GE Water & Process Technologies and Eureka Forbes Ltd. (a subsidiary of the Shapoorji Pallonji Group), of Mumbai, India, have formed Infinite Water Solutions Pvt Ltd., a joint venture focused on bringing safe, reliable and affordable water solutions to the Indian residential market.
The joint venture will begin making GE’s RO membranes at Aquamall’s new environmentally friendly facility in Dehradun. It will manufacture, and sell products and technology solutions to Indian residential customers through Eureka Forbes’ direct sales network – one of the largest in Asia.
In other news, GE Water has become an equal co-venturer in ConocoPhillips’ Water Sustainability Center (WSC) in Qatar. Set within the Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP) in Doha and expected to open in late 2008, the WSC will research and develop water solutions primarily for the petroleum and petrochemical sectors, but also will focus on municipal and agricultural solutions.
And GE’s Mobile Seawater Desalination Solution is providing Valero Energy Corp.’s 280,000-barrelper- day Aruba refinery with high purity water – enabling the refinery to avoid a costly plant capacity shortage while scheduled maintenance is completed to the facility’s primary seawater desalination system.
With a 22-container, two-train mobile solution in operation within five weeks from the order date, the GE system is transforming about 600 GPM of seawater into high purity water for the refinery. And, on March 11-12, in Bahrain, GE Water launched its 2008 World Water Tour, a seminar series on ways to reduce water footprints.
Making Waves
Among other recent water industry news items at www.wwinternational.com, see:
- BlueCielo acquires CAD & Company’s ECM Division, ImandrA suite
- United Utilities Shell Green Project benefits from MWH global expertise
- ABB drives protect Cambridgeshire Fenlands from flooding
- Hach Lange celebrates 75th birthday
- Iwaki America Inc., receives ISO 9001-2000 certification
- Ofwat cuts Thames Water fine to £9.7M, hits Severn Trent Water with £35.8M penalty
- Dow Biocides announces price increase globally
- SCADAgroup expands with Adaptive Instruments Corp. acquisition
- Mono NOV wins new pumps framework agreement with South West Water
- Invensys’ Wonderware, Yaskawa & Industrial Defender win Frost & Sullivan awards
- Neptune Chemical Pump acquired by Dover Corp.
- Lanxess increases prices for ion exchange resins by 7-18%
- Industrial Purification Systems secures £300,000 Middle East contract
- MWH-led consortium develops online desalination research forum
- Sandia National Lab researchers say worldwide water shortage on horizon
- IISDRS Report on inaugural African Water Week in Tunis released
- USAID recognizes Coca-Cola for sustainable water management in developing nations
- UK’s Pumptools expands globally with new office in Australia
- Water Supply & Sanitation Collaborative Council launches Global Sanitation Fund
- Shearman & Sterling advises on $450M power-desalination deal in Qatar
- PCI, ADRA/Tanzania receive $1M Starbucks Foundation safe water grant
- Black & Veatch to lead ADBfunded environmental project in Fuzhou, China
- Praxair China supplies oxygen for Olympics water treatment projects
- CDM acquires Polish environmental design firm CTBK Ekotechnika
- U.S. government to give over $18M in biomass study grants
- GB Environmental unveils new divisions for municipal, food & beverage markets
- CONTECH acquires European rights to CDS stormwater technology
- Enpure wins £7M thermal sewage sludge dryer contract in Dubai
- Blue I Water Technologies wins contracts in France, Israel
- Pentair processes flow faster with Dassault Systèmes’ Multi-CAD solution
- SATEC, Virtual Extension to deploy AMR/AMI water metering solution in Jerusalem
- Pöyry awarded €2.5M water sector consultancy assignment in Vietnam
- Mainstream Water Solutions installs Canadian biofilter water treatment plant
- 21 major UK food, drink manufacturers pledge to reduce water use
- MD Pipeline Consultants orders two more Whale Tankers dirty water recyclers
- Fluid Imaging Technologies recognized as New England SBA Exporter of Year
- Avensys to provide Isco water flowmeters for Ontario, Canada project
- Jacobs receives sustaining capital contract from NOVA Chemicals
- South East Water selects basis2 CIS solution for billing
- DHV to develop ecological coastal city in China
- Sauereisen acquires Pocono Fabricators
Koch Membrane, Applied Australia Pty Ltd agree on deal
Koch Membrane Systems, Inc. (KMS) has entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with Applied Australia Pty Ltd, a specialized supplier of high quality chemical products and services and a wholly owned entity of ITW Inc., to manufacture and market KOCHTREAT® antiscalants and KOCHKLEEN® membrane cleaning products in Australia and New Zealand. The agreement will help satisfy growing demand for membrane maintenance products in the region.
In other news, KMS has invested in a new production line to be operational in mid-2009 at its Wilmington, Massachusetts, USA facility, more than doubling manufacturing capacity for its RO and NF elements. This line will supplement existing RO element production at its San Diego, California, manufacturing facility, and is needed to meet increasing market demand for RO membranes and systems, including KMS’ MegaMagnum element. KMS also provided a second microfiltration system to Woodbridge Winery of Acampo, California.
Field Notes
INDIA: Ion Exchange Services Ltd. (IESL) was awarded a Commendation Certificate under the Indian Merchant Chambers - Ramakrishna Bajaj National Quality Awards (IMC-RBNQA) for 2007 in the Service Category. A subsidiary firm of Ion Exchange Group, IESL provides a range of after sales services and products including operation and maintenance and BOOT contracts to users of water and wastewater treatment equipments across a number of industries.
KOREA/JAPAN: LG Chem., a subsidiary of LG Corp. in South Korea, added drinking water treatment filter of German UF specialist inge AG to its product portfolio. The rapidly growing company, with annual revenue of US$14.3 billion, will operate in an exclusive capacity to distribute inge AG’s patented dizzer module in booming water markets of Japan and Korea.
SINGAPORE/VIETNAM: Singapore-based Chemitreat Group is now part of Siemens Water Technologies after its acquisition by Siemens. With 2007 sales of over €25 million, it provides water treatment technologies and services in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines and China for industrial and municipal customers. Also, J. Ray McDermott Asia Pacific Pte Ltd picked Siemens Water Technologies to provide US$4.6 million in filtration and produced water treatment systems to the new Su Tu Vang CPP (Central Processing Platform) to be operated by the Cuu Long Joint Operating Co., offshore Vietnam.
CHINA: Suez Environment, in partnership with Hong Kong-based New World Services, has bought a 15% stake in China’s state run water company, Chongqing Water Group (CWG) in a deal valued at $219 million. As a result of the acquisition, Suez will appoint a director to CWG’s board and a member of its executive committee. CWG is a company that provides water and wastewater services to over 32 million residents in the southwest of the country.
SINGAPORE: NEWater, Singapore’s highquality reclaimed water, shone again on the world stage when it clinched the title “Environmental Contribution of the Year” at the Global Water Awards 2008 ceremony in London. Runners-up included the Aragon Waste Water Treatment plant, Chennai Water Desalination Carbon Credit/ VFD and Dr. Sabine Lattermann’s work on desalination discharge. This is the second award received by PUB, Singapore’s national water agency, from awards organiser Global Water Intelligence (GWI). In 2006, it was named Water Agency of the Year.
