The US company Xylem has won an US$8 million wastewater treatment contract in Kuwait as it continues its regional expansion efforts.
The company will help to develop and supply customised solutions for a wastewater treatment and reclamation plant in Sulaibiya that is to be one of the largest such facilities in the world after the expansion is complete.
The plant’s capacity is to increase 60 per cent to 600,000 cubic metres per day to help meet the growing irrigation needs of the country’s southern and western regions.
“In conjunction with Kharafi National, the project contractor, our optimised solution during secondary treatment will help create an efficient and effective system that will deliver clean reusable water to this arid, water-challenged region,” said Vincent Chirouze, regional director for Xylem in the Middle East and Africa.
Xylem is looking to drive water reuse in the region, with the goal of better tapping a market worth $1.8 billion in the Middle East and North Africa. It is looking to build a manufacturing plant in Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority this year, with US$25 million to $35m to be invested in the first phase.
In addition to increasing potable water supplies for agriculture or residential use, Xylem is also looking to combat carbon emissions.
“One of the biggest costs for water management is the cost of energy and the consumption of energy,” the Xylem chief executive Patrick Decker said in an interview with The National in December. “Anywhere between 7 and 10 per cent of carbon emissions generated around the world are tied to some part of water management,” he said, adding that those emissions could be cancelled by applying the water technology that exists in the industry today.
lgraves@thenational.ae