Water. Desalination + reuse
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/749211
6 The Quarterly December 2016 Water. desalination + reuse What happened? Who covered it? Why does it matter? Global GE to sell Water & Process Technologies Business on the block a er decision to merge Oil & Gas with Baker Hughes Spain Abengoa submits restructuring proposal The engineers based in Seville, Spain, won creditor approval for its plan Global IWA shares global tariffs data The NGO presented an annual study on water tariffs at the World Water Congress and Exhibition in Brisbane, Australia Cuba Desal to help beat water crisis First of five new plants poised for commissioning The Wall Street Journal noted that GE had "almost as an a erthought in unveiling the combination of its oil and gas unit with Baker Hughes, said it would sell GE Water at around the same time". The motivation was likely "self- preservation", wrote the WSJ, adding: "It doesn't take much imagination to see why it wasn't the big moneyspinner that GE once expected. Water is just as big an issue for societies as the company believed it would be, but the size of the problem still dwarfs the size of the business opportunity." Reuters reported on Tuesday, 25 October 2016, that Spanish engineering firm Abengoa had secured the support of 75 per cent of creditors for a debt restructuring plan. The arrangement, which involves new and existing lenders, enables the firm to avoid what would have been Spain's biggest ever bankruptcy, Reuters wrote. By Friday, 28 October, the company had won the backing of 86 per cent of creditors for the new arrangement. Ed Smeets, statistics chief of the International Water Association (IWA), told industry title Energy & Environment Management that the new study of global water rates "presents tariffs in a transparent way, providing insight to water managers" around the globe. Drought-hit Cuba is to build five desalination plants, according to reports in several Vietnamese news out- lets, including vietnambreakingnews.com. The reports refer to comments made by Ines Maria Chapman, president of Cuba's National Institute of Water Resources, that a 2,160 m3/d plant in the city of Santiago de Cuba will be commissioned this year. Reports put the cost of the plant at $1 billion. Although GE Water and Process technologies accounted for less than 2 per cent of the industrial behemoth GE's $117.4 billion revenues in 2015, it's still a hugely influential player in desalination and reuse. The water business spans municipal agencies, refineries, chemical plants, wastewater reuse plants, power facilities, and alternative fuel producers, in around 130 countries. Abengoa is a major desalination pro- vider in Spain and North Africa, as well as having a track record for research and development in water technology. Its larger projects include a 100,000 m3/d plant in Honaine, Algeria; a 65,000 m3/d plant in Cartagena, Spain; and also in Spain, a 50,000 m3/d plant in Almeria. The IWA's annual survey of water tariffs and consumption is starting to build a knowledge base around such issues as the effect that introduction of tariffs, or a rise in tariffs, can have on water consumption. The data indicates a relationship between rising tariffs and lower water consumption. The city of Santiago de Cuba is among the areas of Cuba that have been hardest hit by the water shortages caused by drought, and ageing and leaky water infrastructure. At the height of the country's water crisis in 2015, water was trucked into the city and some neighbour- hoods went for weeks without running water. The Quarterly