N u water
contracts allowing sufficient time to recover the upfront investment in the plant, this contract was for an initial period of two years only. This project was therefore only viable due to NuWater’s unique large-scale modular and re-deployable plant design,” says Avant-Smith. NuWater commissioned the first treatment modules within 12 weeks of contract signing and then progressively added to capacity up to the current 20 MLD. This further demonstrated the flexibility of the plant as capacity could be added (or removed) without impacting the operation of the other existing modules. The high quality of the treated water was also such that it could be routed to the mine’s neighbouring Eskom Komati power station for use as cooling water thereby completing the wastewater ‘reclamation and re-use’ cycle. Following successful completion of the initial two-year contract period the contract has now been “renewed for a further three years”. “The success at Anglo American has resulted in strong demand for our solutions in mining sector,” AvantSmith stresses. NuWater has also demonstrated the suitability of its completely modular and rapidly deployable plants for seawater applications such as the 1.5 MLD seawater desalination plant commissioned for the Knysna Municipality in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province. This plant is used to supplement potable water requirements during the peak summer holiday season when rainfall is low. “Having demonstrated our technology, pioneering plant designs and exceptional execution capabilities in both conventional and unconventional wastewater reclamation and seawater desalination applications, we believe NuWater is uniquely positioned to play a central role in both strategic and
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tactical projects, particularly in our target geographies and industry sectors,” says Avant-Smith. “We are often faced with the question of whether our modular plants are temporary in nature. We see our plants simply as flexible, able to meet our customer’s immediate requirements and to adapt to their changing needs, be that adding or removing capacity. NuWater plants are designed to have a useful life of at least 10 years, with final lifespan depending on the nature of the application and how demanding the operating conditions are. “Our next generation modular ‘packaged’ plants will also have a more permanent feel to them, as the individual modules will combine into a single plant structure. While this will not reduce their flexibility it will address some of the perception issues we find in certain sectors that these types of plants are temporary in nature.” Demand for safe and clean water is undoubtedly going to increasingly outstrip supply. This is no longer an issue specific to developing countries but is increasingly evident in more developed countries as reliable water supply challenges are exacerbated by unpredictable climatic conditions. The recent financial crisis has also highlighted the constraints on central and local governments in developing the required infrastructure. “Given the supply-side constraints it obviously makes sense for us all to conserve water,” agrees AvantSmith. “An important aspect of water conservation is however an appreciation of the value of water. This is an area where we believe there is still a long way to go. In many countries water is heavily subsidised, creating a false impression that water is cheap. In addition the true costs of water contamination are not
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NuWater is ‘leading the way with water’