Water & Wastewater Treatment

www.wwtonline.co.uk | WWT | FEBRUARY 2015 | 27 In the know Environmental Consultancy Aqua Enviro is to play a leading role in a €1m ECOP- HARMA project, starting this month, to help improve the quality of surface waters across Europe and meet new EU legislation standards. UK-based Aqua Enviro, who specialise in the treat- ment of water, wastewater and organic waste, will be taking part in the project, funded by the European Commission, to help detect chemical pollutants that po- tentially pose a significant risk to human and marine health. The new EU legislation has driven an improvement in analytical techniques to monitor and detect 'emerg- ing contaminants' or chemi- cal pollutants; however the current analysis is expen- sive, does not produce im- mediate results and has a slow turnaround time. Aqua Enviro, as part of a European wide joint ven- ture, will now trial and ver- ify an online probe system called 'Continuous Flow In- tegrative Sampler' (CFIS) for RESEARCH ROUND UP Mapal GE and Xylem collaborate on aeration Floating fine bubble aeration system developer Mapal Green Energy and Xylem Water Solutions have announced a technology link up in the UK. The col- laboration includes project planning and installation, as well as the supply of hardware. Mapal's Floating Fine Bubble Aeration (FFBA) system is currently in use EU project on surface water contaminants to begin detecting contaminants in water, such as pharmaceuti- cal products and herbicides. Pharmaceutical prod- ucts, such as oral contra- ceptives, can pose a risk to marine wildlife and disrupt development in fish. Sci- entific studies have shown that other substances can be harmful, potentially proving toxic to humans and aquatic wildlife. The new system, devel- oped by Spanish company Labaqua, enables continu- ous and accurate sampling over a period of time through advanced technology. The device is able to iden- tify very low concentrations of pollutants, as well as dif- ferentiating between solu- ble compounds and those associated with particulate solids that may be removed through conventional physi- cal treatment processes. The information from this system could enable flow- balancing and treatment responses to be tailored to incoming contaminants. This will avoid excessive capital and operational costs through overtreatment. Paul Lavender, Business Development Manager at Aqua Enviro, said: "Accurate quantification of the con- centrations of key contami- nants over time could en- able lower cost and carbon solutions. "We hope that through our project partners we will be able to demonstrate a new approach to priority substance monitoring that could significantly benefit the water industry." The two year ECOPHAR- MA project is due to start this month and will coincide with the second phase of the Chemical Investigation Pro- gramme (CIP2). wwtonline.co.uk ● 29 Getting to grips: network surge ● 33 Technically speaking: the internet of things ● 37 Nuts & Bolts: products, solutions and services in some 40 locations world- wide, with applications ranging from pulp and pa- per mills to food processing. In the UK, it is best known for its work with water com- panies including Anglian Water, Thames Water and United Utilities. The floating fine bub- ble aeration approaches the challenge of waste water biological oxidation, both municipal and industrial, by marrying the strengths of surface aeration technol- ogy with the efficiency of sub surface fine bubble aera- tion systems. Its solutions can deliver energy savings of between 50% and 70%, when compared to existing mechanical aeration instal- lations. Traditional mechanical surface aeration systems are o¤en inefficient in terms of oxygen transfer rate and they use high volumes of energy, while sub-surface aeration systems can offer the benefits of increased efficiency and resulting lower energy costs, according to the companies. RISING UP Affinity Water has ap- pointed Simon Cocks as its new chief executive. He suc- ceeds Richard Bienfait, who stood down as CEO on 31 December. Cocks joins Affinity from Severn Trent, where he was Managing Director of Wholesale Op- erations. He is expected to take up his new role in May 2015. In the interim, Affinity Water's executive team will be led by its Chairman, Phil Nolan, who will act as Executive Chairman. Claire Sharp is the new customer director for Northumbrian Water, lead- ing the company's service to its 4.5 million customers in the North-east, Essex and Suffolk. She takes over from Ian Donald, who has moved to the new role of market reform director as the water industry looks towards the full introduction of competition for all business customers by 2017. Sharp started her career with the then Northumbrian Water Authority in 1986, and has held a number of senior management roles across the company, most recently as distribu- tion manager. AECOM has appointed David Philp as Director of Building Information Mod- elling (BIM) for Europe, Middle East, Africa and India (EMEA and India), to further augment the firm's digital and project data capabilities for clients. He joins AECOM from Mace, where he was Head of BIM. Costain has appointed David Taylor to the Executive Board as Group Commercial Director. Taylor joined the group in 2009 and was previously the Natural Resources Divisional Com- mercial Director. He replaces Patrick Bruce who is retiring. 23-25 February The 9th Global Water and Energy Exchange (WEX), Istanbul. 26 February WWT Water Northern Ireland Conference, Belfast. 04 March Water UK 15th Annual City Conference, London. 09-11 March World Water Tech Investment Summit, London. COMING UP

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