SINGAPORE, April 30, 2008 -- Black & Veatch, a leading global engineering, consulting and construction company, has started full design engineering services for the Changi NEWater Plant in Singapore. The plant will be the fifth and largest NEWater plant in Singapore with a capacity of 50 mgd (228 MLD).
"With today's concerns about water scarcity and the need to meet future water demands in a sustainable manner, we are seeing an increased need for advanced water treatment technologies to allow used water to be recycled into the environment," said Ralph Eberts, Senior Managing Director of Black & Veatch's water business in Asia Pacific. "This is the third and largest major water facility to deploy advanced treatment technologies that we have worked on in the region during the last twelve months."
Black & Veatch signed an agreement to provide full design engineering services for the plant with Sembcorp Utilities, a subsidiary of Sembcorp Industries, after Sembcorp was awarded the largest Design-Build-Own-Operate water project in Singapore in mid-Jan. this year. The project includes an agreement that the plant will supply PUB, Singapore's national water agency, with NEWater for the next 25 years.
Eberts added, "We are delighted to work on the NEWater project with Sembcorp. Sembcorp has extensive water resources internationally, and the NEWater project presents a wonderful opportunity for us to foster a long-term relationship with Sembcorp."
Tan Cheng Guan, Executive Vice President of Sembcorp Industries' Group Business & Strategic Development, who also heads Sembcorp's water business, said, "Black & Veatch was selected because it has demonstrated in-depth technical and project execution expertise based on its experience in prior water projects. Further, the company has a well-established track record with PUB which developed the NEWater technology."
The design of the Changi NEWater Plant reduces land use and minimizes construction costs by placing the main NEWater facilities on the roof of the newly constructed Changi Water Reclamation Plant. Treated used water from the Changi Water Reclamation Plant will be piped directly to the NEWater plant as feedwater, minimizing the extent of pipework for conveyance as well as maximizing the use of existing PUB assets.
The plant will be commissioned in two stages: 15mgd (69 MLD) in 2009 and 35mgd (159 MLD) in 2010.
The Changi NEWater Plant is developed against a backdrop of other major water recycling projects in the region. Black & Veatch and joint-venture partners Thiess Construction completed Stage 1A of the major Bundamba Advanced Water Treatment Plant in Brisbane, Australia, in late 2007 and expect to complete Stage 1B of the plant in June 2008. When completed, the plant will have the capacity to supply a total of 66 MLD of purified recycled water to two major power stations in Swanbank and Tarong.
The Bundamba plant forms part of the Aus$ 2.4 bn Western Corridor Recycled Water Project, which upon completion will have the capacity to supply up to 232 MLD of purified recycled water.
High-quality recycled water, branded NEWater in Singapore, is the result of the continuous investment in water R&D by the nation's water agency, PUB, to look for effective ways of producing water from a range of feedwater sources.
Sembcorp Industries is a leading utilities and marine group providing centralised utilities, energy and water to industrial and other customers in Singapore, the United Kingdom, Asia and the Middle East.
Black & Veatch is a leading global engineering, consulting and construction company specializing in infrastructure development in energy, water, telecommunications, management consulting, federal and environmental markets.
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