The challenges posed by water scarcity and water security has continued to move up the political and social agenda in recent years. Whilst climate change is a well-worn phrase that is ever-present in the lexicon of governments and the public around the world, the increasing stresses felt on our most precious resource, water, has without doubt led to the following conclusion: THE CLIMATE CRISIS IS A WATER CRISIS.
But talk is cheap. Whilst world-class, efficient and sustainable solutions and technologies are required, they need to be met with ambitious countries who ‘walk the walk’ and forge ahead in actually implementing solutions to stop the water crisis. The Kingdom of Bahrain and Bluewater Bio is one such example of this collaborative approach.
Bluewater Bio – recognised as being the fastest growing UK water technology company for 2 consecutive years – recently completed their ground-breaking HYBACS upgrade at Tubli Wastewater Treatment Works. This is the second large-scale project executed by Bluewater Bio in Bahrain.
The marquee project has met or exceeded all Client objectives and expectations, increasing the availability of clean water in the water scarce Kingdom and protecting the local environment. Furthermore, the power consumed by the upgraded plant – a costly operational expense – is just 170 Wh/m3 treated, less than half the target set by the client making it an extremely efficient solution.
The project was backed by UK Export Finance (UKEF), who have stringent criteria in place in ensuring only the most environmentally-friendly companies and technologies are employed.
As a responsible contractor Bluewater Bio ensured everyone went home safely at the end of each day. The $36.5m project involved over 500,000 man-hours of work and was completed without a single lost time incident. No complaints were received as measures were successfully employed to protect neighbouring houses and businesses from noise and dust during construction as well.
Executive Chairman and Chief Executive of Bluewater Bio, Richard Haddon said, “I am pleased to say that we have successfully completed our second large contract at Tubli, further supporting the Kingdom of Bahrain in meeting their water and environmental goals. The implementation of HYBACS has not only helped with their water strategy, but has done so without using any additional land, a key consideration in Bahrain.”
HYBACS – A novel solution for a common problem
Throughout the Middle East region, rapid population growth has resulted in many wastewater treatment facilities becoming overloaded and failing to meet environmental discharge standards. Conventional solutions, such as the construction of additional aeration lanes is expensive and requires large areas of land.
The HYBACS process uses a unique biological pre-treatment reactor to accelerate the hydrolysis step within wastewater treatment. This enables an existing activated sludge plant to treat typically double the flow and load. HYBACS delivers on performance, value and demonstrably outperforms competing technologies. The patented process has been applied successfully around the world and has proven to be robust and highly cost effective. It has also demonstrated Capital cost savings of over 50%, typically consumes up to 30% less power than alternatives and requires less maintenance.
Environmental Objectives
Whether designing a brownfield expansion or a greenfield facility, Bluewater Bio works with Clients to develop sustainable solutions with a particular emphasis on reducing CAPEX and OPEX, footprint and energy consumption.
Bluewater Bio’s depth of experience comes from more than 40 HYBACS references across the globe. Proven at scale and consistently performing to the highest international standards, HYBACS is rapidly gaining recognition as an ideal solution for upgrading and expanding wastewater treatment plants in the MENA region.
The increasing standards in policy for wastewater management have created an urgent need for the reuse and recycling of treated wastewater, which will help alleviate water scarcity in the region. HYBACS underlines the importance of using technologies that deliver long-term sustainable solutions.
(Article originally published in Utilities Middle East, March 2022)
