Xylem To Supply Customized Water Treatment Technologies To One Of The World's Largest Water Reclamation Facilities In Kuwait

Xylem Inc., a leading global water technology company focused on addressing the world’s most challenging water issues, has won a major contract valued at more than $8M USD to develop and supply customized technologies to a wastewater treatment and reclamation plant in Sulaibiya, Kuwait. Following a plant expansion currently underway, it will be one of the largest water reclamation facilities of its kind in the world.

Kuwait’s average rainfall is less than 120 millimeters (mm) annually. Groundwater is the main naturally-occurring water resource, providing 36 percent of Kuwait’s annual water supply, including 90 percent of the water used for irrigation and landscaping. However, this precious resource is overexploited, depleting rapidly and subject to pollution from various sources such as oil exploration and refining, insecticides, pesticides and fertilizers used for agriculture, landfill sites, industrial and commercial operations and soil contaminated by hydrocarbons during the 1991 Gulf War*.

The expanded facility will serve the growing irrigation needs of the southern and western Kuwait catchment areas, treating 600,000 cubic meters of wastewater per day, using ultra filtration (UF) and reverse osmosis (RO) as tertiary treatment and polishing stages.

 “We are delighted to be playing a key role in the expansion of what will be one of the largest water reclamation plants of its kind in the world,” said Vincent Chirouze, regional director for Xylem’s Middle East and Africa region, “In conjunction with Kharafi National, the project contractor, our optimized solution during secondary treatment will help create an efficient and effective system that will deliver clean reusable water to this arid, water-challenged region.”

Xylem will supply highly efficient and reliable treatment technologies for use during secondary treatment at the plant, including the company’s Sanitaire fine bubble aeration technologies, Flygt ultra low-head pumps and low-speed mixers, aeration blowers, stainless steel air mains and Flygt Jet aerators in the aerobic digesters. These technologies will ensure adequate secondary effluent quality for further treatment and polishing during tertiary stage.

Mr. Dimitris Anagnostopoulos, Project Director for Kharafi National, said, “We are looking forward to the implementation of various equipment performance and optimization concepts that Xylem’s engineering and research and development (R&D) teams have developed. Xylem’s willingness and commitment to join hands with Kharafi National and help us to expedite the project execution phase is commendable.”

Xylem previously worked in a similar role with Kharafi National during the first phase of the development of the treatment plant. Expansion of the plant is expected to be completed by autumn 2016 and will be operational from Q1 2017.

*Source: Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research http://www.kisr.edu.kw/en/

About Xylem
Xylem (XYL) is a leading global water technology provider, enabling customers to transport, treat, test and efficiently use water in public utility, residential and commercial building services, industrial and agricultural settings. The company does business in more than 150 countries through a number of market-leading product brands, and its people bring broad applications expertise with a strong focus on finding local solutions to the world’s most challenging water and wastewater problems. Xylem is headquartered in Rye Brook, New York, with 2015 revenue of $3.7B and approximately 12,500 employees worldwide. Xylem was named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, North America for the last four years for advancing sustainable business practices and solutions worldwide, and the Company has satisfied the requirements to be a constituent of the FTSE4Good Index Series each year since 2013.

The name Xylem is derived from classical Greek and is the tissue that transports water in plants, highlighting the engineering efficiency of our water-centric business by linking it with the best water transportation of all -- that which occurs in nature. For more information, visit www.xyleminc.com.