+Hauser has launched the Liquiline com-
pact CM82 transmitter that accepts pH, ORP, pH/ORP,
conductivity, oxygen, and chlorine sensor signals
from Endress+Hauser’s Memosens® sensor platform.
Its housing measures only 11 cm long and 2 cm wide,
so even combined with the sensor, it fits into almost
every assembly. Although small, it is a fully developed
multiparameter transmitter, with access available via
4-20mA HART, or Bluetooth from any iOS or Android
device.
Connectable to the CM82 are pH, ORP, pH/ORP,
conductivity, oxygen and chlorine sensors with the
blue Memosens inductively-coupled plug-in head.
The Memosens technology ensures 100% reliable
data transmission, with true plug-and-play and
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
WesTech Engineering
WesTech Engineering, Inc. has announced the
availability of RapiSand Plus™, a recent addition to
its line of package treatment plants for municipal
and industrial water and wastewater.
The RapiSand Plus package treatment plant pro-
vides both clarification and filtration within a sin-
pre-calibrated sensors.
As with all other Endress+Hauser Bluetooth de-
vices, the Liquiline compact CM82 can be operated
and configured via the free SmartBlue app, which is
available on Google’s Play Store or Apple’s App Store.
Greyline
Greyline has introduced their next-generation Dop-
pler meter. The new Greyline DFM 6.1 Doppler Flow
Meter - with powerful new digital signal processing -
provides easy and accurate flow measurement of “dif-
ficult” liquids (sewage, sludge, slurries, and viscous
liquids). Its benefits include clamp-on technology
does not require pipe penetration, cutting or welding
greatly reducing costs; fast, simple installation - typ-
ically less than 10 minutes; high accuracy (±2% of
reading); built-in 5-button keypad, intuitive config-
uration menu, and large backlit LCD display make
the DFM 6.1 the most operator-friendly ultrasonic
flow meter on the market; isolated 4-20mA output for
flow rate, two relays for pulse output or alarms, and
26 million point data logger for greater flexibility of
data monitoring and control; and monitor flow rate,
gle tank. It is designed to meet customer demands
for a compact, low cost, high-performance system
capable of treating high-solids and high-color in-
fluents to produce high-quality effluents. And be-
cause both the clarification and filtration processes
are from a single provider, it also meets the need
for flawless integration between processes.
This innovative all-in-one treatment plant is
an ideal choice for customers with tight space
constraints. The RapiSand Plus fits into a stan-
dard-sized building, making it comparatively easy
to install. It also offers quick start-up times, reach-
ing steady-state operation in as little as 15 minutes
from power-up. And it delivers high performance
while saving on installation and operations-ener-
gy costs. These benefits make the RapiSand Plus a
cost-effective choice for municipal and industrial
applications.
volume total, run hours, and diagnostic information
through only two wires with the optional Modbus®
RTU or HART serial communication option.
Flexicon Corporation
Flexible screw
conveyors in
popular sizes are
now available
for shipment in
two-to-five days
as ready-to-as-
semble packages
with Flexicon’s
Quick-Ship
Programme,
Flexicon has an-
nounced.
Conveyor
tubes and screws
offered through
the programme
are supplied in
any length from
3 to 12 m, in diameters from 67 to 115 mm OD. Also
included as standard are a stainless steel floor hop-
per, 45 or 90 degree discharge adapter, TEFC or wash-
down duty motor, and water-resistant control panel.
All product contact surfaces are of stainless steel
with the exception of the polymer conveyor tube.
Non-product contact surfaces are of carbon steel con-
struction with a durable industrial finish.
The conveyors can transport a broad range of bulk
materials from large pellets to sub-micron powders,
including friable products, abrasives, and materials
prone to pack, cake, bind or smear, with no separation
of blends. Depending on screw geometry selected,
the material can be conveyed at any angle from hori-
zontal to vertical, in a straight or curved path, through
small holes in walls or ceilings.
February 2019 15
 EXPERT VIEW
Key Water Challenges in India and
Lessons from the Region
Vijay Kumar, South Asia Representative for the Australian Water Partnership shares
his expert insights on the key water challenges in India and lessons from the region.
Q. As AWP’s South Asia
representative, can you
tell us about Australia’s
and AWP’s involvement
in water projects in India?
Vijay: I’m a water environ-
ment professional, and I have
been promoting Australian
solutions to South Asia for
more than ten years now. In
September 2017, I took up this
role as South Asia representa-
tive for the Australian Water
Partnership (AWP).
In India, we have been en-
gaged in various projects on
water resources management,
primarily supported by the
World Bank and India’s Min-
istry of Water Resources. Aus-
tralia has a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) with
the Government of India Min-
istry of Water Resources and
that provides the basis for our
engagement at the federal lev-
el. Australia also has multiple
agreements and MOUs with
various states in India. The
year 2019 will mark a decade
of MoUs between Australia
and India: that’s a long journey
that our two countries have
travelled, developing our shar-
ing of information on water
resources management.
Australia has been ap-
proached by the World Bank to
provide our technical expertise
in basin planning, and water
resource information systems,
and water data management
systems, and in the capaci-
ty-building component of the
National Hydrology Project. As
a result, and through the AWP,
Australia is currently involved
in four projects.
One is called ‘Development
of the Basin Planning User
Guide’ which is going to be
a tool for the various depart-
ments and state governments
16 February 2019 SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
when they do their basin plan-
ning and modelling. We are
giving them a tool to guide
them through the entire pro-
cess of basin planning, based
on Australia’s experiences in
the Murray-Darling Basin.
The second project is the de-
velopment of the National Wa-
ter Information Centre. This
is to be one of the ultimate
outcomes of the National Hy-
drology Project. Our team has
reviewed the existing water re-
source information system that
exists in India and we have
suggested a few recommenda-
tions based on that.
Third, the Government of
India has approached us to
support them in the next stage
of development of the National
Water Information System. As
part of that, there will soon be
three or four experts from the
Australian Water Partnership
working with the Indian Gov-
ernment and helping them de-
velop the National Water Infor-
mation System. For instance,
designing the architecture, and
how data will flow from the
individual states and how that
can be modelled centrally, and
how those data will be used to
support the decision-making
processes ahead.
The other component of the
National Hydrology Project
where AWP is involved is the
capacity-building component.
Here, our partners will be giv-
ing training on how to develop
water-management skills for
stream-flow forecasting, and
flood modelling and forecast-
ing. Participants will be the
staff of various Indian state
governments that are part of
the National Hydrology Proj-
ect.
Also, AWP has been ap-
proached by the Government
 EXPERT VIEW
of Andhra Pradesh, which is a
drought-prone area in south-
ern India. That government is
starting a new ‘green city’ proj-
ect to build a new capital city
for a new state called Andhra
Pradesh, which is being carved
out of an old state. Australia
has been approached through
the Singapore Government
and the local state Government
of Andhra Pradesh to help
them design the water sensi-
tive component of the whole
urban planning that they’re
about to do. The CRC for Water
Sensitive Cities is taking the
lead in that project, to incorpo-
rate the water sensitive design
component into the overall
master plan for the new city.
We hope this will be a bench-
mark project which can be rep-
licated across other smart cities
projects in India.
Q. What are the key
water issues in India at
the moment, and what
plans or steps have been
identified to solve them?
Vijay: First, water availabili-
ty. India has around 4% of the
global freshwater resources,
to supply a population that is
around 17% of the global hu-
man population. As well, the
population of India is growing,
and urbanization is also grow-
ing. The demand for the limit-
ed freshwater resources is go-
ing up, and on top of that, the
water quality is not good, in
neither the surface waterbod-
ies nor the groundwaters, be-
cause of the absence of a prop-
er water-treatment network.
Therefore, water availability
is not only a challenge but also
is getting worse as the existing
water resources become in-
creasingly polluted.
The second key issue in In-
dia is that we are too depen-
dent on groundwater resourc-
es. We use almost 55% of the
groundwater resources, and
most of that is used by the agri-
culture sector. They meet 65%
of their demand from ground-
water. Agriculture is also caus-
ing pollution because it uses
lots of pesticides and fertilizer
that potentially contaminate
the groundwater resources.
In fact, research by AWP
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
and others has predicted that
by 2050 there will be a deficit
of 30% in the water demand
and supply situation in India,
which is really alarming.
A third key issue is the low
level of awareness about water
scarcity. People don’t realize
the economic value of water,
and hence we are not very effi-
cient in its use.
As well, there are spatial
and timing variations in the
availability of water resources
across India. It’s a vast country
and the climate varies across
the regions from north to south
and from east to west. Some
areas have floods, but not
enough reservoir capacity to
capture them, so most of the
water flows out to sea. Other
areas have droughts every year
and water is scarce.
We would like to know how
to improve water resources
planning so that rainfall over,
say, two or three months in the
year can become a source of
water for the next 12 months.
In short, the key challenge
really is how to manage our
limited water resources via
proper planning and manage-
ment. A data information sys-
tem could help us improve that
decision-making.
Both federally and in civil
society, people are aware of
these issues. We have support
from multilateral operations
like the World Bank and the
Asian Development Bank,
helping the Government of
India to address the issue of
water availability. Naturally, it
is a larger humanitarian issue
as well, because humans need
water to survive.
To try and solve these issues,
three or four key initiatives
have been begun. One program
aims to promote the efficient
use of water and reduce water
wastage in the irrigation sector.
The aim is to convert the water-
ing systems away from flood
irrigation and replace them
by drip irrigation or sprinkler
irrigation systems instead. The
program is called the Prime
Minister’s Agricultural Irriga-
tion Scheme, or ‘More Crop
per Drop’. and it promotes the
efficient use of water in the irri-
gation sector. It’s a big project,
close to USD 10 billion of fund-
ing going into it over a period
of 10 years. That’s around USD
1 billion being spent each year
in promoting irrigation-user
water efficiencies in agricultur-
al fields.
The second big initiative
is a program called National
Groundwater Management
Improvement Project (NG-
MIP), and it will be launched
this year, 2018. Its targets are
to manage the groundwater
resources, aiming for better
assessment of the groundwa-
ter volumes available, and also
to create institutional reforms
to help restrict the unlimited
uses of groundwater. One such
reform may separate the land
right from the groundwater
right. It’s a goal that has been
talked about for the last 20
years, and it is hoped that the
NGMIP will help us move to-
wards that dream. Separating
land and groundwater rights
should lead to more sustain-
able use of groundwater.
The third initiative focuses
at the river-basin level, where
most water resources planning
is done in India. We are aiming
to map every user in the ba-
sin and allocate water to them
according to real demand. To
achieve this, the third phase
of a large project was launched
almost a year ago. Phase 1 of
the Hydrology Project ran from
2002 to 2005/2006. Phase 2
ran from 2008 to 2012. This
third phase is called the ‘Na-
tional’ Hydrology Project be-
cause it’s being implemented
across the whole of India, in
all the states. Its purpose is to
have real-time data acquisition
systems on water resources
so that we have real data that
helps us in the decision-mak-
ing process and we can make
a better allocation of precious
water resources to the various
stakeholders. When we have
a better assessment of the de-
mand, then even with limited
supply we can manage the de-
mand throughout the year.
Apart from these three key
initiatives above, there are
multiple other initiatives.
Flooding is a major issue on
the eastern side of India, espe-
cially in relation to the two big
rivers Brahmaputra and Gan-
ga, which cause floods every
year. Efforts are being made to
make communities in these ar-
eas flood resilient and provide
them some protection against
floods and against the conse-
quent damage and loss to life
and property - which of course
are major causes of concern.
One initiative is aiming to con-
vert those from disasters into
economic revenue by putting
in small check-dams to create
localized hydropower which
can be a source of income for
the community.
Similarly, in western and
central India, drought is a reg-
ular phenomenon. In spite of
the drought, you need to have
sustainable agricultural prac-
tice there, not only to serve the
large population but also to
provide the livelihood of the
farmers. A couple of initiatives
in those areas aim to transform
our current agricultural practic-
es to more climate-ready prac-
tices, with more sustainable
use of groundwater. This proj-
ect is being started this year in
the State of Maharashtra: it is
called the Maharashtra Project
on Climate Resilient Agricul-
ture. It is a USD 600 million
project which will lead to im-
provement in the current agri-
cultural practices and the lives
of the farmers involved in agri-
culture in that particular area.
Can you share advice
and tips for young
water practitioners
wanting to work in
a huge and diverse
country that is India?
Vijay: India has 29 states,
and every one of those 29
states is a different market
and has a different culture and
different dynamics in the way
it operates. Thankfully, the En-
glish language is used every-
where, however.
For water practitioners look-
ing to India for opportunities, I
suggest they focus on a particu-
lar project or need or area, and
not try to spread themselves
across the whole country or
do everything, which would be
difficult to manage.
India’s a developing country
with a lot of money - close to
USD 20 billion/ USD 25 bil-
lion being spent on water as a
sector, from urban water man-
agement to water resources
management, and from basin
planning to flood forecasting
and groundwater management
and rural water supply. Right
across the water value chain,
there are numerous projects be-
ing funded and run, currently.
There definitely are clear
market gaps, and the market
is not price-sensitive. Service
providers are coming to India
from all over the world. In fact,
you may be surprised to know
that almost 40% or 50% of wa-
ter treatment equipment in In-
dia is imported, so that market
is certainly not price-sensitive:
if people can afford imported
water treatment equipment it
means there’s an appetite to
have better quality equipment
to work on.
Every type of water market
is different. The urban water
sector is different from the
agricultural irrigation use ef-
ficiency market and the basin
planning market, for instance.
Each sector or market has dif-
ferent departments working in
it, a different way of working,
different sets of customers that
you’ll be talking to.
If you want to work in India,
I advise you to make sure you
have allocated some time to
invest in India, to examine the
market, to travel to the market
at least twice or three times a
year, to develop relationships
within that market. Only then,
talk of business. The relation-
ship is very important.
And patience is important
also, and flexibility because
matters do not proceed along
timelines. They change de-
pending upon the political
and other scenarios. You need
to have patience, but relation-
ship-building is most import-
ant. Relationships are key to
working in any southern Asian
country - Vietnam, Myanmar...
they are just the same.
The Australian Water Part-
nership (AWP) is an Austra-
lian Government development
initiative enhancing the sus-
tainable management of water
across the Indo-Pacific.
February 2019 17
 MARKET

The Electricity Meter Market is More Mature than

Smart Water Meters...
Amit Vaidya is the Director, Strategic Customer Team at Sensus India. Mayur
Sharma recently interacted with him about the Smart Meters market in India in
the context of municipal water projects and also on various market penetration
strategies of Sensus.

The situation in
India is alarming,
and a recent Niti
Aayog report
that draws data
from 24 of the
29 states in India
proved that the
water crisis is
only going to get
worse. Currently,
600 million
Indians face
high to extreme
water stress
and about two
lakh people die
every year due
to inadequate
access to safe
water. Also, 21
cities are likely
to run out of
groundwater by
2020.
Q. Firstly, tell us about
the state of the Smart
Meters market in
India? Is it encouraging
enough? What potential
do you see in this
segment looking at
the smart cities and
Advanced Metering
Infrastructure (AMI)
projects?
Mr. Vaidya: In India, a shift

18 February 2019 SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD

 MARKET
is occurring in the Smart Meter
market away from mechanical
and towards smart, static and
electromagnetic meters. Smart
meters will play an integral
role in making India’s smart
city vision a reality and this
will require changes to happen
on a larger scale. The growth of
smart meters with communi-
cations (including retrofitted
modules) was predicted to
grow at a rate of CAGR of 10%
over the next 5 years. Howev-
er, the number of recent con-
tracts awarded to smart meters
with wireless communications
for AMI and AMR systems
demonstrates that this is a se-
vere underestimation.
Q. How worrisome is
the water supply and
distribution situation in
India currently?
Mr. Vaidya: The situation
in India is alarming, and a
recent Niti Aayog report that
draws data from 24 of the 29
states in India proved that the
water crisis is only going to get
worse. Currently, 600 million
Indians face high to extreme
water stress and about two
lakh people die every year due
to inadequate access to safe
water. Also, 21 cities are likely
to run out of groundwater by
2020. These figures from the
report are catastrophic and
utility bodies need to buck up
and take the necessary actions
in order to avoid a calamity.
Q. Are there gaps
between what Indian
municipal bodies/water
utilities need and what
current technologies are
providing? What makes
Sensus competitive in
this segment?
Mr. Vaidya: Technology
makes all aspects of life easier
and better. Indian municipal/
water utilities are gradually
realizing the importance of
incorporating innovative tech-
nologies in order to achieve
24x7 water supply to people
and to cut down on non-rev-
enue water. What Indian mu-
nicipal/water utilities need the
most at this time is to be aware
of the situation and to be able
to take the right step in the
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
right direction.
The best way forward in
such a situation is the Sensus’
iPERL smart water meters as
it helps to save resources with
its electromagnetic technolo-
gy. Sensus iPERL™ solid-state
smart water meter with in-
tegrated bidirectional com-
munications capability uses
technology that provides unri-
valled, sustained accuracy over
their expected 15-year service
life. The data captured by the
meter provides water utilities
with accurate information to
identify and help manage net-
work issues both proactively
and efficiently. It also helps
in addressing environmental
challenges, whilst improving
customer service, security of
continuous water supply and
operational efficiencies.
Q. How aware and how
receptive do you find the
municipal bodies/water
utilities in India? Are
the buyers and decision-
makers extremely cost-
conscious?
Mr. Vaidya: Municipal bod-
ies/water utilities in India are
increasingly able to see the
larger positive picture with the
incorporation of smart meters.
The use of this cutting-edge
technology helps to signifi-
cantly reduce non-revenue
water levels, in turn, enabling
them to provide 24x7 water
supply to the people. This is
how they will build trust with
their customers. As per my
experience with the Pune Mu-
nicipal Corporation, they were
very receptive of the idea and
were able to clearly under-
stand the urgent need for this
technology. I am sure other wa-
ter utility bodies will begin to
move in the same direction as
they understand the benefits
and savings they will achieve.
Q. What are the projects
that you are presently
working on in India?
Mr. Vaidya: At present, we
have collaborated with Pune
Municipal Corporation, where
Sensus will provide 2,75,000
smart meters to the city. It
is one of our first large scale
projects in India, and we are
As Strategic Customer Team Director for Sensus India,
Amit is responsible for responsible for securing multi-mil-
lion dollar communications contracts with utility custom-
ers and delivery of smart metering or Advanced Metering
Infrastructure (AMI) projects.
Amit has over 18 years’ experience in the energy and
utility sector. In particular, he has significant experience
in implementing smart metering, AMI and Utilities IT re-
lated solutions.
hugely excited about it. The
first batch of smart meter in-
stallations started in the first
week of December. We are
also in talks with the Andhra
Pradesh, Chandigarh, New
Delhi, and Agra utility bodies
and we look forward to the
successful collaboration with
them as well.
Q. As per some studies,
the growth rates for
smart water metering
will be slower than the
growth rates experienced
with smart metering for
electricity. What could
be the possible reasons in
the Indian context, if you
agree?
Mr. Vaidya: We need to
understand the differences
in both electricity and water
meters. When we talk about
electricity meters, every indi-
vidual house will have their
own meters. Also, if these me-
ters are replaced with smart
meters, the volume would still
be more as compared to smart
water meters. However, water
meters will be deployed with
MNCs or water utility bodies,
where one smart water meter
will serve the purpose of the
whole complex.
The electricity meter mar-
ket is more mature than smart
water meters. Water is treated
as a social issue and, most of
the time, it is free or given with
minimal charges as is billed
by average consumption rath-
er than actual consumption.
However, the market is start-
ing to see a shift in the right
direction, driven by the need
to reduce NRW (Non-Revenue
Water).
At present, smart water
meters have started slowly
moving towards corporations,
which will eventually drive the
market, especially with the de-
velopment of smart cities.
Having won
our first big
project with the
Pune Municipal
Corporation, we
Q. Tell us about some of look forward
your recent international to similar
projects as well. partnerships
Mr. Vaidya: Thames Water’s
network is a 15-year old proj- with other states
ect. With the help of Sensus, such as Andhra
they were able to reduce water Pradesh and
usage by 13% and increase
overall customer satisfaction. West Bengal
Other international projects (Kolkata). With
where Sensus has been part of the onset of
include Vitens in the Nether-
lands. This was the first pilot smart cities,
project of its kind. all Municipal
Corporations
Q. From a geographical
point of view, where do will be able to
you see more growth understand the
happening for Sensus importance
India? Which are the
state governments on the of this smart
municipal side who are change. With
more pro-active? Pune as the
Mr. Vaidya: Having won
our first big project with the first city to
Pune Municipal Corporation, incorporate the
we look forward to similar same, other
partnerships with other states
such as Andhra Pradesh and places can look
West Bengal (Kolkata). With at them as an
the onset of smart cities, all example to
municipal Corporations will
be able to understand the im- see the highly
portance of this smart change. impacting
With Pune as the first city to positive change
incorporate the same, other
places can look at them as an in the right
example to see the highly im- direction.
pacting positive change in the
right direction. to get in touch with dealers,
partners, and distributors.
Q. Any other exciting
new developments that Q. Finally, what is your
you would like to share plan of action for 2019?
with our readers? Mr. Vaidya: 2019 is going
Mr. Vaidya: We are real- to be a really exciting time for
ly excited about executing us and we look forward to the
our pilot project in Andhra new year and new opportuni-
Pradesh, which will showcase ties. You can expect to see new
the complete Xylem product products added to our portfo-
portfolio. We are also running lio which have been designed
a ‘Channel Partner Expansion specifically with the Indian
Programme’ and are looking market in mind, and we can’t
for a few more partners. Under wait to launch them. The fu-
this programme, we would like ture seems bright.
February 2019 19
 INTERVIEW
Tracking Down Microplastics
Daniel Venghaus is engaged in research at the TU Berlin in the field of urban
water management, where he works on avoidance strategies to prevent
microplastics from entering aquatic systems. In a discussion with Smart Water
& Waste World, he explains the objectives and details some initial successes.
What is the significance
of microplastics in the
field of urban water
management?
Daniel: According to a re-
cent literature study, as much
as 2.5 million tonnes of micro-
plastics could find their way
into aquatic systems per year.
Some 25% of these microplas-
tics enter circulation via the
outlet of sewage plants, while
66 percent take the form of
street runoff water.
Why is this the case?
Daniel: The processes used
to date are not specifically de-
signed to filter microplastics at
the outlet of sewage plants or
street runoff water. On the oth-
er hand, the various volumes
of microplastics in municipal
wastewater have scarcely been
20 February 2019
researched to date.
Among others, the TU
Berlin is addressing
this topic intensively
in two projects
sponsored by the Federal
Ministry of Education
and Research. These
projects are referred
to as OEMP and RAU.
What are the objectives
of these projects?
Daniel: The goal of OEMP
is to develop innovative mate-
rials and processes to improve
the retention of microplas-
tic particles of various sizes,
shapes, or material charac-
teristics during municipal
wastewater treatment. The
collaborative research project
entitled Tire abrasion in the
environment (RAU) examines
GKD Developed a Sampling Basket with up to Six Filter Elements and
Defined Fractionation for Sampling an Entire Rainfall Event. It is Hung
in Drains and Facilitates Reliable Sampling of All Street Runoff Water
the emergence, composition,
and retention of tire abrasion
throughout the entire useful
life of a tire. The goal here is to
balance its quantities, as well
as to both identify and quan-
tify the influential factors and
paths leading to its occurrence
as a way of highlighting op-
tions for its reduction.
The technical weaver
GKD - Gebr. Kufferath
AG was a project partner
in both projects. How
did the partnership
come about and what
were GKD’s main
duties in this regard?
Daniel: When we started
taking initial samples in 2013,
the key was to find a filter ma-
terial that could deliver the
strict separation limit of 10 mi-
crometers, while also securing
the requisite flow rate. It also
needed to be rugged, since ac-
ids, alkalis, and enzymes may
need to be blasted against the
filter cake on the mesh to en-
sure that the particulate mate-
rial is removed along with the
microplastics. With its Opti-
mized Dutch Weaves (ODW),
GKD already offered one such
filter material. The company
further refined this mesh in
the course of the OEMP proj-
ect, so that ODW is now also
available with separating lim-
its of 8 and 6 micrometers.
Assuming a good flow rate, the
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
URBAN WATER
volume of retained particles at
the sewage plant outlet is ap-
proximately double with ODW
6 in comparison with ODW
20. This is just one of several
reasons why this high-perfor-
mance mesh is also being used
in the RAU project. The most
important point, however, is
that not only the product but
also the partner company is
highly innovative. In our ex-
perience, GKD is committed
to developing mesh for a very
wide range of applications and
is not afraid of adopting a dif-
ferent perspective to develop
new fields of application. This
is a real help, particularly in
cases such as these where it
is important for the partner
to understand the objective
and provide the right tools for
the job. During the RAU proj-
ect, the company was there-
fore tasked with developing a
sampling basket with defined
fractionation for sampling an
entire rainfall event. This has
already delivered excellent re-
sults.
OK, let’s return to
the OEMP and the
optimized dutch
weaves. What makes
the product stand out?
Daniel: The key advantage
of this mesh over other filter
media is its sharp separation
limit. Within the scope of the
OEMP project, we compared
optimized weaves in a disc
filter system with a cloth filter
in a drum filter system. The
drainage values were similar
for both configurations. The
aperture of the optimized
dutch weaves is an absolute
value, enabling the system
operator to guarantee that no
spherical particles larger than
6 micrometers could find their
way into the water.
 INTERVIEW URBAN WATER

The same mesh is prehensive laboratory testing.

also used for the RAU
project in a sampling
basket. How does this
sampling basket work?
Daniel: An integrated filter
cascade is used to catch the
tire particles from the street
runoff drains. The sampling
basket separates all particulate
material that is larger than 6
micrometers. While engaged
in this research project, we
are interested both in the en-
tire mass of tire abrasion and
the respective quantity of this
in a fraction, so that we can
estimate which contains the
greatest volume of abrasion.
Depending on the area, the
sampling basket employs up to
six filter elements, which can
best be envisaged like sieve
pans. To be able to use the
basket in any street, we took
the leaf grate used in many
drains as our inspiration and
GKD developed a basket with
similar dimensions. This bas-
ket can be used in all locations
and for the first time facilitates
reliable sampling of all street
runoff water. Until now, it had
only been possible to sample
partial flow. We can also use
the basket to sample various
rainfall events - from very
heavy rain to very light rain.
The latter was not possible at
all in the past. Another advan-
tage of the basket is the inte-
grated online measurement
functionality, which measures
street runoff from the very first
second without the warm-up
time of conventional measur-
ing technology. For the first
time, this has also enabled us
to automatically sample the so-
called first flush - i.e. the rain
that feeds the drains in the first
few minutes and is the subject
of much discussion in the field
of research - and evaluate this
based on the respective drain-
age basin. This performance
spectrum makes the sampling
basket a core element of the
RAU project.
For the in-situ sampling now
following, we chose the de-
ployment locations on the
basis of load scenarios: main
streets and side streets, high-
way ramps, parking spaces,
traffic lights, roundabouts, etc.
as well as various road surfac-
es. We hope that this will pro-
vide us with valid findings as
to how tire abrasion even oc-
curs, the size of the particles,
what they look like, and the
density of the abrasion.
What is the significance
of the sampling
basket from the
perspective of urban
water management?
Daniel: It is an important
instrument that should help
in developing ideas and ap-
proaches to the factors to be
determined within the scope
of the RAU project. With the
sampling basket, we are capa-
ble of filtering out all particu-
late materials in street runoff
down to a size of 6 microme-
ters for subsequent analysis.
Going beyond sampling, we
will also investigate the filter
potential as a localized clean-
ing system for the basket. It
is important to understand
here that street runoff is of-
ten dewatered via wastewater
separation channels and can
Microplastics, i.e. Plastic Particles Less than Five Millimeters in Size, are a Global Environmental Problem
then make its way into rivers
without first being treated.
When using mixed sewage
systems, on the other hand,
it is forwarded to the sewage
treatment plant. Thanks to the
fractioned sampling, we can
investigate individual rainfall
events to describe and evalu-
ate tire abrasion. The ultrafine
separation limit of the opti-
mized dutch weaves permits
sampling down to the fine
particulate size, which starts
at 10 micrometers. With this
sampling, we are keen to eval-
uate drainage basins, under-
stand challenges, and derive
solutions.
What was GKD’s special
contribution in the
product developments
you have mentioned?
Daniel: The optimized
dutch weave opens up a broad
range of applications. For ex-
ample, we have used it to filter
various sewage plant outlets
and mixed sewage during the
OEMP project. In the RAU
project, it has also been used
to construct a sampling device.
These are very different things,
as the requirements of a sam-
pling device are quite different
than those of a filter system.
The basket is a prime example
of innovative implementa-
tion of an equally innovative
mesh as a scientific response
to a concrete application/is-
sue. The scientist defines the
requirements and the com-
pany provides the technical
solution. This makes GKD an
eye-level sparring partner.
What are the next
planned steps?
Daniel: Within the scope of
OEMP, mixed sewage inves-
tigations are currently being
performed, during which we
apply this exacting wastewa-
ter type to the systems. To this
end, we connected filter sys-
tems to a mixed sewage basin
operated by Berliner Wasser-
betriebe.
In the RAU project, the in-si-
tu street runoff water sam-
pling process is getting under-
way. Sixty such processes are
planned over the course of the
next two years.

Where exactly is
this basket used
within the scope of
the RAU project?
Daniel: First of all, its func-
tionality was verified in com- The Optimized Dutch Weaves from GKD Secure a Strict Separation Limit up to Six mm with a High Requisite Flow Rate

SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD February 2019 21

 THE SECOND OPINION
Five Steps to Safe Water Reuse Programmes
Although approaches to reuse can differ, depending on factors such as the
end-uses, there are some common steps which can help ensure the safety and
acceptance of a reuse programme.
By Rajiv Menon
INDIA’S DEMAND FOR THE
water is growing, while the
amount of available water is
falling. So using water, recy-
cling it, then reusing it, is an
intelligent way to help meet
the supply/demand balance.
The government is helping
the market for recycled water
to develop for instance with
the memorandum of under-
standing with the Ministry of
Railways to adopt reused water
for cleaning rolling stock and
other non-potable uses; and
a mandate for power plants
to buy treated wastewater
from sewage treatment plants,
where the two plants are within
a 50-kilometer radius of each
other. The Ministry of Urban
Development’s attributes for
smart cities require 100 per-
cent recycling in the sanitation
system or water reuse.
At the state level authorities
in Maharashtra, late last year,
signed regulations to foster
the use of recycled wastewa-
ter for industrial applications.
The municipal bodies in 71
areas will have three years to
set up wastewater manage-
ment plants. By 2020, the state
government envisions to reuse
at least 6,888 million liters of
wastewater daily.
Although approaches to re-
use can differ, depending on
factors such as the end-uses,
there are some common steps
which can help ensure the
safety and acceptance of a re-
use programme.
Understand the
Programme
This may seem obvious,
but developing a full under-
standing, from the outset, of
the application(s) for which
the reused water will be used
is central to ensuring the pro-
22 February 2019 SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
gramme’s long-term success.
The options include direct
and indirect potable use, dual
domestic use (greywater) and
industrial use. Each of these
will require very different
approaches in terms of treat-
ment, supply network, and
system management. The suc-
cessful outcomes of the sub-
sequent steps all stem from
achieving clarity of purpose
for the programme.
Understand the Source
Water
Different wastewater sourc-
es require different levels of
treatment. The type of treat-
ment required depends upon
how the treated water will be
used. If the source is domestic
wastewater it will be necessary
to understand the type and
nature of pharmaceutical con-
taminants, for instance. This
is in addition to investigating
pathogens and viruses.
If the source wastewater has
an industrial component it is
vital to know the types of in-
dustries discharging into the
wastewater stream. This will
help inform more detailed in-
vestigations into the nature of
the wastewater. These are re-
quired because common met-
rics - such as Chemical Oxygen
Demand (COD), solids and
volume - provide insufficient
information about the make-
up of the wastewater stream to
ensure safe reuse. COD does
not identify contaminants.
It is important to under-
stand if the sewerage sys-
tem carrying the wastewater
stream is dual usage, and
therefore likely to carry runoff;
which can include hydrocar-
bons for instance. Although
traditional wastewater treat-
ment practices and processes
 THE SECOND OPINION
are good at removing solids, a
multi-barrier approach may be
required to remove the type of
contaminants outlined above.
Understand What
Treatment is Required
The type of treatment will be
governed by the standard the
water needs to reach to ensure
reuse is safe. While some coun-
tries including Australia and
the USA grade treatment stan-
dards for different uses, the
UK does not have a standard
for non-potable use.
Given the sensitivities
around reuse, however, con-
sideration may also be given
to additional treatment steps
which go beyond the technical
requirements. Such steps may
help build the public health
consensus vital to a success-
ful reuse programme. Such
multi-barrier approaches may
include membrane bioreactors
or reverse osmosis with ad-
vanced oxidation.
When considering safety
and suitability of treatment
options it is essential to take
into account the training and
capabilities of the treatment
plant’s operators. Multi-barrier
systems are advanced chem-
ical and biological processes
and their safe operation is de-
pendent upon a suitably quali-
fied and trained staff.
Also significant is having the
right policies and procedures
to ensure the plant’s safe oper-
ation in the long-term. These
procedures are vital in giving
the public confidence that the
appropriate safeguards are in
place. Operations staff need to
have sufficient technical abili-
ty to recognize when there is a
problem, they also need to be
prepared and capable to im-
plement remedial strategies.
Understand How to
Distribute the Treated
Water
The application (for which
the water will be used) has the
greatest influence upon distri-
bution network requirements.
As a result, distribution needs
to be viewed as an integral
phase of reuse programme
planning. If the reused water is
for potable applications, then
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
the connection to an existing
network is possible. In this
instance, compatibility with
the existing supply needs to be
addressed.
This means considering
things such as water hardness
and residual disinfection with-
in the network. If a non-chlora-
minated supply is mixing with
other water, for example, the
risk of trihalomethanes form-
ing needs to be assessed and
managed.
When reused water is des-
tined for non-potable applica-
tions a separate distribution
network is necessary. The cost
of this can make treating to
non-potable standards unat-
tractive even if the water will
be used for non-potable ap-
plications. To provide safe op-
eration and maintenance it is
important that a non-potable
network is readily distinguish-
able from potable networks. A Full Understanding of the Application for Which the Reused Water will be Used is Central to Success
Making the non-potable net-
work identifiable requires not control of the utility. Policies, procedures and Water reuse has a viable role
just a physically distinguish- Where the supply has been documentation also need to be in an integrated water resource
able system but also good, treated to non-potable stan- prepared to ensure a non-pota- portfolio. The above steps rep-
easy-to-access records. To de- dards, safety dictates that taps ble system remains safe if the resent a high-level, and not ex-
liver long-term safety, the re- and other end-user fittings are building in which it operates haustive, outline of some key
cords need to be accompanied clearly labelled to indicate the changes ownership. New own- considerations which will help
by policies and procedures water is not for consumption. ers, unfamiliar with a non-po- ensure reused supplies are safe
that support network integrity. As well as that it needs to be table water supply, need to un- and, importantly, engender
In essence the non-potable clear the supply is unsuitable derstand how to safely use the public confidence.
system means a new asset for food preparation and oth- water and maintain the system.
class is being introduced into er uses which may lead to in- Where a non-potable system is About the Author
the asset base and, as a result, gestion. For example, people in operation, re-plumbing and Rajiv Menon is the Manag-
procedures need to be in place often touch water features and building work can represent a ing Director at Black & Veatch
to ensure it is managed proper- fountains. management control exercise. India.
ly. For instance, if the non-po-
table network is physically dif-
ferent from existing networks
these procedures need to en-
sure that those responsible for
maintenance have the correct
type and quantities of replace-
ment fittings.
Understand How the
Water will be Used
This final step is in some
ways very close to the first,
but also subtly different. Un-
derstanding the programme
means knowing what appli-
cation the reused water is for.
Understanding how the water
will be used refers to preparing
in detail for what will happen
to the water when it reaches
the point of use. This is often
the point at which the reuse
supply ceases to be under the Multi-Barrier Systems are Advanced Processes, Safe Operation is Dependent upon Suitably Qualified Staff
February 2019 23
 OUT OF THE BOX
Regulating a Shitload
By Rajesh Rangarajan
AS A DEMONSTRATION
of the success of the Swachh
Bharat Mission (SBM), sever-
al districts across India have
been declared Open Defeca-
tion Free (ODF). With the mo-
mentum created by SBM, it is
seen that disposal options of
faecal matter are increasing-
ly coming into focus. A large
part of rural and peri-urban
India are using onsite sani-
tation systems such as septic
tanks (whether properly con-
structed or not). Furthermore,
with septic tanks becoming
the norm across the country
for the rural and small-town
population and municipali-
ties (as grid-connected sewage
services are limited), there
is widespread apprehension
about the growing volumes of
untreated septage in the envi-
ronment. Limited desludging
capacities and lack of a clear
disposal option have spurned
the conversations around Fae-
cal Sludge Management (FSM)
as a critical step.
So, while actors in the san-
itation ecosystem are actively
considering viable options for
FSM, a significant challenge
seems to have emerged - the
24 February 2019
absence of a regulatory ar-
chitecture in setting up Fae-
cal Sludge Treatment Plants
(FSTPs) and the related parts
of the sanitation value chain.
This issue was discussed brief-
ly at a recent workshop on san-
itation legislation by the Cen-
tre for Policy Research. This
article uses the basis of those
discussions, to briefly reflect
on the elements of a possible
regulatory architecture for
FSM.
Three key aspects need care-
ful consideration (potentially
there could be several more)
while approaching sanitation
through an environmental reg-
ulatory lens - siting and stan-
dard setting; regulatory capac-
ity; and potential challenges in
implementation.
Primarily, some experiences
from setting up an FSTP sug-
gests that procedures are scat-
tered amongst different agen-
cies, the urban local bodies,
planning agency, and pollu-
tion control boards. In essence,
this fragmented jurisdiction is
a pivotal issue in hampering or
expediting the creation of an
FSM system. While setting up
an FSTP, site selection requires
careful consideration. Distanc-
es from surface water bodies,
level of the groundwater table,
the kind of soil and suscepti-
bility of the area to flooding
are some of the aspects that
need to be looked into. In the
normal course of providing
siting clearances, the Environ-
mental Impact Assessment
Notification 2006 would be
the go-to law. However, the
notification will probably
treat such a system as a Com-
mon Effluent Treatment Plant
(CETP) or a Sewage Treatment
Plant (STP) which may not be
the ideal proxies for an FSTP.
So a suitable amendment is re-
quired and fortunately as a no-
tification (unlike an Act which
goes through parliamentary
procedures) this regulatory
instrument can be quickly re-
viewed and amended.
Faecal waste involves both
biological and chemical con-
taminants which prove to be a
complex mix for sludge stan-
dards. A host of household
hazardous chemicals are used
in toilets even in rural areas
making the sludge toxic. It is
simply inappropriate to pro-
vide the treated faecal matter
for land application or farm
manure without ensuring it
meets safe sludge standards
and only after ascertaining
this it can become safe for ag-
ricultural use. So should FSTP
sludge be treated as hazardous
waste or biomedical waste?
And if so, neither waste regu-
lations currently have related
standards. So should a sepa-
rate set of standards be curat-
ed? Standard setting for this
subject would come under the
purview of the central pollu-
tion control board (CPCB).
However, given the rigor need-
ed to develop standards and
having seen a systemic slow-
ness in the past (for example,
the revision of air quality stan-
dards 2009 after a decade), it
is difficult to fathom a speedy
development of treated sludge
standards unique to FSTPs.
This leads the conversation
to the capacity that rests with
the State Pollution Control
Boards (SPCBs), assuming that
SPCBs would be custodians of
an environmental sanitation
regulation. The situation is
analogous to the enactment of
the Biomedical Waste (BMW)
Management & Handling
Rules in 1998. At a time when
little was known about health-
care waste, this new law trig-
gered a series of actions which
eventually forced the SPCBs to
build capacity (largely by col-
laborating with environmen-
tal non-profit organizations)
as the issue was moving for-
ward, self-correcting its course
over a decade. Interestingly,
the FSM system resembles
the hub-and-spoke model of
BMW management where a
centralized facility caters to
waste from a region’s health-
care institutions. Would there
be a similar trajectory for legis-
lation in the FSM case? Would
it hence be more feasible to
curate a separate piece of leg-
islation under the overarching
Environmental Protection Act?
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
However, a new law has
its own set of problems and
it has been seen in the past
that courts have led the im-
plementation and have set up
additional safeguard measures
to ensure that legislations are
complied with. The creation of
Local Area Environment Com-
mittees (LAECs) by the Su-
preme Court comprising mul-
tiple stakeholders to support
SPCBs in the implementation
of hazardous waste manage-
ment rules; the recent National
Green Tribunal order on solid
waste creating monitoring
structures at local and state
levels are examples of such ad-
ditional mechanisms to ensure
that the law works.
In sum, while safe sanita-
tion proponents are reimagin-
ing sanitation service delivery,
a corresponding re-imagina-
tion of regulation is necessary.
A comprehensive regulatory
architecture, comprising the
state-specific guidelines on
septage and regulation that is
capable of being flexible for
making adjustments to im-
plementation and facilitating
delivery of safe sanitation,
is plausible. The Solid Waste
Management Rules 2016 is a
useful regulatory instrument
to study as it provides flexibil-
ity based on contexts, process-
es and technologies essential-
ly laying out a “Do-it-Yourself
Kit” for sector actors to devel-
op, implement and comply
with sustainable solid waste
management. So, can the vi-
brant sanitation ecosystem in
India see the development of
legislation(s) as an opportuni-
ty to catalyze our achievement
of Sustainable Development
Goal 6 and not merely to de-
vise a law? There is a ‘shitload’
to look forward to.
About the Author
Rajesh Rangarajan is the
Regional Manager-South at
WaterAid India.
 COVER STORY

Water
Purification
& Treatment
Business
Smart Water & Waste World looks at the
rapidly changing structure of water purification
& treatment market and new power dynamics
within the segment with the emergence of
regional water associations and entrepreneurs.

SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD February 2019 25

 COVER STORY WATER PURIFICATION & TREATMENT BUSINESS

Ensuring Strong-Connect with Water Community

Water Purification & Treatment Equipment Manufacturer Association
(WAPTEMA) is an organization established by key players of the water industry
to provide effective representation for the water and wastewater treatment
industry at the national level. Mayur Sharma recently interacted with the team
of WAPTEMA Water Expo (1-3 August 2019 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi) about
their upcoming exhibition showcasing water treatment products and services.

tion from foreign exhibitors

from countries like China,
South Korea, and Taiwan. We
are also hopeful for good par-
ticipation from industrial wa-
ter treatment segment.

Q. Who are the main

Chief Guest of the Show in Exhibition Area in a Past Edition
Q. Can you tell us about
this year’s WAPTEMA
WATER Expo? What
kind of response you
are expecting from the
industry? What will be
the new attractions?
WAPTEMA Team: This year,
the WAPTEMA Water Expo is
scheduled to be held in Au-
gust 2019. This is going to be
a grand show as over the past
four years WAPTEMA Expo
has emerged as a leading water
expo of India. Visitors and ex-
hibitors are keen to participate
in the show which has become
an yearly event to showcase
their new technologies and
innovations in the field of wa-
ter purification and treatment.
The Inauguration Ceremony
WAPTEMA Water Expo is a
trade show by the WAPTEMA
Association - a group of dedi-
cated stakeholders of the water
treatment industry.
We can say that this show is
“Of the industry, by the indus-
try, and for the industry”. This
year our show will be held at
a newly build exhibition hall
in Pragati Maidan, which has
been constructed beautifully
with the modern infrastructure
of international standards.
We are already getting a
very good response from
the industry. It is still seven
months to go for the expo but
most of our stalls have already
been booked. This year we are
expecting very good participa-
sponsors and partners
which you have already
got on board? Have you
got any government
support as well?
WAPTEMA Team: WAPTE-
MA itself is a group of top play-
ers from the water purification
industry of India. There are
many member and non-mem-
ber companies in line for the
sponsorships. All sponsorship
will be finalized before we
begin our official promotion
campaign. We are not getting
any financial support from
any government agency but
we have always been support-
ed by government agencies
like the Delhi Jal Board and the
Ministry of Water Resources.
This year also we are expect-
ing participation by Delhi Jal
board and Ministry of Water
Resources in the exhibition.
Q. Please tell us about
the water treatment and
purification market in
your region. How is the
business these days?
WAPTEMA Team: Water
purification and treatment is a
huge market in India. Growth
in the water purification mar-
ket in the last few years has
been enormous. Each and ev-
ery household today requires a
water purifier. People are more
aware and cautious about the
quality of drinking water for
their families and organiza-
Training Sessions for the Industry Professionals
tion. For process water also the
demand for water treatment
plants is increasing day by day.
But in this era of cut-throat
competition, if we want to do
good business, we should take
care of “quality, cost and ser-
vice” of our products.
WAPTEMA Water Expo
is committed to providing a
good platform to our exhibi-
tors to showcase their quality
products. It is also an opportu-
nity for retailers and consum-
ers to get all available products
under one roof and compare
them for their benefit.
Q. What are the key
concerns and needs
of your association
members? How do you
help them?
WAPTEMA Team: In this
competitive business world,
the key concern of every busi-
ness is that they get a suitable
and economical platform to
promote their products, where
they could get regular updates
and training regarding the
changing policies and proce-
dures and they get updates for
the latest developments and
new technologies in the field.
WAPTEMA association is pro-
viding and is committed to
providing every possible help
to its members to address the
above concerns.
Q. What advise you will
give to the companies
and water professionals
coming to WAPTEMA
Expo 2019? Why should a
company participate?
WAPTEMA Team: We wel-
come the companies to partici-
pate and exhibit their products
at the WAPTEMA Water Expo
2019 organized by a national
level association of the water
treatment industry. It provides
a strong platform to reach
all stakeholders of the water
purification industry. We are
expecting 10,000+ quality vis-
itors and 200+ exhibitors from
all parts of India and abroad.
By participating here, they
will get B2B interactions and a
strong-connect with the water
purification community. Delhi
being the biggest business hub
of India, and with newly-built
halls, Pragati Maidan is the
best venue to showcase their
products to boost their busi-
ness.

26 February 2019 SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD

 COVER STORY
Global Residential, Light Commercial and HoReCa
Water Treatment Systems Hydration Market
By Frost & Sullivan
THE GLOBAL RESIDEN-
TIAL, light commercial and
HoReCa (Hotels, Restaurants,
and Cafés) water treatment
systems hydration market is
witnessing remarkable growth
in the last few years. The indus-
try has escalated from using
clay filter out the sediments
in old times to advanced wa-
ter purification technologies
which use electricity and in-
ternet to provide people with
world-class services. Rampant
industrialization as well as
increasing urbanization, in-
dustrial waste and increasing
the number of cases related to
water-borne diseases has driv-
en the growth of the global res-
idential, light commercial and
HoReCa water treatment sys-
tems hydration market, which
was pegged to be at USD 22.92
billion in 2018 and has been
projected to grow with a CAGR
of 6.1% till 2026. The market is
expected to reach USD 34.75
billion by 2025. In addition
to that, growth rates are much
higher in emerging markets
like China, South Korea, India,
Japan, especially in segments
such as light commercial and
HoReCa. Innovative products
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
and technologies are likely to
fuel up market demand in the
coming years.
Asia-Pacific (APAC) cur-
rently holds a 27% share in
the revenue and is expected
to witness the highest growth
during the forecast period.
North America (NA) and Eu-
rope are mature markets due
to their relative saturation,
especially in the residential
segment, while light commer-
cial and HoReCa segments are
still experiencing some high
growth. The market demand
in Latin America (LATAM) and
the Middle East and Africa
(MEA) is fuelled by the perpet-
ually increasing demand for
good-quality drinking water,
especially in the water-scarce
regions. These regions current-
ly hold 7.2% and 7.7% revenue
share, respectively. The water
treatment systems market is
relatively consolidated in some
product segments but is highly
fragmented in the overall mar-
ket. Developed countries in
Europe and NA are more open
to accept premium products
with innovative technological
variations, while APAC, MEA,
and LATAM portray immense
WATER PURIFICATION & TREATMENT BUSINESS
potential for regional sup-
pliers and international par-
ticipants catering to a niche
customer base. Companies are
increasingly focusing on digi-
tal transformation and are set
to transform the purification
process that involves re-min-
eralizing the water with the
addition of essential nutrients.
The water purifier market
in India is highly price sensi-
tive, and competition among
the leading vendors is intense.
The growing awareness about
the presence of harmful impu-
rities and pathogens in the wa-
ter supplied to households and
other sectors have increased
the demand for water purify-
ing technologies. Despite the
awareness and efforts taken
to educate the masses, a large
chunk of the population still
relies on conventional ways of
boiling water for the purpose
of purification. The constraints
of addressing issues pertain-
ing to varying water textures
as per changing geographies
across the country are also
likely to hamper the market
growth. The top two players,
Eureka Forbes and Kent RO
System Ltd, held a dominant
share of 60% in the India wa-
ter purifier market in 2018.
The residential sector be-
ing the largest accounts for
42.7% of the water hydration
treatment systems market. The
light commercial (22.0%) and
HoReCa (35.2%) segments are
also experiencing an increased
installed base of water treat-
ment systems due to increas-
ing concerns regarding plastic
waste that is being generated
from the bottled water sector.
Due to affordable pricing
and replacement cost, Europe-
an and North American coun-
tries are showing great interest
in Point of Entry (PoE) water
treatment systems, thereby
raising the systems’ penetra-
tion rate. Point of Use (PoU)
technology will continue to
dominate the market due to its
operational flexibility, lower
cost, and easy installation. The
cost of replacement is relative-
ly cheap when compared to
that of a PoE system. Counter-
top and under-the-sink filters
are expected to experience a
drastic growth as they provide
more thorough filtration when
compared to that by pitchers.
The Internet of Things (IoT)
with its enormous growth has
changed the living environ-
ment of people by connecting
all types of digital devices to
the Internet. Integrating the
water treatment systems with
Cloud- and IoT-based technol-
ogy helps companies to pre-
dict issues in advance – where
engineers can schedule main-
tenance visits. To improve the
customer experience, many
suppliers have begun to inte-
grate their water purification
systems to the IoT. Collab-
oration with Cloud and IoT
solution providers could help
in wider market penetration
and increase interest among
consumers. For example,
Unilever’s water purification
brand Truliva has collaborat-
ed with Alibaba’s Cloud and
IoT technology. This strategic
collaboration aims at provid-
ing safe drinking solutions to
local consumers and helps in
understanding the water puri-
fication industry.
Many offices and light com-
mercial sites across the world
have started to install water
purifiers to move away from
bottled water and reduce sin-
gle-use plastics. The fade out
of bottled water market, in
addition to increasing con-
sciousness and environmental
awareness, paves way for mar-
ket attractiveness and penetra-
tion for the water treatment
equipment options. Compa-
nies like Brita, Grohe, and
Bevi have introduced inno-
vative treatment systems that
come with inbuilt hot and cold
functions. For example, Brita’s
Vivreau tap dispense is a mul-
tifunctional water dispenser
that provides instant filtered
chilled still and sparkling wa-
ter. It also dispenses hot water
and is suitable for workplaces
and HoReCa.
The HoReCa segment is
one of the fastest growing seg-
ments globally owing to the
urbanization and increasing
income of the middle class. It
presents an exciting opportu-
nity for customizing solutions
for hotels, restaurants, and ca-
fes. Fast food chains like KFC
and McDonalds and Cafés like
Starbucks are growing rapidly
in China and India. Everpure
has been the top participant
in the food services industry
having products that are cus-
tomized for its clients. Com-
panies should build a portfolio
of products addressing the
HoReCa segment specifically
and expand their presence in
key regional markets. There is
a huge opportunity in devel-
oped regions like North Amer-
ica where companies like Ara-
mark have been instrumental
in the use of their products for
the hotels and catering busi-
ness.
Today, a water purifier has
become a necessity at home.
The demand for affordable po-
table water purifier is expect-
ed to shape the water purifier
market in the coming years.
Implementation of new tech-
nology in water and wastewa-
ter infrastructure will further
push the demand for smart
and sustainable solutions.
Anagha Lakshmi Jay-
aprakash works as a Research
Analyst at Frost & Sullivan.
@FrostSullivanEE
February 2019 27
 COVER STORY WATER PURIFICATION & TREATMENT BUSINESS

Working on Innovative Ecological Water

Solutions
Dennis Abraham Thazhamon is the Managing Director of Josab India Pvt Ltd. Mayur
Sharma recently interacted with him on the current scenario of water purification
market and his strategies for keeping Josab India on a steady growth path.

in the Vatican. This is when he

Q. Please give our readers
a brief introduction to happened in 1983, it was not
your organization. a planned or pre-thought out
Dennis: Josab’s inception process. The inventor was a
painting restorer, and he was
doing large mural restoration
heard of a mineral in Hunga-
ry (that can absorb the heavy
metals from the water) being
used during the cleaning of
paint. One thing led to anoth-
er, and a lot of research with
Zeolite experts further led to
the Ratka Mine (Josab owned)
- from where Josab extracts the
unique Zeolite trademarked
“Aqualite”.
Since then, Josab has worked
with many intergovernmen-
tal organizations like the UN,
WHO and many EU and Afri-
can states and cities. Josab Wa-
ter Solutions AB is now a listed
firm in Stockholm, Sweden.
In 2012, I assessed the po-
tential of Josab’s “Aqualite”
water treatment prospects
in India and started the first
subsidiary for Josab in Pune,
Maharashtra, India. By 2013,
Josab Water Solutions had al-
ready bagged water treatment
projects with Kerala State Gov-
ernment, and since then we
have not looked back in the
past four years. We have slow-
ly but confidently grown our
business into two more states
- Maharashtra and Telangana.
We hope to keep up the grow-
ing trend and expand to six
new states in the next couple
of years.
Q. Why are your
water purification
systems always called
‘ecological’? And tell us
about Aqualite™.
Dennis: Let me start by de-
scribing the “Aqualite”; this
would easily lead us to explain
why it is termed ‘ecological’.
Aqualite is a natural mineral
named Zeolite, mined at Jos-
ab’s own mine in Ratka, Hun-
Josab has worked
with many inter
governmental
organizations
like the UN,
WHO and many
EU and African
states and cities.
Josab Water
Solutions AB is
now a listed firm
in Stockholm,
Sweden.
gary.
Just to make it easy to un-
derstand and to put things in
perspective, I would take the
example of Neem Leaf - which
is considered antibiotic and
used in many traditional med-
icines. Neem leaf, being anti-
biotic, has a natural property
and it is not man-made, it is
nature’s gift to us. In a similar
manner, the Zeolite (Aqualite)
of Ratka mine is a nature’s
gift with natural properties of
reduction, ionization, adsorp-
tion, and microfiltration. All
these four processes, happen-
ing naturally and simultane-
ously, is almost a miracle in the
world of water treatment.
This brings us to why we
term our treatment ‘ecologi-
cal’. See, we do not add any
man-made agents (chemicals),
neither to treat the water nor
during our maintenance pro-
cess. Thus, we do not harm the
existing source of water. Due
to this method of treatment,

28 February 2019 SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD

 COVER STORY
Hyderabad Water ATM Kiosk - Outer View
even the back-washed water
can be reused. Thus, it is about
being one with the environ-
ment and having a sustainable
life-cycle that assimilates back
into nature (once the miner-
al is taken out of the water
treatment segment, it can be
reused as natural fertilizers for
farming). To our knowledge,
this is a top ecological water
treatment solution with a sus-
tainable lifecycle.
Q. What are the
application areas for your
products? Who all are
your potential clients?
Dennis: We have a large ap-
plication area. Our treatments
solutions can be used in large
to small potable water treat-
ment market; the primary or
tertiary wastewater treatment;
ship ballast systems; animal
Husbandry, poultry, aquacul-
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
ture; and distilleries, food pro-
cessing, etc.
Our potential clients are
the Government of India, and
the Governments of different
states of India, industries,
and institutions like schools,
hospitals, private industries,
etc. Currently, we are working
on providing municipal-level
water treatment plants, com-
munity-scale water treatment
units, smart city decentralized
water treatment systems, and
solutions.
Q. Do you provide
customized or custom-
built products as well?
Dennis: We will certain-
ly not jump into providing a
“one-size-fits-all” kind of solu-
tion which is neither ecolog-
ical nor sustainable. Instead,
we try to analyze the root
cause of the contamination,
WATER PURIFICATION & TREATMENT BUSINESS
the exact treatment method/
technology that is required to
remove the contaminants, and
at the same time we try to re-
tain the “life in water” which is
nothing but “minerals”, and we
also see to it that the systems
run smoothly for at least a cou-
ple of decades.
Q. Tell us about your
Water ATMs project.
Dennis: Josab’s Water ATM
project is one of its kind proj-
ect of providing pure, safe and
mineral-rich drinking water
which accessible to everyone.
Striking the cord between
both, Josab’s water ATMs
provide “mineral-rich water/
water with minerals” at the
most affordable prices in an
eco-friendly manner. Josab’s
water ATMs treat water using
our natural Zeolite to provide
water with minerals and this
treated water can be dispensed
from the kiosk using the coins
or pre-paid cards. The water
ATMs are located at prime
public locations and accessi-
ble 24x7.
The other inherent advan-
tage of the project is that we
are trying to reduce the enor-
mous plastic waste that is pro-
duced through the use of bot-
tled water. Any person passing
by the water ATM can quench
their thirst by drinking water
using the glass available at the
kiosk or can refill their empty
bottles in hand. Our entry into
the water ATMs sector was
through the State Government
of Telangana. GHMC (Greater
Hyderabad Municipal Corpo-
ration) is focussed on the en-
hancement of public health.
They selected Josab and its
technology to accomplish the
water ATMs project of Hyder-
abad city. Similar projects have
been meted out to us by Katol
Municipal Corporation (KMC)
and Nagpur Municipal Corpo-
ration (NMC) under the State
Government of Maharashtra.
Thus, Josab’s Water ATMs have
been received well, and the
quality of water through these
units has been winning acco-
lades from the public and var-
ious local governments across
India.
As on today, we are suc-
cessfully operating around
200 Water ATMs across these
states and the functioning of
each unit can be monitored in
real-time from any of our offic-
es across the globe. We have
designed systems which are
robust, fool-proof, easy-to-op-
erate and most importantly
which could connect and com-
municate in real-time.
The Water ATM has not been
February 2019 29
 COVER STORY
Hyderabad Water ATM - Inner View
an on-the-shelf product for
Josab. It is a product which we
have specially designed and
developed after noticing the
necessity for such a product in
our Indian market. Automated
dispensing units are a com-
mon sight in the west but in
India, these systems are quite
new and it is just a matter of
time that the public gets used
to these systems.
Q. In how many countries
you are offering your
products?
Dennis: We are offering our
products in three continents,
Africa, Europe, and Asia and
also expanding into Southeast
Asia. We have onboard with us
few technologies which shall
be a breakthrough in their re-
spective domain. These are
mostly developed by our tech-
30 February 2019
nology partners and affiliate
companies located across the
globe.
Q. The Indian water &
wastewater treatment
industry is highly
competitive. How do you
plan to hold a strong grip
in this market scenario?
Dennis: Well, we do believe
that the Indian market is high-
ly competitive but the compe-
tition is mostly centered and
restricted to the cost/ quan-
tity component and not the
quality component. In fact,
most small, medium and few
large-players in the market are
just traders in the industry and
not true-blood manufacturers/
developers. I think that is what
makes us stand apart. We are
not keen on volumetric busi-
ness, rather we are focused on
WATER PURIFICATION & TREATMENT BUSINESS
developing/ integrating tech-
nologies, and providing solu-
tions which are sustainable
and which would bring forth a
significant change in the water
and wastewater treatment in-
dustry.
Q. How aware and how
receptive do you find
your target market in
India?
Dennis: Our target market
is every person and every in-
dustry in India who are look-
ing for a healthier life and
sustainable solutions. We see
a major change in the process
of how the drinking water has
been perceived by the com-
mon man 20 years before and
today. Previously, a person was
comfortable drinking clean
water, i.e., water which just
looks clear. But with the out-
break of various deadly dis-
eases which can be attributed
directly to the quality of water
being consumed, the majority
of the population today is cau-
tious and aware of the quality
and composition of water. The
same goes with letting out
waste or untreated waters into
our drains or water bodies.
Irrespective of the advance-
ments in technology and
the level of awareness in the
market, the cost-component
is always a deciding factor
for any buyer. In this context,
the Indian buyer is definitely
cost-conscious. Most of the
buyers today are giving equal
importance to the value prop-
osition. The buyer today is not
simply being carried away by
the cost but is trying to make
a clear differentiation between
the products and making the
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
final decision based on the
value proposition. This is a
definitely a welcome change
and an encouraging factor to
companies like us.
Q. From a geographical
point of view, where do
you see more growth
happening for Josab
India?
Dennis: Telangana, Kerala,
Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu,
and Karnataka states have
shown that they are willing to
make the changes for the bet-
terment of public health. At
least, now there is a mindset
to listen, research, and exe-
cute. The process is slow but
we are optimistic that on the
state levels water treatment
would be considered for its
merits rather than political
conduciveness.
 COVER STORY WATER PURIFICATION & TREATMENT BUSINESS

Once a Joint Effort of Business Community from

Gujarat - Now a Major Water Show
Water Purification & Treatment Association of Gujarat (WAPTAG) is an association
created by the business community of Gujarat to bring together manufacturers,
traders, importers, and services providers engaged in water purification business at
one national platform. Mayur Sharma interacted with the team of WAPTAG Water
Expo (22-24 February 2019, Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar) about their upcoming
water show which is branded as the ‘most advanced’ water industry exhibition in India.

Q. Can you please tell us
a little about this year’s
WAPTAG Expo? What
kind of response you
are expecting from the
market? And what will be
the new attractions in the
show this year?
WAPTAG Team: This is the
5th Edition of WAPTAG Water
Expo, which will be held from
22-24 February 2019. This is
one of India’s largest water
expo having 200+ exhibitors,
and we are expecting 15,000
visitors this year. The whole
exhibition has been Managed
by Moments Events and En-
tertainment. This time, the vis-
itors will get to see many new
products launched by the ex-
hibitors. Also, 40+ internation-
al exhibitors from countries
like China, Taiwan, Korea, and
Vietnam will be there.
Q. Which are the main
sponsors and partners
have you got on board till
now?
WAPTAG Team: This year
we have 11 main sponsors on
board with us, which are Lex-
Cru Water Purification (Title
Sponsor), Sure Water Technol-
ogy (Powered Sponsor), Von-
tron Membrane Technologies
Co. Ltd. / Max Pure (Powered
Sponsor), Cloud International
LLP (Convention Sponsor), Ex-
cel Filtration Pvt. Ltd. (Conven-
tion Sponsor), Cosmos Water
Solutions Pvt. Ltd. (Branding
Pavilion Sponsor), Cosmos Wa-
ter Solutions Pvt. Ltd. (Direc-
tory Sponsor), Food & Dinner
Sponsor (Preyas Polyplast Pvt.
Ltd.), Nice Industries (Regis-
tration Desk Sponsor), Zedtech
Water Solution Pvt. Ltd. (Badge
Sponsor), and Royal Technolo-
gies - Zetta (Water Bottle Spon-
sor).
Q. Please explain the
Water Purification and
Treatment Market of your
region for our readers.
And how is the business
these days?
WAPTAG Team: Water Puri-
fication and Treatment Indus-
try is one of the fastest growing
industries having growth of
200% every year that creates
a market for everyone. This
industry segment is coming
up with the latest technologies
and products every month
which is helping the industry
grow even faster.
Q. What do you think are
key concerns and needs
of your association’s
members? How do you
help them throughout
the year with various
activities?
WAPTAG Team: There are
various activities that we con-
duct in for the WAPTAG asso-
ciation members such as Skill
Development Technical Sem-
inars, Motivational Seminars,
Social Gatherings, and Gift
Distributions. Through these
activities, they feel encouraged
and take initiatives to contrib-
ute even more to the industry.
Q. Finally, what advice
would you give to those
companies or water
professionals who are
currently thinking of
exhibiting at or visiting
the WAPTAG Expo
2019? Why should they
participate?
WAPTAG Team: WAPTAG
Water Expo 2019 is the best
platform in India to showcase
your brand/product to a glob-
al audience. This is the only
opportunity when you get top
buyers/sellers on a single plat-
form so we will advise not to
miss this business opportunity.
By investing in this expo the
exhibitors are going to get mas-
sive visibility which will lead to
success in their business devel-
opment goals and will help the
entire water fraternity.

SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD February 2019 31

 COVER STORY
Low Cost & Low Tech Solutions for Improving
Water Quality in Rural Uganda
Low-tech water treatment solutions provide an attractive alternative as a first step
in achieving the next rung on the sanitation ladder.
By Michael Ottensmann
The Water Ladder
WHO/UNICEF Joint Moni-
toring Program for Water Sup-
ply, Sanitation and Hygiene
(JMP) 2015 data estimates that
more than 25% or 8.5 Million
people in rural Uganda have
no access to clean water. The
WHO recognizes that develop-
ing access to clean water is of-
ten a process of several steps.
Implementing conventional
treatment technology at high
cost may not be the proper
solution initially for develop-
32 February 2019
ing communities. The prob-
lems of operating a treatment
plant with minimal education,
obtaining or affording spare
parts in remote areas, finding
experienced repair and main-
tenance personnel should be
considered in choosing the
appropriate technology. The
cost of repair and the loss of
properly trained personnel to
higher paying jobs in the city
are also hindrances.
Low-tech water treatment
WATER PURIFICATION & TREATMENT BUSINESS
solutions provide an attrac-
tive alternative as a first step
in achieving the next rung on
the sanitation ladder. Many
of these methods have been
tested and successfully imple-
mented by weDev Water’s ini-
tiative in rural Uganda.
The WeDev Water (eV) Ini-
tiative was developed to pro-
vide the technology for this
interim step and implement-
ing the technology in rural
communities. Careful consid-
eration is given to the culture
of the individual village, tai-
loring the solution to both the
requirements of treatment and
the technology that best fits
the community.
Disinfection: Salt
Chlorination
Chlorination is one of the
most effective disinfection
methods available. Producing
chlorine is very simple. With a
12 v car battery (45Ah is suit-
able), titanium electrodes and
a simple salt solution, enough
chlorine can be produced in 20
minutes to disinfect the water
supply of a village of 100 per-
sons. The methodology was
implemented in three villages
in Kymagemule and Zinga Is-
land.
20-40 grams of salt (about
the size of a jerry cap) are
mixed in a 10-liter bucket
of water. The electrodes are
placed in the water and con-
nected to the battery. The
current separates the sodium
from the chloride, producing
chlorine gas, which bubbles
through the solution. 20 min-
utes is sufficient to achieve
about 400 mg/l of chlorine
solution. One capful per 20-li-
ter canister produces a solu-
tion of between 1 and 2 mg/l,
the WHO recommended dose.
After 30 minutes of contact
time, the water is effectively
disinfected.
The battery can be recharged
using a 75 W solar panel,
which was relatively common
in the villages. 75 W is more
than sufficient for recharge.
The excess energy provides an
incentive for the villager pro-
ducing the chlorine.
Care must be taken when
producing chlorine. Chlorine
gas is toxic. The production
should take place where no
children are present and out-
doors because chlorine gas is
heavier than air and can col-
lect in low-lying areas of the
house. To minimize the poten-
tial for theft, the solar panel
was roof-mounted and the
battery was located indoors
with wires connected through
the window when chlorine was
produced. Re-training and ac-
ceptance continue to be chal-
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
lenged in the process.
Rapid Sand Filtration
In many of the villages en-
countered, the water supply
was a local mud hole, with tur-
bidities exceeding 40 NTUs.
Disinfection becomes less
effective above 5 NTU. Rapid
sand filtration, while limited
in effectiveness for the remov-
al of bacteria, is effective in re-
moving turbidity.
Any large sized container
is suitable for construction of
a filter. When using brick and
mortar, thought should be giv-
en to providing an access hole
for cleaning purposes. For the
work in Kyamagemule, a 1000
L poly water storage tank was
used. The lowest layer should
be gravel or rock to protect
the outlet pipe from clogging
and preventing loss of sand.
A minimum of 60 cm of 0.3
to 0.8 mm sand is needed for
the turbidity removal process.
The remaining 20 cm between
layers was provided by coarse
gravel. Filter cloth was tried in
one iteration, but soon became
clogged by fine sand particles.
Backwash can be provided
either manually (where labor
is inexpensive) or through the
use of a small elevated tank
connected to the bottom of the
filter, providing the necessary
pressure to backwash the fine
 COVER STORY
sand particles.
Rapid sand filtration can
also be adapted to slow-mov-
ing streams using successive
boxes of 30 x 50 x 60 cm end-
ing in a concrete headwall with
small diameter pipe to create
backpressure.
Slow Sand Filtration
A slow sand filter was devel-
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
oped using a 120-liter plastic
garbage can. The construction
was as the rapid sand filter
with fine sand of 0.15-0.35
mm and uniformity coeffi-
cient of 2-3. A riser pipe was
installed 10 cm above the sand
level to establish the required
constant water level. A larger
surface area allows for more
stable growth.
Over the course of 20 days,
allowing 20 liters of water to
pass through the sand layer
over a 12-24 hours period, a
bacteria (or “schmutzdecke”)
layer develops in the first 5-10
cm of sand. This layer adapts
itself to the species of bacteria
in the water, effectively creat-
ing a bacteria layer to feed on
the bacteria species present.
After 20 days, this layer is ro-
bust enough to consume the
entirety of the bacteria in the
water. Care must be taken to
not disturb the schutzdecke
WATER PURIFICATION & TREATMENT BUSINESS
and bypass the process. This
can be obtained by punching
holes in the garbage can lid or
using a banana leaf in the jerry
can.
This method was success-
fully tested at Kyamagemule,
but proved unsuitable as only
approximately 20 liters are
produced per day, sufficient
only for a small family. Its use
is limited to warm climates be-
cause temperatures under 20
degrees C inhibit the growth
of the bacteria.
Thermal Disinfection
of Chlorine Resistant
Species
Where the required daily
consumption is 100 liters or
less, thermal disinfection can
be a cost-effective method to
kill such species as cryptospo-
ridium and cholera (bilharzia/
schistosomiasis as well, but
the primary vector of infec-
tion is typically not ingestion).
Cost-effective implementation
of this solution is typically lim-
ited to areas having sufficient
sunlight, like central Africa,
although implementable any-
where at greater cost.
Cryptosporidium is con-
tracted by drinking con-
taminated water and is very
prevalent in Lake Victoria.
The symptoms of a crypto-
sporidium infection are very
similar to those of malaria.
While many species are chlo-
rine resistant, they are often
susceptible to heat treatment.
Much like Legionella, heating
water to 60°C for 30 minutes
is sufficient for disinfection.
A solar collector with supple-
mental heat in the form of the
300 W - 12 V heating element,
was installed at Zinga. Initial
calculations indicate that two
300 W - 12 V heating elements
would be needed to achieve
60°C on cloudy days. The test
apparatus was limited by local
conditions. The solar collector
had only a single heat port and
larger 12-volt heating elements
were unavailable locally. On
sunny days, the solar collector
achieved temperatures as high
as 53°C without supplemental
heat energy. On cloudy days,
similar results were achieved
using three 150 W solar pan-
els and three 100-Ah batteries
(56°C, each connected in par-
allel, through a charge control-
ler to the heating element.
As expected, the under-
sized system required a daily
recharge after use before re-
introduction into the thermal
system. By achieving 55°C un-
der worst-case conditions it is
clear that adding a second or
larger heating element would
be sufficient to achieve the
necessary temperatures. The
lake water sample was treated
for roughly one half-hour at
70°C. The sample was incubat-
ed at approximately 45°C un-
der anaerobic conditions for
18 hours. After 18 hours, the
sample was clean; no growth
had occurred.
As a side benefit, the heat-
ing system also provides warm
water for sponge baths, which
has heretofore been unavail-
able on Zinga.
Sample Incubation
Procedure
One of the primary limita-
tions for evaluating the ef-
fectiveness of treatment of a
cryptosporidium infection is
the detection method. Under
laboratory conditions, clos-
tridium perfringens is used
as an indicator organism for
cryptosporidium. The diffi-
culty in using this method in
fieldwork is the need for an-
aerobic incubation at 45°C. In
most cases, a commercial lab
is required, which is very cost
prohibitive, and, in the case of
Zinga Island, because of the
distance to the mainland and
limited transport possibilities,
difficult to achieve.
One side benefit of the solar
thermal heat method is that
water with a temperature of
40 to 50°C is readily available.
Anaerobic conditions were
achieved by using a candle in a
mayonnaise jar. Samples were
prepared using blood agar and
affixed to the bottom of the jar
with candlewax.
A 50-L water barrel was
converted into an incubator.
The outside was insulated Sty-
rofoam packing material and
yellow fiberglass insulation.
The barrel was filled with 53°C
water and closed.
The apparatus was inserted
in the water bath suspended
by a sock and a rock, sealed
and incubated for 18 hours.
The lake samples, known
to have Clostridium, showed
roughly 200 colonies. Micro-
scopic analysis showed both
the rods and the spores typi-
cal of Clostridium. (Although
certain species identification
was impossible with the lim-
ited microscope capabilities,
there is a strong probability
of clostridia, given its known
presence). The procedure was
repeated with the heat-treated
sample and no colonies were
observed.
Methods Under
Development for 2019
All of the main projects in
2019 are limited by a lack of
February 2019 33
 COVER STORY
information. The tools and
skills of the weDev team are lo-
cated in Europe, so measuring
methods must be developed
and relayed to local villagers
for action.
Sand Dam
A sand dam is proposed
for the villages of the Nyanzi
region, whose water supply is
limited to seasonal seepage
water. This project was chosen
as a Master’s thesis using tech-
nology developed in India.
One of the main difficul-
ties of building a sand dam
reservoir is the lack of survey-
ing tools and skill in the local
populace. Tools are limited to
a water level and 10 m measur-
ing tape. While it is possible to
measure slope with these tools,
they are limited by the short
length of a straight edge (a pipe,
for example). Clear plastic tub-
ing in 10 m length was found
in Kampala. Using the tubing,
a crude water level could be de-
The Green Observed in the Sample is Algae
34 February 2019
veloped. Using these tools, the
field was staked, measured and
the slope estimated. The data
will be CAD-processed in Ger-
many and the preliminary dam
designed. Due to irregularities
in field measurement, the
dam will be over-engineered
to accommodate. During the
cost estimation phase, avail-
ability and cost of clay will be
estimated against the cost of
plastic sheeting. Additional
considerations are: directing
the overflow to a suitable loca-
tion, preparation of an emer-
gency overflow and estimating
the potential for damage in the
event of a catastrophic failure.
Cascading Pools
An additional Master’s the-
sis, a cascading pool network,
is proposed for Nyanzi.
There are two year-round
ponds available in the Nyanzi
area, remotely located near the
top of a steep hillside. By con-
necting the ponds and piping
WATER PURIFICATION & TREATMENT BUSINESS
the water to the valley a con-
tinuous water supply can be
obtained.
Measuring slope (see sand
dam) is again a concern, as
well as measuring the outflow
from the ponds and evaluat-
ing how the relocation of the
water supply from the hills
affects the local vegetation.
The present overflow is spread
over the full area of the pond
and underground. Measuring
the water by siphonage, emp-
tying the pool manually and
measuring refill rates, and cre-
ating a v-notch weir were all
considered. Ultimately, it was
decided to insert a small diam-
eter pipe in the downhill side
of the pond, wait for the pond
to achieve a stable water level,
and measure the flow with a
bucket.
Facultative Pond Wastewa-
ter Treatment Using Papyrus
An important consideration
in the clean water cycle is
minimizing the contaminated
wastewater reaching the wa-
ter supply. A local village on
Zinga Island was chosen for
the development of a wastewa-
ter pre-treatment facultative
pond using papyrus. Papyrus
is a well-suited plant for pond
treatment as its root system
floats on the pond water. It has
the second advantage of being
a cash crop, used for thatched
roofs and mats in the local
economy. It is believed that
combining a pond with more
conventional treatment vege-
tation and papyrus may prove
an effective combination, pro-
viding treatment and income
to the local community.
Mentoring Program
One of the limitations of
being a small NGO is the lim-
ited manpower. As a senior
engineer, the knowledge is
available to solve complex lo-
cal problems, but limited by
the difficulty of being in mul-
tiple locations at one time. In
order to overcome this, weDev
Water has invested in a mento-
ring program for young engi-
neers and university students.
weDev developed relation-
ships with several European
universities to mentor Masters
students in water quality and
water resources.
Under this program, a stu-
dent beginning his/her Mas-
ter’s Thesis would work with
a weDev engineer to develop
a thesis based on a particular
need in a particular commu-
nity in Uganda. The suggest-
ed solution would be built to
prototype stage at weDev’s
facilities in Germany and thor-
oughly tested, prior to being
pilot-tested in the local vil-
lage. The mentoring program
has proved effective whether
the student works directly at
the AECOM Kaiserslautern
office or remotely for another
company. The Master’s thesis
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
work is voluntary. Work in a
company provides income for
the student to support living
expenses during the develop-
ment period.
Testing of the prototype
is essential and typically be-
gins one year prior to imple-
mentation. Implementation
is typically limited to the 2-3
week period of on-site work in
Uganda. For this reason, every
possible limitation must be
tested. The considerations in-
clude the availability of tools/
materials in rural Uganda
(sand, solar, brick & mortar,
clay, spare parts, etc); skill level
of the villagers; operation by
uneducated villagers; avail-
ability of skilled craftsmen;
theft-protection; and safety
considerations. These and
many more questions must
be thought of and answered
before implementation. There
are always unforeseen lim-
itations in the local area that
cannot be planned for, but
both the preparation phase
and the implementation phase
develop essential adaptive
engineering skills that greatly
improve the students’ skill set
in preparation for a career in
engineering.
Many of the students have
become a permanent part of
the weDev Water initiative. In
this way, weDev has developed
a team of capable young engi-
neers who can independently
implement water solutions
with a minimum of interaction
(by cell phone) with the senior
engineer. This, in turn, frees
the senior engineer to concen-
trate on the new technology
developed by the Master’s stu-
dent, who is then capable of
independently solving prob-
lems in the following year.
This process produces more
capable first-year engineers
than the typical university pro-
cess alone.
About the Author
Michael Ottensmann is a
Senior Engineer who special-
izes in water and wastewater
engineering. He is the Head
of AECOMs Environmental
Department in Kaiserslautern,
Germany and Co-founder and
President of weDev Water eV.
 TECH FOCUS
The New Long Range Gusher
The big gusher is ideal for high volume transfer or flood irrigation applications.
Efficient water transfer is vital for flood irrigation and the QP602 is capable of
transferring up to 1,74,000 liters per hour.
By Aussie Pumps
The Aussie 6” Semi Trash Pump is a Real Water Mover, Delivering up to 7,83,000 Liters per Tank of Fuel!
A NEW, COST-EFFICIENT 6” (150
mm) self-priming pump, capable of
moving huge quantities of water, has
been released by Australian Pump In-
dustries. It is a ‘Long Ranger’ version of
Aussie’s Quik Prime model QP602 that
runs for extended periods.
The big gusher is ideal for high vol-
ume transfer or flood irrigation appli-
cations. The new high ‘Long Range’ ver-
sion of the pump features a 16-liter long
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
range fuel tank that neatly fits within a
steel roll frame. This extra fuel capacity
allows it to run continuously for up to 5
hours without the need to refuel.
“Not having to refuel the pump fre-
quently is a time saver for farmers with
large volumes of water to transfer,” said
Aussie Pumps’ Product Manager, Brad
Farrugia. “Not to mention the extra con-
venience as the pump can be left to run
unattended for long periods, freeing up
MEMBRANES, PUMPS
time for other activities,” he said.
Efficient water transfer is vital for
flood irrigation and the QP602 is capa-
ble of transferring up to 1,74,000 liters
per hour. With a maximum vertical dis-
charge of 23 meters, the big 6” pump
can move water from a lower dam or
river to the flood site or storage dam.
The 6” pump features a huge open
style, high grade cast iron impeller, ca-
pable of passing small solids up to 20
mm in suspension. It has the ability to
draft water from depths of up to 7.6 me-
ters, making it ideal for pumping from
rivers, dams or tanks.
“Its unique high flow design makes it
very efficient and gives it the ability to
move water fast with minimal fuel”, said
This Aussie 6” pump
is a breakthrough in
terms of quality, value,
and performance. The
great fuel efficiencies,
high volume transfer,
and heavy-duty
construction really
make the QP602 an
incredible pump.
- Brad Farrugia, Product
Manager, Aussie Pumps
Farrugia. “In its standard configuration,
it needs only a 13 HP Honda petrol en-
gine to achieve its full capacity!” he said.
The big Aussie gusher is also avail-
able with a Yanmar air cooled diesel en-
gine with electric start for easy and effi-
cient operation. The QP602 has a heavy
duty wrap around frame for protection,
eye bolt and four mounted handles for
easy lifting.
“This Aussie 6” pump is a break-
through in terms of quality, value, and
performance”, said Farrugia. “The great
fuel efficiencies, high volume transfer,
and heavy-duty construction really
make the QP602 an incredible pump”,
he said.
The QP602 comes with an unbeat-
able 5-year pump end warranty and
3-year Honda or 2 year Yanmar engine
guarantees. With marine-grade alu-
minum pump housing and a carbon
ceramic mechanical seal, this pump is
designed to last.
February 2019 35
 TECH FOCUS
Basic Engineering as Franchise Concept
Highly-effective containerized units can be used for biological wastewater
treatment with high flexibility at smallest footprint requirement.
By Cornelia Harmsen and René Trübenbach
Example Drawing of MBBR Power Pack Unit
IN ORDER TO meet the glob- form of a franchise-concept. In years of experience and devel-
ally increasing requirements this way, companies engaged opment work.
on flexible, biological waste- in marketing and/or operating
water treatment plants, Multi this technology, or being inter- What is so Different in
Umwelttechnologie AG (Mu- ested in using this technology the Mutag MBBR Power
tag) is now offering their basic as additional know-how can Pack™ Unit and what is
engineering support in the benefit from Mutag’s many Essential?
In Germany, the production
of standardized water treat-
ment plants is currently not
profitable due to high manu-
facturing and transport costs.
In case that the steel structures
and the pipework are man-
ufactured according to con-
struction plans directly at the
site in the respective destina-
tion country where the plants
are urgently needed, such-
like plants can be produced
at significantly lower costs.
Additionally, such support is
contributing to the further de-
velopment of the destination
Mutag BioChip™ High-Performance Carrier Media for Biofilms - Un- countries.
colored, w/o Biofilm (White) In a franchise concept, com-
36 February 2019
MEMBRANES, PUMPS
panies in these countries are
given the possibility to use
the long-term know-how and
engineering basic guidelines.
They will hence neither need
any additional development
nor highly-skilled employees.
Thanks to this franchise con-
cept, the business idea of of-
fering the production and the
operation of compact, flexible
wastewater treatment plants
is possible to be brought into
price-conscious markets and
developing countries.
It is essential that highly ef-
ficient and flexible plants can
be produced and operated di-
rectly on the spot. In this way,
any potential further costs can
be kept as low as possible.
The efficiency of the Mu-
tag MBBR power pack™ unit
becomes obvious when com-
paring it directly to other con-
tainerized plants which are
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
available in the market.
A Mutag MBBR power
pack™ unit in the framework
of a 40-ft container having
dimensions of 12.0 m x 2.3
m x 2.5 m (L x W x H) is de-
Mutag‘s Scope of
Supply
oP  rocess design, including
flow sheets, mass balanc-
es, basic P&IDs
o Plans for a modular treat-
ment system
o Drawings of standardized
assemblies
o Variations in materials
to accommodate your
strengths and preferences
o Equipment datasheets
o Instructions on adapting
to specific applications
o Operational and Analyti-
cal manuals
o Support and trouble-
shooting
signed for municipal wastewa-
ter treatment at a capacity of
2,400 m³/d, the load of 6,600
PE and 400 kg/d BOD at 15°C.
Hence, the removal perfor-
mance of the Mutag MBBR
power pack™ unit at the same
MBBR reaction tank volume
is a double or a multifold of
other available containerized
plants which are comparable
in size.
For the operator, it is also es-
sential to know that only one
Mutag MBBR power pack™
unit will be required instead of
2 or even more containers. As
a result, additional costs can
be further reduced by provid-
ing savings in both capital and
operational expenditure.
What are the Benefits
Provided by this
Franchise Concept?
The franchise is not only
supplied with the Mutag Bio-
 TECH FOCUS
Mutag BioChip™ High-Performance Carrier Media for Biofilms - Col-
ored, w/o Biofilm (Orange)
Chip™ high-performance car-
rier media and the membrane
air diffuser panels. He also is
brought into the position to
use the long-term know-how
of MBBR-process- and applica-
tion technology, biofilm-tech-
nology & support, starting
from the designing of plants
up to the calculation and lay-
out of the particular compo-
nents. Also, the constructional
design of retention screens,
as well as mass balance, flow-
sheets, basic P&ID, datasheets
of equipment components,
and construction plans are in-
cluded in the scope of supply
of the franchisor (Mutag).
Of particular importance is
the operational support after
the construction of the plant.
For this purpose, the franchi-
BlueChip
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
sor Mutag provides complete
commissioning- and operation
manuals, as well as documents,
and supports the operating
staff by means of evaluation of
the operating data and by giv-
ing recommendations for an
optimal plant operation.
Why is the Efficiency
Compared to Other
Containerized MBBR
Plants?
The removal efficiency in
the smallest possible MBBR
reaction tank (-volume) can
be significantly enhanced by
using and combining certain
selected components.
By using highly-effective
membrane aeration panels,
very fine-bubbled process air
is being supplied, ensuring
that the oxygen quantity re-
quired for the high biological
removal performance can be
transferred into the water. If
the supply of this high oxygen
mass would not be ensured,
the aerobic removal process
would not take place.
It is of particular impor-
tance that sufficient active
biomass is maintained inside
the MBBR tank in a controlled
manner. Compared to other
carrier media in containerized
plants, controlled biomass
growth is realized by using
the highly efficient Mutag Bio-
Chip™ carriers. It is essential
that the biomass fixed in the
pore structure of the approx.
1.1 mm flat chip (disc) is suf-
ficiently being supplied with
substrate and oxygen from
both sides by diffusion. Con-
sequently, the entire biomass
is kept active and no inactive
sludge will clog the pores. Due
to the carriers contacting very
smoothly with each other in
the moving bed bio-reactor,
the biofilm (biomass) inside
the pore system of the Chip
is constantly kept at a layer
thickness of approx. 0.5 mm
on both sides of the Chip. Any
excess biomass is sheared off.
Hence, the defined depth of
the pores ensures that the bio-
film is optimally controlled
in its thickness and provides
hence a very high biological
activity.
This effect provided by the
Mutag BioChip™ is unique in
its nature. It is indeed very sur-
prising to see that this positive
effect with its highly advan-
tageous features is being rec-
ognized rather rarely among
experts.
Contrary to the Mutag Bio-
Chip™, the biomass on other
carriers made of PE is highly
susceptible to being flushed
off the carrier surface. Fur-
thermore, the biofilm on such
carriers cannot be controlled
in thickness. The positive, ad-
vantageous effect of the Mu-
tag BioChip™ is impossible to
reach with injection-molded
plastic carriers.
Plant Operation- or BOT
Models
Along with the cost-saving
MEMBRANES, PUMPS
In a franchise concept, companies
are given the possibility to use
the long-term know-how and
engineering basic guidelines.
They will hence neither need any
additional development nor highly-
skilled employees. Thanks to this
franchise concept, the business
idea of offering the production and
the operation of compact, flexible
wastewater treatment plants is
possible to be brought into price-
conscious markets and developing
countries.
benefit provided through the
production of the plant com-
ponents (pipework and steel
structure) in the destination
countries, the plant operation
by the franchise is made pos-
sible or simplified due to the
support provided by the fran-
chisor (Mutag).
Furthermore, BOT models
are possible as well (BOT =
Build, Operate and Transfer).
In such cases, the plants are
arranged on foundations and
are hence not attached to the
ground. Whenever required,
these plants can be dismantled
and be re-installed for further
use in another location. This is
what makes the Mutag MBBR
power pack™ to an ideal solu-
tion for temporary applica-
tions, e.g. worker camps in the
mining industry or in the oil
and gas exploration sector, or
military camps, etc.
Which Containerized
Plant Concepts are
Available?
In the overall concept, there
are different standardized
components available, con-
sisting of MBBR technology
for COD/BOD removal, ni-
trification or Anammox pro-
cess. For the denitrification
process, containerized MBBR
units with optimized mixing
equipment are available. De-
pending on the application
requirement, the standardized
modules can be arranged in
individual combinations in or-
der to adapt the system for the
respective application task.
Depending on the respec-
tive demands and require-
ments, plant concepts for the
application of MBBR/IFAS
technology combined with
MBR technology (membrane
separation technology) can be
provided.
Conclusion
The highest efficiency is
reached by the combined ap-
plication of the two key com-
ponents: the oxygen transfer
system and the Mutag Bio-
Chip™ carriers. This combina-
tion allows for the highest pos-
sible biological removal rates
in the smallest possible reac-
tor volume, as well as for sig-
nificant savings in capital and
operational expenditures. The
production of units on the spot
in accordance with the con-
struction plans provides cost
savings on the one hand, and
it promotes the wastewater in-
frastructure in the destination
countries on the other hand. At
the same time, the franchisor
Mutag provides support to the
franchisee/operator in all pro-
cess-technological, biological
or operational matters.
About the Authors
Cornelia Harmsen and
René Trübenbach both work
for Multi Umwelttechnologie
AG.
February 2019 37
 TECH FOCUS MEMBRANES, PUMPS

Landia Pumps Clear the FOG at Texas

Lift Stations
The culprit was an extremely thick, impenetrable scum and FOG layer, which had
made it difficult to retrieve the existing duty pumps for service.
By Landia A/S
NESTLED IN THE pastoral
landscape of the Blue Lake
Estates’ Community, a group
of cautiously optimistic oper-
ators, officials and suppliers
gathered around the Deer Ha-
ven lift station.
The big question about to
be answered for Llano Coun-
nel were having to regularly
engage the problematic scum
layer at the main Deer Haven
lift station, things really came
to a head at the district’s sec-
ond, smaller, Sandy Harbor lift
station. Float switches caught
up in the scum blanket caused
a duplex pump station to allow

To keep things moving and try to

prevent overflows and reduce odors,
we were having to constantly hose
down the lift stations to try and
break the scum layer. But in about
30 minutes, the scum layer was
soon back. Untangling the floats had
become routine. The whole thing was
an unpleasant, tricky job having to
reach out and inevitably get covered
in sludge. Simply trying to get to the
duty pumps, was difficult.
- Tim Webb, Operations Manager
ty Municipal Utility District both the duty-pumps to run
(MUD #1), was whether their dry. The ultimate sacrifice of
investment in a new pump these duty pumps meant USD
would pay-off. 15,000 in replacement costs.
Even with just 480 residen-
tial connections at one of Lake A More Pro-Active
Lyndon B. Johnson’s (Lake Approach
LBJ) most coveted neighbor- Llano County MUD #1 de-
hoods, Llano County MUD #1 cided that it was time for a
was becoming weighed down more pro-active approach.
with ongoing lift station main- “To keep things moving and
tenance issues and increasing try to prevent overflows and
odor concerns. reduce odors, we were having
The culprit was an extremely to constantly hose down the
thick, impenetrable scum and lift stations to try and break
FOG layer, which had made it the scum layer”, said Opera-
difficult to retrieve the existing tions Manager Tim Webb, “but
At the Deer Haven Lift Station in Llano County, Texas, Tim Webb, Operations Manager (Left) with Art duty pumps for service. in about 30 minutes, the scum
Savage from Landia While maintenance person- layer was soon back. Untan-

38 February 2019 SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD

 TECH FOCUS
Art Savage from Landia (Left)
with Tim Webb, Operations Man-
ager at Llano County
gling the floats had become
routine. The whole thing was
an unpleasant, tricky job hav-
ing to reach out and inevitably
get covered in sludge. Sim-
ply trying to get to the duty
pumps, was difficult”.
He added: “We’re on a pres-
sure system here. There’s no
gravity feed. Everything gets
emulsified in the grinder
pumps that have been issued
to local residents, but the
plastics float, rather than sink.
The whole time our float sys-
Landia’s AeriGator was Rec-
ommended by Smith Pump
Company
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
tem was being affected by the
build-up of the sludge blanket.
Our existing pumps would
get air-locked. It reached the
point where we were having to
spray under the pumps as we
were lowering them and tilting
them to release air. This was a
challenge we could have done
without. Despite our constant
efforts, we were fighting a los-
ing battle, ultimately resulting
in not being able to get to the
pumps through such a thick
blanket of scum”.
Tim also noted that there
is always the issue of plastics,
sanitary products - and occa-
sional, seemingly indestructi-
ble mop heads - plus other un-
wanted surprises that make it
into the sanitary sewer system
- now a very typical scenario at
many municipal lift stations
all over the nation.
Chews Up the Rags and
Breaks Down the Mass of
Solids
Llano County MUD #1
called upon Texas water and
wastewater pump specialists,
Smith Pump Company, who
supply many of the grind-
er-pumps to homes in the area.
Customer Relations Manag-
er, Darrel Mize suggested the
Landia AeriGator - a chopper
pump with an external knife
cutting system and a ventu-
ri nozzle that injects air into
scum blankets. The combina-
tion of chopping and injecting
air successfully chews up the
rags and breaks down the mass
of solids that causes the many
unwelcome labor hours spent
these days at lift stations.
Angela Thomas, Gener-
al Manager at Llano Coun-
ty MUD #1 continued: “We
tried to resolve the lift station
issues, but the band-aid ap-
proach wasn’t for us. The loss
of our pump at Sandy Harbor
wasn’t something of course
that we wanted to repeat.
Darrel at Smith Pump told us
about how the Landia Chop-
per Pump would be the most
cost-effective and efficient
purchase we could make for
the long term - but it’s fair to
say that because the blanket of
scum was so thick, we were all
a little apprehensive when we
switched the Landia pump on
for the first time. We thought
it could break everything up
to an extent, but it mixed ev-
erything, right into the corners
of the Deer Haven lift station,
which was all the more impres-
sive because of it being a hard-
er to mix, rectangular (12’ by
12’) tank. In just 30 minutes,
we could see a big difference”.
Initially, the Landia AeriGa-
tor was run 24-hours per day
until the lift station reached
a point where there were no
scum/plastics/solids on the
surface. Once these layers of
All is Well Now at the Deer Haven Lift Station with Landia’s Art Sav-
age (Right) and Llano County’s Tim Webb
scum and trash were gone, the
pump was adjusted to run for
just 15 minutes each morning.
With this new arrangement,
the Aerigator now prevents
new scum layers from form-
ing. This protects the existing
duty pumps from any possible
heavy ragging and allows them
to do their basic job properly.
Following the success of the
6.5HP Landia AeriGator at the
Deer Haven lift station, Llano
County MUD #1 introduced
a 6.5HP Landia Eradigator
MEMBRANES, PUMPS
chopper pump for the slight-
ly smaller diameter Sandy
Harbor lift station, where the
USD 15,000 pump failure had
occurred. Unlike the AeriGa-
tor, this chopper pump is not
fitted with a venturi nozzle be-
cause scum is not the primary
problem there. The EradiGa-
tor has a recirculation nozzle
that keeps the lift station well
mixed while macerating any
rags that could clog the duty
pumps. Flow from the Sandy
Harbor lift station goes to the
Deer Haven lift station - and
the combined raw wastewater
is then pumped to the City of
Horseshoe Bay WWTP.
A Much Fresher Product
with Greatly Reduced
Odors
Tim Webb continued: “It
may seem a small point, but
we can now save USD 600
annually on the water hose
connection that we had to
have available for wash-downs
at Deer Haven. For locations
with no readily available water
supply, the installation of the
Since we started
using the Landia
pumps, the
waste build-
up is no longer
sitting in the
lift stations, so
we have a much
fresher product
with greatly
reduced odors.
- Tim Webb,
Operations Manag
Landia pumps would make a
big difference. The AeriGator
can often eliminate the scum
layers that form in a lift station
or wet well to the point where
wash-down water is no longer
needed to break up even the
thinnest of scum layers”.
He concluded: “Since we
started using the Landia
pumps, the waste build-up
is no longer sitting in the lift
stations, so we have a much
fresher product with greatly
reduced odors.
“The amount of time we
spend on call-outs to prevent
the lift stations from overflow-
ing is now a thing of the past.
Because of the new pumps,
we’re back to where we should
be - basic preventative main-
tenance. And we always know
that we can depend on Smith
Pump Company and Landia
for any assistance, which is
great peace of mind”.
About the Contributor
Landia’s headquarters are
located in Lem, which is how
it has been since 1933. Today,
Landia has subsidiaries in
England, Germany, Norway
and the US, and a sales office
in China. In addition, Landia
products are sold in 45 coun-
tries worldwide. Landia sup-
plies pumping and mixing
solutions to many different
industries, with the most im-
portant ones being agriculture,
wastewater, biogas plants, and
the fish industry.
February 2019 39
 PROJECT TRACKER
Immersive Digital Twins Helps China
Shanghai Railway Engineering Establish New
Practices to Deliver Sewage Treatment Plant
THE BEIHU SEWAGE Treat-
ment Plant project is located
on the east side of the intersec-
tion of Tengfei Avenue and Ba-
jifu Road in the Wuhan Chemi-
cal New Area. Its coverage area
includes about 130 square ki-
lometers of the Shahu, Erlang
Temple, Luobuzui, and Bai-
yushan sewage systems and
serves 2.48 million people.
Covering 5,32,000 square me-
ters, the Beihu sewage treat-
ment plant will initially treat
800,000 tons of sewage daily
and eventually reach a final
production rate of 1.5 million
tons per day. The new plant is
the largest scale sewage treat-
ment plant ever built in China
and in greater Asia.
China Railway Shanghai
Engineering Bureau (CRSEB)
40 February 2019
is responsible for construct-
ing the main structure of each
unit and the pipeline installa-
tion work in the factory. This
scope includes the civil design
of more than 31 buildings,
ranging from pump rooms
to distribution wells, multi-
ple tanks, and other related
treatment equipment. Eleven
major categories of electrome-
chanical pipelines are covered
by the project engineering re-
quirements. There are major
challenges in this project that
require highly efficient and
controlled design and proj-
ect management practices to
deliver it successfully. Some
of the requirements include
managing the deformation,
shrinkage, and cracking of
highly sensitive biological
and membrane pools while
accounting for the difficulty of
controlling the impermeability
of concrete. Minimizing field
rework to place the numerous
reserved holes and pre-embed-
ded bushings across multiple
structures is a monumental
challenge requiring robust
methods and standards.
To achieve the stringent
requirements of the project,
CRSEB turned to BIM meth-
odologies to establish a dig- saving the project an estimat- our company will further pro-
ital twin of the sewage treat- ed RMB 2.3 million. Chang- mote the application of BIM
ment plant. Incorporating ing the mode of design and technology.”
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles construction of rebar saved an The results CRSEB achieved
(UAVs) to capture photos of additional RMB 1.71 million, on this project have laid the
the existing site extended the while also shortening the con- groundwork for the engineer-
information-based digital twin struction schedule by 25 days. ing bureau to look for more
to an immersive one. Lever- And, in construction, the im- opportunities to advance their
aging the immersive digital mersive digital twin was used digital maturity. This includes
twin establishes more reliable to educate the on-site teams, research and development
engineering workflows, such shortening construction by an in areas such as structural
as rebar modeling. Using the additional 121 days due to im- live-action modeling tech-
graphical representation of the provements in efficiency, sav- nologies to build intelligent
digital twin helped improve ing another RMB 1.27 million. construction sites, making
methods for managing project
progress and cost and enhance
the execution and safety of on-
site construction.
CRSEB’s implementation of
BIM methodologies combined
with Bentley’s OpenBuildings
Designer, ContextCapture,
ProStructures, and LumenRT
resulted in tremendous ROI
for this project. Construction
durations were shortened by
using UAVs and ContextCap-
ture to support calculating The success of this project multi-aspect data acquisition
the number of earthworks re- has enabled CRSEB to trans- by combining various sensors
quired by seven-to-10 days per form the way it does business. and sharing information and
square kilometer, resulting in Lei Huang, a senior executive realizing the application of
an RMB 310,000 savings for with CRESB, said, “Based on digital construction sites. By
this calculation alone. Like- the way we applied Bentley adopting BIM methodologies
wise, the immersive digital software, certain technological and industrializing their proj-
twin, used with ProStructures advancements in this corpo- ect delivery methods using
for advanced calculations, rate water environment pro- immersive digital twins and
helped ensure that the delicate tection project have been ob- Bentley technology, CSREB
and highly sensitive pool walls tained. By combining project has built a foundation for fu-
were more easily constructed, features in the current phase, ture success.
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
 PROJECT TRACKER
Bringing Smart Water Solutions to Colorado
The small process footprint allowed RWSD to save an estimated 30% on the total
installed costs for the facility.
ROXBOROUGH WATER
AND Sanitation District
(RSWD) has awarded a con-
tract to Veolia Water Technol-
ogies, Inc. for the implemen-
tation of AQUAVISTA™ Portal
and Assist for their water treat-
ment facility in Littleton, Col-
orado.
AQUAVISTA™ is a digital
services platform from Veolia
Water Technologies, which
offers a wide and flexible
range of customized digital
solutions for water treatment
systems.
RWSD is capable of pro-
ducing 8 MGD of high-quality
drinking water for the growing
community just south of the
Denver metro area.
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
Systems that will be support-
ed by AQUAVISTA™ include
3 existing Veolia ACTIFLO®
trains in operation since 2017,
chemical feed systems, polish-
ing sand filters, the finished
water pumping system and
their UV disinfection system.
The ACTIFLO® process has
the ability to remove over 99%
of turbidity, discolorations,
iron and other contaminants
Roxborough
Water and
Sanitation
from the raw water source
used for the treatment plant. District chose
The small process footprint AQUAVISTA
allowed RWSD to save an es- Portal and
timated 30% on the total in-
stalled costs for the facility. Assist to help
To further aid the facility us optimize the
in reducing operational costs operation of
and capital expenditures,
and improving efficiency and our new water
stability, RWSD has selected treatment
AQUAVISTA™ Portal and As- plant to control
sist, Veolia’s smart water solu-
tion. costs, manage
RWSD General Manager, maintenance,
Barbara Biggs states, “Rox- and document
borough Water and Sanitation
District chose AQUAVISTA regulatory
Portal and Assist to help us compliance.
optimize the operation of our - Barbara Biggs,
new water treatment plant to
control costs, manage main- General Manager,
tenance, and document regu- RWSD
latory compliance. Over time,
the AQUAVISTA algorithm give RWSD a single point of
will anticipate process chang- reference for all information
es in response to changing wa- related to their system in re-
ter supply characteristics and al-time and AQUAVISTA™ As-
streamline our operations. sist will provide an added lay-
And access to Veolia’s team of er of support to the operator at
process experts will be a real RWSD with regular reviews of
asset to our operators.” system performance by Veolia
AQUAVISTA™ Portal will process experts.
February 2019 41
 THE SECOND OPINION
Water Harvesting is the Best Solution to Remove
Water Scarcity
In ancient times in India, about 53,000 lakes and ponds were in use for the rainwater
harvesting.
By Ramesh Goyal
Water Scarcity
The subject matter is the
availability of pure drinking
water otherwise there is 71%
water on the surface. The
drinking water which is avail-
able about 3% but readily it is
less than 1% out of total avail-
able water and water affects
every continent and around
2.8 billion people around the
world at least one month out
of every year. The people, at
large, even knowing about the
scarcity of water, waste the wa-
ter in bulk due to availability
in their taps supplied by the
governments. Due to increas-
ing population, demand for
water is also increasing while
the availability of water is re-
ducing day by day.
During 2014, it was dis-
cussed by the representatives
of CEO Water Mandate, CDP,
The Nature Conservancy, Wa-
ter Footprint Network, WWF
and others. Scarcity, in fact,
is lack of freshwater resourc-
es. Water scarcity reflects the
physical abundance of fresh-
water rather than whether the
water is suitable to use. For in-
stance, an area may have abun-
dant water resources but have
severe pollution that these
42 February 2019
supplies are unfit for human
or ecological uses.
Reasons for Scarcity
Scarcity is human driven
and is due to human water
consumption in volumes:
o Pollution is a major cause
of water shortage and water
is polluted when industrial
wastes are deposited into
water bodies and make it
unfit for human consump-
tion.
o The increasing population
at the rate of 1.13% or 80
million say 8 crores people
every year.
o Due to a decreasing num-
ber of forests and trees and
increasing pollution, the
problem of global warming
has increased and climate
change is becoming a ma-
jor problem. Due to all this,
either there are too heavy
rains or very less. Heavy
rains result in floods, de-
struction including loss of
lives while lesser rains re-
sult in a scarcity of water
and then to meet with the
demand, groundwater is
used more and which has
resulted that the ground wa-
ter level is decreasing day
by day and has reached up
to 500 ft or deeper. Out of
5723 groundwater blocks,
more than 50% are in the
dark zone and the position
is growing worse to worst.
The decreasing groundwater
level is a big warning for the
future and we have to think
over to solve all this increas-
ing water scarcity.
The Solution
We can solve the problem of
water scarcity:
o By educating people to
change consumption habit
and lifestyles
o By increasing the recycling
of water
o By improving irrigation and
agriculture practices, by pro-
moting the installation of
drip irrigation systems
o By pricing water, as the little
cost paid will certainly re-
duce consumption of water
o By increasing regular plan-
tation and planning to re-
duce destruction/ cutting of
trees and by motivating and
strengthening the methods
of shifting the trees
o By promoting waterless
dying technology in textile
processing
o By installation of soil mois-
ture monitoring systems to
improve productivity
o Resource efficient cleaner
production in sugar facto-
ries
o Balancing supply & demand
through water metering
o Reducing the cost of water
reuse in the textile sector
o Basin based approach for
groundwater management
o Effluent treatment and aqui-
fer storage for agriculture
use
o Innovative public-private
partnership to improve wa-
ter quality and availability
o Reducing water use in fish
and seafood processing
o Intergraded water resource
management in agriculture
and so on...but the rainwater
harvesting is the best solu-
tion in all these solutions.
Rainwater Harvesting
Rainwater is a renewable,
sustainable and a high-quality
water source and its harvest-
ing is the accumulation and
storage of rainwater for reuse
on-site, rather than allowing
it to run off. Rainwater can be
collected from rivers or roofs,
and in many places, the wa-
ter collected is redirected to a
deep pit (well, shaft, or bore-
hole), a reservoir with percola-
tion, or collected from dew or
fog with nets or other tools. Its
uses include water for gardens,
livestock, irrigation, domestic
use with proper treatment, in-
door heating for houses, etc.
Rainwater harvesting is
one of the simplest and old-
est methods of self-supply of
water for households usually
financed by the user.
Modes of Recharging
Groundwater Aquifers
Groundwater aquifers can
be recharged by various kinds
of structures to ensure percola-
tion of rainwater in the ground
instead of draining away from
the surface. Commonly used
recharging methods are:
o Recharging of bore wells
o Recharging of dug wells
o Recharge pits
o Recharge trenches
o Soak ways or recharge shafts
o Percolation tanks
In ancient times in India,
about 53,000 lakes and ponds
were in use for the rainwater
harvesting. In around 300 BC,
farming communities in Balu-
chistan, Afghanistan, Iran and
Kutch (India) used rainwater
harvesting for agriculture and
many other uses. Rainwater
from the Brihadeeswarar tem-
ple (located in Thanjavur, TN
India) was collected in Shiva-
ganga tank. During the later
Chola period, the Vīrānam
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
The drinking water
which is available
about 3% but
readily it is less
than 1% out of
total available
water and water
affects every
continent and
around 2.8 billion
people around the
world at least one
month out of every
year.
During 2014, it was
discussed by the
representatives of
CEO Water Mandate,
CDP, The Nature
Conservancy, Water
Footprint Network,
WWF and others. The
scarcity, in fact, is
lack of freshwater
resources. The water
scarcity reflects the
physical abundance
of freshwater rather
than whether the
water is suitable to
use. For instance,
an area may have
abundant water
resources but have
severe pollution that
these supplies are
unfit for human or
ecological uses.
 THE SECOND OPINION
tank was built (1011 to 1037
CE) in the Cuddalore district
of Tamil Nadu to store water
for drinking and irrigation
purposes. Vīrānam is a 16-km-
long tank with a storage capac-
ity of 14 billion 65 million cub.
ft., i.e. 41.5 million cub. mts.
Rainwater harvesting
was also common in the
Roman empire.
Presently, Tamil Nadu was
the first state to make rainwater
harvesting compulsory for ev-
ery building to avoid ground-
water depletion. The scheme
was launched in 2001 and has
been implemented in all areas
of Tamil Nadu. Posters all over
Tamil Nadu including rural
areas create awareness about
harvesting rainwater. It gave
excellent results within five
years, and slowly every state
took it as a role model. Since
its implementation, Chennai
had a 50% rise in water level in
five years and the water quali-
ty significantly improved.
In Bangalore city of Karna-
taka, adoption of rainwater
harvesting is mandatory for
every owner or the occupier of
a building having the site area
measuring 60 ft x 40 ft and
above and for a newly con-
structed building measuring
30 ft x 40 ft and above dimen-
sions. In this regard, Bangalore
Water Supply and Sewerage
Board has initiated and con-
structed “Rain Water Harvest-
ing Theme Park” in the name
of Sir M. Visvesvaraya in 1.2
acres (4,900 m2) of land situat-
ed at Jayanagar, Bangalore. In
this park, 26 different types of
rainwater harvesting models
are demonstrated along with
the water conservation tips.
The auditorium on the first
floor is set up with a “green” air
conditioning system and will
be used to arrange the meeting
and showing of a video clip
about the rainwater harvesting
to students and the general
public.
Rainwater harvesting is
mandatory in several cities of
almost all the States of India
but neither the government
nor public is serious about it.
I have a practical bitter expe-
rience about it as I was called
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
for the inspection of existing
rainwater harvesting systems
and guidance at Gurugram
(Haryana) in May 2017 and
surprisingly almost all the sys-
tems were dumped with trash
and rendered useless due to
lack of their maintenance and
care. But the MCG concerned
officers took it as a challenge
and started work to regularize
them.
In Rajasthan, rainwater har-
vesting has traditionally been
practiced by the people of the
Thar Desert. Many ancient wa-
ter harvesting systems in Ra-
jasthan have now been revived.
Water harvesting systems are
widely used in Rajasthan,
as well, are widely known as
‘Kund’ and it is the only reason
that people of Rajasthan never
faced severe shortage as they
are always alert in this regard.
This is the position in al-
most all other countries e.g.
New Zeeland, Sri Lanka, South
Africa, United Kingdom, Thai-
land, etc. In China, Argentina,
and Brazil, rooftop rainwater
harvesting is being practiced
for providing drinking water,
domestic water, and water for
livestock, water for small irri-
gation, and a way to replenish
groundwater levels. Thailand
has the largest fraction of the
population in the rural area re-
lying on rainwater harvesting
(currently around 40%). Rain-
water harvesting was promot-
ed heavily by the government
in the 1980s.
In new approaches, instead
of using the roof for catch-
ment, the Rain Saucer, which
looks like an upside-down
umbrella, collects rain straight
from the sky. This decreases
the potential for contamina-
tion and makes potable water
for developing countries a
potential application. In fact,
in Rajasthan, this water collec-
tion system is being used since
ancient time in almost all the
houses with the help of bed
sheets and other such clothes.
The main purpose of the
rainwater harvesting is to use
the locally available rainwater
to meet water requirements
throughout the year without
the need for huge capital ex-
penditure. This would facili-
tate the availability of uncon-
taminated water for domestic,
industrial, and irrigation
needs.
Rainwater Harvesting by
Solar Power Panels
A vast area is being covered
by solar PV panels every year
in all parts of the world. Solar
panels can also be used for
harvesting most of the rainwa-
ter falling on them and drink-
ing quality water, free from
bacteria and suspended mat-
ter, can be generated by simple
filtration and disinfection pro-
cesses as rainwater is very low
in salinity.
Advantages of Rainwater
harvesting are:
o Depleting groundwater level
will be arrested, rather the
level will start increasing.
o The scarcity of water and
fear of dark future will be
reduced.
o Flood chances will also re-
duce and speed of water will
also be affected and by that,
destruction will also in di-
minishing position. To stop
the floods two major modes
are the maximization of
plantation and water har-
vesting systems.
o Sewerage overflows will be
reduced.
o The need for water re-treat-
ment plants will be lesser.
o Roads will remain more in-
tact and repair process and
expenses will be saved.
o The cost/expenses on main-
tenance of all such public
utility items will be lesser
and by that, it will be sup-
porting for other develop-
ment work.
o The problem of drinking
water availability will be
reduced and dangerous po-
sition will be deferred.
o The quality of existing
groundwater will be im-
proved, thereby giving bet-
ter results in irrigation and
other works.
o Reduce the risk of losing
some or all of the year’s har-
vest because of soil or water
scarcity. In addition, the
risks associated with flood-
ing and soil erosion during
high rainfall seasons would
decrease.
o Th
 e water can’t be prepared
or manufactured in a facto-
ry or mill. By the harvesting
system, it can be stored in
bulk without paying any
cost of water.
Presently, Tamil
o Regular maintenance and Nadu was the
cleaning are required to first state to
o 
keep the system hygienic.
It provides water when a
make rainwater
drought occurs, can help harvesting
mitigate flooding of low-ly- compulsory for
ing areas, and reduces de-
mand on wells which may
every building to
enable groundwater levels avoid groundwater
to be sustained. depletion. Chennai
o The harvesting of rainwater
can also decrease a house-
had a 50% rise in
hold’s water costs or overall water level in five
usage levels. Rainwater is years and the water
safe to drink. Rainwater is
also independent of salin-
quality significantly
ity or pollutants found in improved.
groundwater, increasing the
quantity of potable drinking
water available when rain- be concluded that rainwater
water harvesting is utilized. harvesting is the best solution
not only to remove water scar-
System Set-up city but also to minimize other
The basic rainwater har- calamities.
vesting system is more of a
plumbing job than a technical About the Author
job, as all the outlets from the Ramesh Goyal is an Envi-
building’s terrace are connect- ronmentalist and Jal Star. He
ed through a pipe to an under- is the National Secretary Envi-
ground tank that stores water. ronment at Bharat Vikas Pari-
Frankfurt Airport has the shad and National President at
biggest rainwater harvesting Paryavaran Prerana.
system in Germany. The sys-
tem helps save approximately
1 million cubic meters of wa-
ter per year. Frankfurt Airport
The cost of the system was has the biggest
1.5 million dm (USD 63,000) rainwater harvesting
in 1993. The system collects system in Germany.
water from roofs of the new The system helps
terminal which has an area of save approximately
26,800 square meters. 1 million cubic
The water is collected in the meters of water
basement of the airport in six per year. The cost
tanks with a storage capacity of the system was
of 100 cubic meters. The wa- 1.5 million dm (USD
ter is mainly used for toilet 63,000) in 1993.
flushing, watering plants and The system collects
cleaning the air conditioning water from roofs of
system. the new terminal
which has an area
Quality of 26,800 square
Rainwater may need to be meters. The water
analyzed properly, and used in is collected in the
a way appropriate to its safety. basement of the
Rainwater itself is a clean airport in six tanks
source of water, often better with a storage
than groundwater or water capacity of 100 cubic
from rivers or lakes. meters.
On the basis of all this, it can
February 2019 43
 COLUMN
Tailored Water
By Robert C. Brears
WATER IS A KEY component
of local and national econo-
mies with the resource often a
key input in a variety of indus-
trial value chains. As industri-
al demand for water increases
the sector needs to increase its
water productivity. A failure to
do so could lead to the loss or
disappearance of jobs.
Majority of Jobs
Dependent on Water
It is estimated that more
than 1.4 billion jobs, or 42% of
the world’s total active work-
force, are heavily water-depen-
dent while another 1.2 billion
jobs or 36% of the world’s total
active workforce are moderate-
ly water dependent. In total,
78% of jobs in the global work-
force is dependent on water.
Water-Dependent
Industries
Half of the global workforce
is employed in eight water and
natural resource-dependent
industries including agricul-
ture, forestry, fisheries, ener-
gy, manufacturing, recycling,
building, and transport. Cur-
rently, industry and manufac-
turing account for around 4%
of global water withdrawals.
By 2050, it is projected that
manufacturing alone could in-
44 February 2019
crease its water use by 400%.
Meeting Rising Demand
with Nonconventional
Supply
To ensure industry has ac-
cess to adequate supplies of
good quality water and main-
tains productivity, utilities
have been researching and
developing ‘non-conventional’
sources for large-scale custom-
ers. Examples of which are as
follows.
Research on Industrial
Wastewater Reuse
Singapore’s Public Utilities
Board (PUB) has been con-
ducting research on recycling
and reuse of industrial waste-
water. Industrial wastewater
is a by-product of manufac-
turing processes at industrial
or commercial premises. With
suitable treatment, industrial
wastewater can be recycled
and reused as the boiler or
cooling tower feed water in
addition to irrigation and toi-
let flushing. PUB has also been
conducting research on Low-
Temperature Thermal Desali-
nation (LTTD), a desalination
process that utilizes low-grade
industrial waste heat to pro-
duce high-quality freshwater.
This requires minimal electric-
ity demand as waste heat can
come from various sources in-
cluding power plants, refinery
plants, and waste incineration
plants, etc.
Tailored Industrial
Water in Flanders
In Flanders, De Watergroep
provides tailored industrial
water for industry and service
business customers. The water
utility’s “Industry and Services
Business Unit” charts the com-
pany’s internal water streams,
analyses sources of available
water, including groundwa-
ter, surface water as well as
wastewater or reusable process
water, and seeks ways of op-
timizing water consumption.
The quality of water supplied
depends on the customer’s
requirements, for example,
whether they require cooling
water or demineralized water
etc. The Business Unit usually
carries out its industrial water
projects according to the con-
cept of Design, Build, Finance
and Operate (DBFO) contracts.
The Business Unit has also de-
veloped a mobile pilot installa-
tion and drilling team unit for
business customers to see how
the utility can match desired
water quality with available
water resources. The pilot sys-
tem uses various techniques
including ultrafiltration and
reverse-osmosis on a small-
scale, enabling customers to
make decisions on invest-
ments and the techniques to
be used.
Customized Process
Water in the Netherlands
Evides, a water utility that
provides drinking water to 2.5
million consumers and busi-
nesses in three Dutch provinc-
es of Zeeland, the south-west-
ern part of Zuid-Holland,
and the south-western part of
Noord-Brabant, offers indus-
trial water, or ‘process water’
that is customized for specific
requirements and preferenc-
es of each customer. In 2017
alone, the utility provided 96.9
million cubic meters of indus-
trial water and 158.7 million
cubic meters of drinking wa-
ter through more than 14,000
kilometers of the pipeline net-
work. Evides Industriewater
focuses on providing process
water to the chemical indus-
try, petrochemicals, and food
industry with an overall em-
phasis on tailoring water to the
needs of customers. The utility
delivers different process wa-
ter based on a Design, Build,
Finance, and Operate con-
tract, which involves Evides
Industriewater, on behalf of
its customers, purifying water
and reusing water. Some of the
main industrial water prod-
ucts Evides Industriewater of-
fers to customers includes ag-
ricultural and irrigation water,
cooling water, industrial water,
and demineralized water. De-
mand has now resulted in Ev-
ides Industriewater providing
solutions to 75 installations,
including 12 DBFO plants as
well as mobile installations in
the Benelux and Germany.
Fit for Purpose
Recycled Water
Queensland Urban Utilities
supports the sustainable use
of recycled water across its
service territory with numer-
ous environmental benefits
including conservation of wa-
ter resources, reduced nutrient
loads being released into wa-
terways, improved quality of
public assets e.g. sporting field
surfaces, and support of agri-
culture where environmental
sources of water are insuffi-
cient. A key aspect of the util-
ity’s recycled water program
is that recycled water must be
fit for purpose. Specifically,
Queensland Urban Utilities
provides various qualities,
or classes, of recycled water
treated to meet the custom-
ers’ requirements from each
recycled water schemes, with
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
URBAN WATER
the price decreasing with qual-
ity. The classes are Class A+
recycled water, which is very
highly treated recycled water
and is usually only required
for industrial process water or
for the irrigation of minimally
processed food crops), Class A
and B recycled water, which
is recycled water that requires
additional treatment process-
es above the normal sewage
treatment processes that are
sufficient to allow effluent to
be discharged into the envi-
ronment, and Class C recycled
water, which is the lowest qual-
ity of recycled water supplied
by the utility.
Malta’s New Water
Malta’s Water Services Com-
mission has established the
New Water program, which
involves treated wastewater
going through ultrafiltration
to remove bacteria, reverse
osmosis to remove chemicals,
and advanced oxidation to
remove remaining pollutants.
Each year the program produc-
es 7 million m3 of high-quali-
ty water suitable for safe crop
irrigation. This will potentially
meet up to 35% of the current
total demand of the agricul-
tural sector. In addition, the
high-quality water can be used
for landscaping and industry,
ensuring New Water is fully
utilized during periods of low
demand by the agricultural
sector. Currently, New Water
is available through hydrants,
which are accessed by elec-
tronic cards. As of 2018, seven
hydrants are available in the
North region of Malta. Moving
forward, the program is de-
veloping three additional net-
works to increase the number
of hydrants available for water
users.
Robert Brears is the au-
thor of Urban Water Security,
Founder of Mitidaption, and
Our Future Water.”
@Mitidaption
 COLUMN
Local Governance and Mandated Committees: Is
Democracy Deepened?
IN MY PREVIOUS columns,
I have been writing about the
need for deepening the de-
mocracy on the ground and
the role that local government
bodies can play in this regard.
The 73rd and 74th Constitu-
tional Amendments led to the
establishment of Panchayati
Raj Institutions and Urban
Local Bodies about 25 years
back. The local governments
were designed to be models
of direct democracy where the
idea was to reduce the distance
between citizens and elected
representatives along with
ensuring that the business
transactions were taking place
in front of those who elect the
local governments.
One of the departures in
local governments is that they
are considered to be the ser-
vice delivery agencies as well
as implementers of the welfare
schemes offered by the na-
tional and state governments.
They are also envisaged to be
promoting transparency and
accountability in the trans-
action of business. The last
mile service delivery depends
entirely upon them with the
spirit of local ownership.
However, what has happened
along the way is that the ad-
ministrative machinery of
the district very often hasn’t
focused on strengthening the
local governments for greater
participation and accountabil-
ity. Rather, the focus has been
on attaining efficiency in the
delivery of services, therefore
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
various participatory and ac-
countability processes have
been side-lined and the role of
the local government generally
been scuttled.
While instinctively we know
the challenges around the im-
plementation of this spirit, it
was still a worthwhile exercise
to undertake a more com-
prehensive look from access
to basic services and rights
perspective. WaterAid India
recently completed a study
in this regard with the objec-
tive of looking at various in-
stitutions on the ground and
ways to strengthen them. The
study was carried out in five
states - Bihar, Chhattisgarh,
Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and
Uttar Pradesh. In each state,
two Gram Panchayats (GPs)
were selected providing demo-
graphic, socio-economic and
leadership diversity.
First of all, there are at least
three different kinds of man-
dated committees besides
various informal, non-formal
bodies working on the ground,
very often set up by local inter-
est groups, Civil Society Orga-
nizations (CSOs), etc.
There are standing commit-
tees on water, sanitation, edu-
cation, nutrition and general
administration formed to de-
centralize power and responsi-
bilities and to give greater the-
matic focus on issues relevant
to the respective communities.
There are statutory committees
like School Management Com-
mittees. The Right to Free and
Compulsory Education Act
(RTE), 2009 has mandated the
constitution of School Man-
agement Committee (SMC)
for every school. It should be
formed and reorganized once
in 2 years in all government
schools except unaided insti-
tutions. And there are program
committees like Village Health
Sanitation and Nutrition Com-
mittee mandated through
central schemes like National
Rural Health Mission, with its
mandate to assist in decentral-
ized health planning.
Below are some of the key
findings:
o Th
 ere are positive examples
of the committees - where
sharing the responsibilities
of the programme imple-
mentation is evident. In
many cases, committees
are taking key roles in mak-
ing the Gram Panchayats
accountable and their busi-
nesses transparent. Wherev-
er the GPs were convinced
for sharing responsibilities
with the committees, many
interested and competent,
motivated and well-mean-
ing people of the village
have played an active role.
o Yet, mandated committees
constituted as per the stat-
utes of the government,
remained largely on papers
only and the selection of
members to the committee
was not through community
consultation.
o Most state-led committees
have nominated established
influential leaders or their
nominees as members.
These committees do not
have adequate representa-
tion of the poorest and the
marginalized or their par-
ticipation is just a tokenism
due to official guidelines.
o An overlap in the roles and
functions of the committees
was observed with the com-
mittees formed under the
state Panchayat Acts.
o Th
 e study also found that
the informal committees
promoted by the CSO part-
ners comprising of active
community members exist-
ed. Members were usually
elected in relatively broader
village level meetings. At the
same time, such commit-
tees may not be truly rep-
resentative, inclusive and
well-structured.
There also emerged some
key capacity gaps:
o There are technical issues
that the committees are
keen to know like related
to dealing with solid waste,
particularly disposal of cow
dung heaps, methods of
repair of toilets, measures
to prevent contamination
of drinking water from the
toilet leach pits/septic tanks,
methods of water recharge
etc. In order to fulfill these
needs related to WASH, the
committee members were
keen to know the possible
sources of water, sanitation
and hygiene (WASH) fund-
ing from the Gram Pan-
chayat, state, and central
government schemes and
possible methods of taxa-
tion for WASH services.
o The committee members
found it difficult to seek
active participation of the
community, therefore want-
ed to know ways to engage
with the community in a
meaningful manner. There
were also questions around
the structure of the village
Panchayat, their functions
and powers. Moreover, what
were the powers of the com-
mittees to hold the Gram
Panchayats and field func-
tionaries accountable? How
could the committee mem-
bers access information
about the funds and expen-
diture of the GP and various
programmes?
There are some clear ways to
move forward which would be
WATER WISE
useful not just for those work-
ing on the ground but also for
larger systems to scale if we
want to see the institutions
functioning in the best of ca-
pacity. The below list is indic-
ative but not exhaustive:
o A comprehensive under-
standing of the water, for-
est, hygiene, education,
and health needs to be de-
veloped in the community.
There is also a need to iden-
tify individuals who have an
innate interest to be volun-
teers for the social services
in each hamlet, caste, gen-
der and religious composi-
tion of the village.
o Existing informal commit-
tees should be nurtured to
ensure accountability of
GP and other programme
committees for more effi-
cient delivery of services.
The informal committees
could provide the nurturing
ground for taking leadership
in the formal committees.
o The tools for monitoring of
services that have been de-
veloped by the civil society
should be adapted, stan-
dardized and systematically
used by the GPs to monitor
social services.
o An annual calendar for
meetings of various village
level committees should
be drawn at the beginning
of the year, which is based
on the needs of the village
and aspirations of the com-
mittee members. This ac-
tion-oriented structured in-
teraction will have an action
agenda for each month. It is
expected that over a period
of one year, the committee
will learn to function as a
committee that is partici-
patory, democratic and re-
sult-oriented.
Avinash Kumar is Director
- Programme, and Policy at Wa-
terAid India.
@Avinashkoomar
February 2019 45
 TECH UPDATE

Upgrading Pump Packing to Mechanical Seals

Conserves Water, Improves Energy Efficiency,
and Minimizes Environmental Impact
An alternative to compression packing in centrifugal pumps, mechanical seal
technology reduces direct power consumption and parasitic power losses in shaft
sealing systems, while conserving water, and minimizing environmental impact by
virtually eliminating leakage of contaminated aqueous solutions to the atmosphere.
By Mark Savage and Sam Ajram

centrifugal pumps, going back the packing rings is a preva-

Packing Seal Chamber
THE ENVIRONMENTAL
PERFORMANCE of products
and processes in all industrial
sectors is increasingly coming
under critical inspection, with
sustainability, conservation of
natural resources and reduced
environmental contamination
directly influencing the design
and selection of equipment.
There are many industrial pro-
cesses that can be addressed
to improve sustainability and
minimize environmental im-
pact, while at the same time
maintaining or reducing op-
erating costs. Implementing
energy-efficient and environ-
mentally-friendly processes
and technologies should be
embraced as a priority at the
component, process and sys-
tem levels.
Included in these process-
es is mission-critical rotating
equipment, and specifically
centrifugal pumps, which rep-
resent a significant proportion
of the equipment found in
most industrial manufactur-
ing and processing operations.
One of the vital components
of a centrifugal pump is the
seal around the rotating shaft
which passes through a sta-
tionary pressure casing or
housing. The seal contains the
liquid or gas from escaping to
the environment.
Sealing systems are vital in
maintaining pump efficiency,
reliability, energy consump-
tion, water usage and control
of emissions to the environ-
ment. These factors can ma-
terially facilitate a process
plant in achieving total life-cy-
cle-cost-reduction and sustain-
ability objectives. In support
of achieving these objectives,
sealing performance can be
considerably improved in
most centrifugal pump appli-
cations by upgrading from tra-
ditional compression packing
to mechanical seal technology.
Compression Packing
When sealing a centrifugal
pump, the objective is to allow
the rotating shaft to enter the
wet area of the pump, with-
out allowing large volumes of
pressurized fluid to escape.
The discharge pressure of the
pump will force fluid back
behind the impeller, where it
attempts to exit by way of the
rotating drive shaft. To mini-
mize this leakage there needs
to be a seal between the shaft
and the pump housing that
can contain the pressure of
the process being pumped,
and also withstand the friction
caused by the shaft rotating.
Compression packing has
traditionally been used to seal
well over 100 years. Also re-
ferred to as gland packing, it is
a braided, rope-like, and lubri-
cated material that is packed
around the shaft in rings, phys-
ically stuffing the gap between
the shaft and the pump hous-
ing, within a stuffing box.
Water Leakage and
Consumption
For compression packing to
work, some leakage must be
maintained to lubricate and
cool the packing material. So
the packing rings allow for
an adjustable, close-clearance
leak path parallel to the axis
of the shaft. But as the packing
ages through use, some of the
lubricants that is embedded
into the packing is lost, reduc-
ing the volume of the pack-
ing rings. The pressure that is
squeezing the rings together
is also reduced, increasing the
amount of leakage.
Periodic adjustment of the
packing follower will bring
the pressure back into specifi-
cation, and control the excess
leakage. But increasingly, that
maintenance is not always
being performed at required
intervals, or adjusted correctly.
As the number of centrifugal
pumps that incorporate the
use of compression packing
has decreased, the training
and understanding of packing
maintenance have waned.
Consequently, under-tight-
ening and over-tightening of
lent and growing misapplica-
tion of maintenance of cen-
trifugal pumps, with critical
consequences to both water
consumption and energy draw.
Under-tightening results
in too much leakage. Already,
when properly adjusted, pack-
ing leakage can amount to
gallons of liquid leaked per
minute. This can be either
aqueous solutions comprised
of varied benign or caustic
chemical compositions, or par-
ticles in suspension or slurry,
depending on what is being
processed.
The heavier the suspension
or slurry content is in the liq-
uid being pumped, the more
water is needed to get packing
to work reliably. Typically, a
clean external flush is piped
into the stuffing box through
a lantern ring, which keeps
the packing lubricated, cool
and flushed of abrasives and
chemicals.
Normally, some portion
of the leakage is continually
being released into the atmo-
sphere.
Under-tightening of the
packing rings and use of exter-
nal flushes increase this atmo-
spheric release proportionate-
ly, along with the potential for
environmental impact.
Friction and Parasitic
Energy Draw
Friction is always present
in centrifugal pumps with

46 February 2019 SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD

 TECH UPDATE
Cutaway of a Mechanical Seal
compression packing, due to
the large surface area of the
packing rings in contact with
the shaft. Over-tightening of
the packing rings restricts
leakage flow, increases friction
between the packing and the
shaft, and generates excessive
heat which degrades the pack-
ing. The increased friction also
wears the shaft prematurely.
But from an energy con-
sumption perspective, that
additional friction of the pack-
ing gripping the shaft creates
increased drag, requiring more
drive power to turn the shaft.
It is that drag which creates an
additional, and significant, par-
asitic energy draw. The impor-
tance of this friction-induced
energy draw is critical for as-
sessing the energy efficiency of
compression packing.
Pump Packing Seal Exhibiting Excessive Leakage to the Environment
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
But this is not the only factor
influencing energy usage with
compression packing. When
examining the energy draw
component of a total life-cy-
cle-cost analysis related to the
use of compression packing
in centrifugal pumps, other
factors need to be considered,
such as:
A) The external flush that
is piped into the stuffing box
- this pressurized water or
fluid needs to be moved from
a source location to the pack-
ing. This requires a pump that
draws electricity;
B) In applications like min-
ing, where compression pack-
ing is more commonly used,
water added via the packing
flush to maintain a clean en-
vironment around the packing
needs to be later taken out. The
removal of this water requires
energy, typically through boil-
ing; and
C) The pump heat soak - en-
ergy transferred from the hot
metal of the pump to the fluid
within the packing chamber.
These energy draws are not
typically measured directly. In-
stead, current and voltage fluc-
tuations utilized by the pump
motor are assessed under var-
ied operating conditions to
determine how much power
is being consumed by parasit-
ic influences, which enables
packing energy deficiencies to
be identified.
Mechanical Seals Support
Energy Efficiency, Water
Conservation and Reduce
Environmental Impact
An alternative to compres-
sion packing is the mechanical
seal, which resolves many of
the sustainability and environ-
mental-impact issues inherent
in compression packing. These
mechanical seals require much
lower water and energy de-
mand and have substantial-
ly reduced leakage, making
them much more efficient at
containing volatile or hazard-
ous fluids, aqueous solutions,
and slurry suspensions. In
addition, mechanical seals
require no maintenance, once
installed.
A mechanical seal is com-
prised of a stationary primary
element which is fixed within
the pump housing, and a ro-
tating mating element fixed to
the shaft. Precisely machined,
these two components are
pressed together by a flexible
load element, meeting at a
wear face, while the extreme
tolerance precisions between
the two elements minimize
leakage. The wear faces are
supported on an extremely
thin lubricating film, typically
0.25 microns (9.8 microinch-
es) in thickness. Available in a
variety of types, arrangements,
and materials, the mechanical
seals are found in the majority
of centrifugal pumps today.
Minimized Water
Consumption and
Leakage
Mechanical seals require
very little flush water need-
ed to be injected into the seal
chamber.
Compression packing used
in abrasive pumping appli-
cations requires significant
volumes of water to be inject-
ed into the stuffing box. A
mechanical seal in the same
service requires only a small
fraction of this water volume.
These seals create an ex-
tremely restrictive leak path
perpendicular to the axis of
the shaft, between the two
sliding seal faces. This results
in almost no leakage to the at-
mosphere.
Reduced Power
Consumption
The amount of power re-
quired to drive a mechanical
seal is up to 80 percent less
when compared to compres-
sion packing, primarily be-
Pump Packing Seal Exhibiting Excessive Leakage to the Environment
cause the seal faces have less
frictional energy losses due to
the extremely precise mating
between the stationary and ro-
tating elements.
Additional energy reduction
requirements take the form of
the reduced need for flush wa-
ter to be pumped into the seal,
which is required with com-
pression packing.
Dual Mechanical Seals
Designed to ensure maxi-
mum sealing safety, dual me-
chanical seals are typically de-
fined as a single assembly that
contains a pair of seals.
A cavity is formed between
the two seals within the assem-
bly that is filled with a barrier
or buffer fluid that separates
the pumped liquid from the
atmosphere and environment.
Dual mechanical seals allow
for near complete control over
the seal operating environ-
ment and the fluid film lubri-
cating the seal faces.
They provide maximum
elimination of leakage of the
fluid being handled in centrif-
ugal pumps.
Environmental Impact
Efforts made toward im-
proving sustainability in man-
ufacturing processes, whether
by reduced water and energy
use, or by eliminating the dis-
charge of harmful fluids and
gases, not only provide a ben-
efit to the environment by re-
ducing environmental impact
but also a benefit to manufac-
turers by reducing operational
costs.
Mechanical seals in cen-
trifugal pumps, and particu-
larly dual mechanical seals
are well-suited to reduce or
eliminate volatile or hazard-
ous fluids, and their harmful
vapors from escaping into the
environment.
They should be specified as
the standard sealing solution,
particularly when the pumped
fluids present a safety, health,
or environmental hazard.
About the Authors
Mark Savage is the Product
Group Manager at Metal Bel-
lows Engineering, and Sam
Ajram is the Global Product
Marketing Manager at John
Crane, Inc.
February 2019 47
 CSR UPDATE
Grundfos India Brings Clean Drinking
Water to Thiruvanai Koil Village
Through this sponsored system, more than 250 households will be positively
impacted and their dependency on external sources for drinking water will be
tremendously reduced.
Grundfos India and Hand in Hand India Representatives at the Inaugural Event to Bring Clean Drinking
Water to Thiruvanai Koil
GRUNDFOS INDIA, A global
leader in advanced pump solu-
tions and water technology,
partnered with Hand in Hand
India, a leading internation-
al non-profit organization to
bring clean drinking water to
Thiruvanai Koil, Kancheepur-
am. The drinking water system
was inaugurated in the pres-
ence of the village community.
Drinking water has been a
critical concern for the people
in Thiruvanai Koil, especially
in the summer. The villag-
48 February 2019
ers are either forced to travel
nearly five KMs every day to
nearby panchayats for drink-
ing water or had to resort to
buying water from private
companies. Since most of the
villagers have a basic income
either from manual labor or
agriculture, they do not have
the luxury to directly invest in
drinking water facilities.
Through this Grundfos In-
dia sponsored system, more
than 250 households will be
positively impacted and their
dependency on external sourc-
es for drinking water will be
tremendously reduced.
Speaking about the initia-
tive, Mahathi Parashuram,
Regional Head of Public Af-
fairs, Communications & En-
gagement, Asia Pacific Region,
Grundfos, said “We believe
that access to drinking water
is a basic human right. The sig-
nificance of this initiative em-
anates from our commitment
towards providing clean drink-
ing water to people across the
globe. Our aim is to improve
the overall quality of life of the
people in Thiruvanai Koil and
help them become self-suffi-
cient with respect to clean wa-
ter. They will now have more
time and energy to focus on
their families, education, and
livelihood.”
Krishnan, Chief Operating
Officer, Hand in Hand India,
also added “We at HIH India
have always worked towards
uplifting and creating self-re-
liant villages. We are delighted
to partner with Grundfos India
to bring clean drinking water
to the village of Thiruvanai
Koil. Like Grundfos, we also
believe that access to clean
drinking water is a necessity
and we want to help improve
the lives of as many people as
possible.”
Through the years, Grund-
fos India has been working to
improve the access to clean
water in hundreds of villages
through its CSR initiatives.
Grundfos Pumps India Pvt.
Ltd. (Grundfos India) is a
wholly owned subsidiary of
Grundfos Holdings. Grund-
fos India is responsible for
sales of Grundfos products
in India, Bangladesh, Bhutan,
Maldives, and Nepal. Cur-
rently, Grundfos India has
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
On an average,
families at
Thiruvanai Koil
will be able to
save around 40
minutes in a day,
equal to half a year
per family due
to the drinking
water facility.
more than 350 employees and
works with 200 distributors
and dealers with 14 offices
across India. Grundfos In-
According to a
Recent Report by
NITI Aayog...
• A round 40% of India’s
population might not
have access to drinking
water in another decade.
• 2,00,000 people in India
die every year due to
lack of clean water.
dia provides energy efficient
pumps and smart pumping
solutions for various applica-
tions - heating and hot water
service systems, cooling and
air-conditioning systems, in-
dustrial applications, pressure
boosting and liquid transfer,
groundwater supply, domes-
tic water supply, sewage and
wastewater, dosing, chlorina-
tion systems, disinfection sys-
tems and pumps running on
renewable energy.
 MARKET
There is More than ZLD for Textile Plants in India
Industrial grade salt recovery with membrane-based concentration technology.
Hyrec Near-Commercial Size Pilot Plant
RO IS THE most efficient
method to desalinate low-sa-
linity water streams. RO con-
centrates wastewater to approx-
imately up to 10% TDS with an
osmotic pressure (π) of ∼59 bar.
For higher salinities, thermal
technologies are used to con-
centrate brine streams to ap-
proximately 20-25% TDS brine
(π ≈ 290 bar).
But thermal systems are cost-
ly, and high-pressure RO sys-
tems need special membranes
which increase CAPEX and
OPEX.
In OARO, permeate flows
Net Driving Pressure Distribution through Cascading Multi-Stage System
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
from the high-pressure side to
low-pressure side as in stan-
dard RO. However, unlike
RO, OARO employs two feed
streams. The first feed stream is
the same RO feed stream which
is dewatered through the mem-
branes and leaves the module
with increased concentration.
This concentrated stream is
then recycled back to the op-
posite side of the membranes
as a second feed stream, di-
luted through the membranes
and leaves the module with
decreased concentration. The
reduced osmotic pressure dif-
HYREC’s,
Osmotically
Assisted Reverse
Osmosis (OARO)
overcomes the
limitations of
Reverse Osmosis
and offers an
alternative
to thermal
concentrators.
ered water.
Hyrec technology can also
concentrate salts other than
NaCl and Na2SO4, such as
CaCl2, MgCl2, LiCl, etc. Com-
pared to other concentration
methods, e.g. thermal evapora-
tors, MVR, and electrodialysis,
ference between the feed and osmosis for high salinity brines, Hyrec saves more than 40% in
the permeate sides allows the and its energy consumption is capital expenses and up to 60%
treatment of ultra-saline feeds lower than mechanical vapor of operating expenses.
at pressures as low as 70 bars. compression. Hyrec’s demon- Hyrec is now building com-
Thus, OARO’s maximum recov- stration plant has been opera- mercial size plants to introduce
ery is not limited by the burst tional for more than six months to the Indian market and plans
pressure of RO membranes. and its energy consumption is to fully commercialize its tech-
Hyrec technology maintains approx. 5.8 kWh/m3 of recov- nology in 2019.
the pressure difference in a
safe range to protect the mem-
branes and optimizes the net
driving pressure to minimize
energy consumption.
Hyrec technology is adap-
tive, flexible, and modular.
When solutions are too concen-
trated for RO to treat, hybridiz-
ing the OARO with RO is the
most feasible method.
There are many opportuni-
ties in India for ZLD, especially
with the types of waters that are
generated from textile produc-
tion. OARO is well-suited for
textile manufacturers because
they can use a higher TDS brine
as part of their manufacturing
process.
Pilot results show that the
OARO dewatering process im-
proves the recovery of reverse Hyrec System Integrated to Textile Plant for Zero Liquid Discharge
February 2019 49
 MARKET
POST EVENT
9th Water Quality India Association (WQIA)
General Body Meeting
January 10, Ahmedabad, India
Around 60 participants from the water treatment industry from all over the country
attended this day-long meeting.
THE 9TH WATER Quality
India Association (WQIA)
meeting was held on 10th Jan-
uary at Renaissance Hotel in
Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India.
Around 60 participants
from the water treatment in-
dustry from all over the coun-
try attended this day-long
meeting.
The President of WQIA,
50 February 2019
Sunil Trivedi talked about the
accomplishments of WQIA –
their membership growth; the
NGT (National Green Tribu-
nal) order (that RO purifiers
cannot be banned); the part-
nership with Indian Plumbing
Skill Council (IPSC) for Service
Technician Course; and about
planning more educational
programs with the regional as-
sociations.
VA Raju from Alfaa UV
updated about the initiatives
taken by WQIA’a Standards
Committee on coming up with
two standards, i.e., Evaluating
Safety of Material Pertaining
to PoU (Point-of-Use) Water
Purification Systems and Com-
ponents, and Water Efficiency
Rating of Point-of-Use Based
Reverse Osmosis Drinking
Water Treatment Units. The
Standards Committee mem-
bers also opined to work on
the performance standards for
components.
Prof. T Pradeep from IIT,
Chennai gave a scintillating lec-
ture on ‘nanotechnology’ and
how it can be useful for water
treatment. He sighted many ex-
amples where nanotechnology
is used for mitigating arsenic
and heavy metals contamina-
tion in drinking water.
Dr. S Muralidhara Rao from
AWRTCL (IAPMO Group Lab)
enthralled the audience with
his stimulating lecture on test-
ing requirements of BIS RO
Standard IS 16240 that will
help water purifier manufac-
turers to understand various
test conditions needs, number
of samples and test parame-
ters.
Ram Mallar, the legal advi-
sor to WQIA updated about
the NGT lawsuit. NGT has
given a favorable response to
the water industry by refusing
ban RO purifiers. He also talk-
ed about the representation of
WQIA in this matter as a trade
association, and that the peti-
tioner was unable to provide
concrete evidence for banning
RO purifiers. A new committee
has been formed to address
the NGT lawsuit and provide
inputs to an expert committee
of NGT (responses from in-
dustry to be submitted to this
committee).
There was an interesting
session on “Advertising and
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
EVENTS
Consumer Insights” by Sanjay
Chakraborty of ESSKSEE.
Muktesh Pathi from AO
Smith India highlighted the
points to be taken into consid-
eration while selecting quality
products/ components from
material safety point-of-view.
The educational courses viz.
It was announced that the
Quality Water Professional
(QWP) Level 1 and Service
Technician courses are now
available for the industry to
recruit their staff.
New Subcommittees - Mem-
bership, Education, Public
Relations & Standards were
formed, and members vol-
untarily joined them to grow
the association. The meeting
was adjourned with the vote
of thanks by Dr. Sandhya Sri-
vastava from Bhavan Research
Centre, Mumbai.
The next meeting of WQIA
will be held in New Delhi on
9th August 2019.
Smart Water & Waste World
(SWWW) magazine covered
the event as the water indus-
try’s media representative.
 MARKET
POST EVENT
4th National Summit Sustainable on
Water & Sanitation
January 10-11, Bengaluru, India
The two-day summit gathered over 200+ attendees with a range of national &
international water and sanitation experts.
NISPANA INNOVATIVE
PLATFORMS, in association
with leading NGOs, recently
hosted the 4th Annual Na-
tional Summit on Sustainable
Water and Sanitation in Ben-
galuru from 10-11 January
2019. The event was support-
ed by Ministry of Drinking
Water and Sanitation, Govt.
of India, Swachh Bharat Mis-
SMART WATER & WASTE WORLD
sion, Ministry of Municipal
Administration, Port & Inland
Water Transport, State Govt.
of Karnataka, Ministry of Hu-
man Resource Development,
Govt. of India, and City Man-
agers Association, Karnataka.
The event was inaugurated by
Jagan Shah, Director, Nation-
al Institute of Urban Affairs;
Dr. Dayanand Panse, Director,
Ecosan Services Foundation;
Ms. Abha Bahadur, Founder
& President, Centre for Water,
Sanitation & Health for Wom-
en; Satheesh Nair, Director,
Elixir H2O; and S. Damoda-
ran, Founder, Gramalaya.
The summit gathered over
200+ attendees with a range
of national and international
water and sanitation experts,
practitioners, government
agencies under one roof and
shared their experiences,
technology best-practices to
address the current challeng-
es and issues. The two-day
summit served as a capaci-
ty-building platform for all
attendees and decision-mak-
ers with strategic knowledge,
directions, and plans.
Concurrent to the sessions,
the NSWSS-2019 featured an
exhibition and marketplace of
water and sanitation related
organizations, private compa-
nies, and other stakeholders
which demonstrated and
provided information, inno-
vation, and technology for the
water and sanitation sector.
The event featured key-
notes, case studies, panel
discussions and technology
showcase for knowledge dis-
semination in the domains
of sustainable drinking water
& sanitation, policy reform
in water & sanitation, water
quality & water management,
wastewater treatment, devel-
oping cost-effective & ecolog-
ically safe & sustainable sani-
tation, fecal sludge & septage
management, innovations &
technologies for water & san-
itation management, women’s
involvement in water & san-
itation for rural India, busi-
ness & finance model for wa-
ter & sanitation management,
and achieving and sustaining
open defecation free commu-
nities.
The event was supported by
leading NGOs such as Ecosan
EVENTS
Services Foundation, CDD
Society, Aga Khan Agency
for Habitat India, Gramala-
ya, BORDA, Sanitation First,
and India Water Foundation.
Event partners and solution
providers such as Elixir H2O,
Bangalore Urban Water Sup-
ply & Sewerage Board (BWS-
SB), Tahal Group, Rostfrei
Steels, Water Reach, Prince
Piping Systems, C.R.I. Pumps
and Enbio Green Solutions
delivered technical presenta-
tions and also exhibited their
products. Innovative technol-
ogy solution provider Elixir
H2O also launched their logo
and a new product which is
self-sufficient, sustaining, and
an eco-friendly solution to the
drinking water crisis in India.
The summit concluded with
a high note while setting a
huge expectation for the next
edition. Furthermore, the pro-
ceedings of the summit will
be shared with all relevant
government and regulatory
authorities and participants
to implement the learning of
this programme.
Smart Water & Waste World
(SWWW) magazine was an
official “Media Partner” of this
two-day summit.
February 2019 51
 Global Summit
on Waste
Management
28 Feb - 1 Mar 2019,
th st

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
 ISUW 2019 Utility Partners
Hosts Utility Co-Host Utility Partners Utility

Register before 15 Feb 2019 and avail 15% Discount on ISUW 2019 Delegate Registration using code ISUW2019-15
 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
Call or whatsapp
98408 48685
S R

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SOC IATION
 www.Lntecc.com

Making Every Drop Count

Water is the Elixir of Life. We at L&T Construction value the
importance of water and are creating world class infrastructure in
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We provide turnkey EPC services for Municipal, Industrial and
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Over 20 million people in India have benefited from our water
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