IHC Merwede launches cutter suction dredger Artemis for delivery to Van Oord

July 27th, 2012 by nwp

IHC Merwede has successfully named and launched the self-propelled cutter suction dredger, Artemis, in a ceremony on June 30th, 2012 at its shipyard in Kinderdijk, The Netherlands.

The Artemis, which is being manufactured for dredging copmany Van Oord, is one of the largest cutter suction dredgers ever built in The Netherlands for a Dutch dredging company.

The ceremony was performed by mrs A.B. van den Driest-Sorgdrager, who is the wife of Carel van den Driest, chairman of the supervisory board of Van Oord.

Delivery first half 2013
The contract for the design, construction and delivery of the vessel was signed between Van Oord and IHC Dredgers, part of IHC Merwede, on 20 December 2010. The ship will be delivered in the first half of 2013.

The name is consistent with Van Oord’s tradition of naming its cutter suction dredgers after legends in Greek mythology. Artemis is known as the goddess of the hunt.

Spud carriage with hydraulic buffering
A particular feature of this vessel is the spud carriage with hydraulic buffering which makes it possible to work for longer periods in bad weather.

As a result of the close cooperation between Van Oord and IHC Merwede, much attention has been paid to the ergonomic design of the Artemis. For example the deckhouse will be mounted on air springs to minimise noise and vibrations in the accommodation section.

Towards the end of 2011, her sister ship Athena, was delivered to Van Oord and has since been successfully utilised on various projects. The construction of both vessels is having a positive impact on the Dutch economy.

This news item was originally published on the website of IHC Merwede.

More information
IHC Merwede
Sliedrecht, the Netherlands
+ 31 184 41 15 55
www.ihcmerwede.com


Posted in News.

Aqua-Aero WaterSystems delivers RainCAP rainwater harvesting system in Walalance, Senegal

July 27th, 2012 by nwp

Just before the start of the rain season, Aqua-Aero WaterSystems installed a RainCAP system in the village of Walalane in Senegal late June. The village is located north of Kaolack, Senegal. The water situation in Walalane is poor: the groundwater is brackish, contains excessive levels of fluorine. People are often suffering from fluorosis.

Rainwater harvesting on roof of medical centre
The installed RainCAP system works simple. Water is captured from the roof of a small medical centre, then filtered and sent down into two large RainCAP ground tanks. The tanks have a total capacity of 65.000 litres. They are installed in a hole in the ground excavated by the villagers.

For installation of the RainCAP system no strong reinforced concrete and water tight cement structures are needed. AquaAero WaterSystems uses smart designs resulting in low costs for large scale rainwater harvesting.

Solar driven UV-filtration
Finally the collected rainwater is purified from potential e-coli and coliform bacteria using a solar driven UV WaterBox.

The installed rainwater harvesting & purification system is simple and can be easily operated and maintained by a local water entrepreneur. The entrepreneur will earn a reasonable salary by selling the water at a price of 0,007 euro per litre to the local community. A financial sustainable system is delivered.

This news release was originally published on the website of
Aqua-Aero WaterSystems.

More information
Aqua-Aero WaterSystems
Delft, the Netherlands
+ 31 15 212 96 13
www.aaws.nl


Posted in News.

Future Water participates in pilot project in Chile to improve hydrological flow forecast in river catchments

July 24th, 2012 by nwp

In the frame of the ESA programme Artes element 20 of the European Space Agency, the water management research and consultancy firm FutureWater participates in a project aiming at developing an operational hydrological flow forecasting system for two pilot catchments with hydropower facilities in Chile.

In a consortium led by Starlab, FutureWater is responsible for the integration of remote sensing data and in situ data in an operational hydrological model providing stream flow forecasts on timescales ranging from one day to entire melting season.

The project started in May 2012 and will continue until March 2014.

Implementation of flow model predictions
The need of having accurate short and mid-term forecasting of the water flow generated from snowmelt in mountain basins is an important component for water management and hydropower activities in several areas at a global scale. Due to the remoteness and difficult access to basins especially in cold weather conditions, where in-situ snow measurements, water level monitoring and meteorological stations are scarce, flow model predictions are not easily implemented.

Average and extreme weather conditions
In this context, empirical, statistical calibrated forecasting systems can give acceptable results only during seasons with meteorological conditions close to the climatological average. On the contrary, during those years when conditions depart significantly from the average, streamflow becomes unpredictable by those means.

Precisely under these conditions, the smallest improvement in flow predictions, can have a tremendous positive economic impact for hydropower companies.

Earth observation data
To overcome this limitation, a consortium led by Starlab, with partners FutureWater, Hispasat and PUC proposed Intogener, a system using Earth Observation data together with in situ measurements transmitted in near real time to drive a distributed hydrological model, capable of assimilating external measurements, to better estimate the water flow.

Streamflow predictions
The Intogener Service aims to deliver streamflow predictions at specific points of interest in remote mountainous areas: the service adapts the hydrological prediction to terrain operations by providing the exact information needed by hydropower companies in their day-to-day practices.

Testing pre-operational conditions
The Intogener demonstration project aims at implementing, based on user requirements, a demonstration service able to prove the viability and sustainability of service, in pre-operational conditions.

The Chilean Andes region has been selected as the first place to implement the demo. This is an area where the limitations above mentioned are strong and where the water management system is highly complex due to the large number of mountain basins, volume of electricity generated, and number of companies involved.

This news item was originally published on the website of Future Water.

More background on Intogener-project: Esa project fact sheet

More information
Future Water
Wageningen, the Netherlands
+31 317 46 00 50
www.futurewater.nl


Posted in News.

Colombian dike inspectors very enthousiastic about training Deltares with serious game Levee Patroller

July 24th, 2012 by nwp

In early June, the institute for applied water research Deltares organised a dike monitoring course for the Universidad de la Sabana in Colombia. The participants were civil servants and dike managers in the private sector.

The programme consisted of a two-day course tailored to the specific properties of the dikes in Colombia, such as the materials the dikes are made from, the type of dike surface and levels of erosion. The course combined theoretical lessons and field inspections so that the theory could be put straight into practice.

Serious game Levee patroller
Goaitske de Vries, a dike technology specialist, ran the course: “Colombia recently had to cope with major flooding and problems with water. So the emphasis of the course was on identifying dike failure and the steps to be taken when something goes wrong. Our first theory lessons concentrated on this, and one of the tools we used was the serious game Levee Patroller, which can simulate a range of water situations, allowing the participants to consult about the approach needed.”

Fixed format for inspections
The importance of a standardised approach to dike inspection was also emphasised. Goaitske de Vries: ‘At the moment, everybody goes about this in their own different ways. We taught the participants that it is a good idea to adopt a fixed format and a standard approach for visual inspections so that nothing gets forgotten and all the different factors are monitored in the same way. The field inspections showed that they picked up this idea quickly. They started looking at the dikes differently and the first signs of dike failure were identified faster.’

More courses
The Colombians were very enthusiastic about the course and Deltares has been asked to organise more courses. They will cover topics like dike design and the Dike strength Analysis Module (DAM), a calculation tool for detailed dike management and study.

Demonstration of Levee Patroller

Within the virtual world of Levee Patroller the levee inspector learns to recognize the different signs which indicate weakening of the levee and through that are able to prevent a full levee breach.

This news release was originally published on the website of Deltares.

More information
Deltares
Goaitske de Vries goaitske.devries@deltares.nl
Delft, the Netherlands
+31 88 335 8273
www.deltares.nl


Posted in News.

Pentair X-Flow optimizes water use in food & beverage plants in Malaysia and Uganda

July 20th, 2012 by nwp

During the Singapore International Water Week, Sigma Water Malaysia and Pentair X-Flow signed an agreement for Pentair X-Flow to supply membrane modules for two projects in the food and beverage sector.

In Malaysia an Airlift MBR-installation will be delivered to coffee extract producer Dan Kaffe and in Uganda an Aquaflex installation will be delivered to Nile Breweries/SABMiller.

In both projects, Pentair X-Flow’s membrane technology will be used to reduce the plant’s carbon footprint and optimize the available water resources.

New membrane bioreactor allows partial water reuse
Dan Kaffe Sdn Bhd in Johor Bahru (Malaysia) is a manufacturer of coffee extract and spray dried coffee. The Pentair X-Flow Airlift membrane bioreactor will treat 60m3/hr of the coffee plant’s wastewater to reach stringent discharge limits and enable partial reuse for general cleaning purposes.

Pentair X-Flow’s Airlift™ MBR is a compact purification system that combines the biological degradation step with a membrane separation step. This provides efficient treatment of industrial wastewater with high organic content (COD) and a high free oil and grease (FOG) concentration.

The membrane modules are arranged in an enclosed packaged system that is placed alongside the bioreactor. The wastewater runs through the modules in this contained system, limiting odor and exposure to the wastewater.

UF-filtration holds back bacteria and viruses
For the second project, Sigma Water Malaysia is the OEM partner to design a water treatment installation at the Nile Breweries in Uganda, a subsidiary of SABMiller. As an important part of the overall process, Pentair X-Flow’s Aquaflex ultrafiltration (UF) modules were chosen to produce 140 m3/hr of high-quality process water from surface water.

The Aquaflex UF delivers high filtrate quality, yields substantial savings in space, cost and energy, and provides a reliable single barrier for bacteria and viruses.

In industrial settings, UF membrane technology is applied to lower production costs and meet growing water supply challenges through the use of surface water instead of potable water.

Pentair X-Flow’s hollow fiber UF membranes produce process water that can be used directly, if salinity and dissolved substances are within limits, or fed to a reverse osmosis system to remove salinity and dissolved substances.

This news item was originally published on the website of Pentair X-Flow.

More information
Pentair X-Flow
Janna Dirks janna.dirks@pentair.com
Enschede, the Netherlands
+31 53 42 87 196



Posted in News.

Three Dutch experts in high level EU innovation group on water

July 17th, 2012 by nwp

Cees Veerman (Chairman of the Association of Dutch Drinking Water Companies, also on behalf of the Association of Dutch Regional Water Management Authorities), Wim van Vierssen (Executive director KWR Watercycle Research Institute) and Harry van Dorenmalen (Chairman IBM Europe) have become members of the Steering Group of the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Water.

Members of the Steering Group have been invited in their personal capacity by Janez Potočnik, European Commissioner for Environment, who will chair the Steering Group.

The members have been invited based on their expertise and knowledge in their particular field, and their expressed commitment to be involved in the EIP on Water and making the initiative a success.

Reflecting all stakeholders
The composition of the EIP Steering Group reflects the range of perspectives of the relevant stakeholder groups involved in the area of water and innovation.

It brings together experts from public and private bodies and from disciplines that play a role in water and innovation, such as utilities, water using industries, research, technology, ngo’s, the financial sector, ICT and different levels of government (municipal, regional, national). In addition, the Steering Group seeks to provide a geographical balance across the EU Member States.

Primary roles
The primary roles of the Steering Group are to:

  • give strategic guidance to the EIP on Water and identify the main themes and challenges for water related innovation.
  • agree on the short and long term deliverables.
  • appoint a Task Force, which will draft the Strategic Implementation Plan outlining the priorities, work method and governance of the EIP on Water.
  • adopt the Strategic Implementation Plan by the end of this year.

For an overview of the members of the Steering Group click here.

Task Force
The members of the Steering Group have been invited to propose one candidate each to participate in the EIP on Water Task Force. In addition to those candidates proposed by the Steering Group members, 15 additional candidates will be selected by Steering Group.

The selection of the additional 15 candidates will be based on a particular relevant expertise with regard to water and innovation. The composition of the Task Force will be made public as soon as possible after the meeting of the Steering Group. The Task Force is expected to have its first meeting on September 25th.

Read more on the European Innovation Partnership on Water on the website of the European Commision/Environment.

More information
European Commission
Environment Directorate-General
Brussels, Belgium
http://ec.europa.eu/environment


Posted in News.

Seawall around Rotterdam’s Maasvlakte closed

July 13th, 2012 by nwp

At slack water, on July 11th, the gap in the seawall of the Maasvlakte 2 is closed. Three dredging vessels of Van Oord and Boskalis worked together to link the northern and southern sections of the outer contour of the new constructed part of the Rotterdam habour in the North Sea.

Her Majesty the Queen gave the starting signal for the closure on 11 July.

For the construction of the new harbour, up to now, around 215 million cubic metres of sand have been sprayed on. The seawall is complete, apart from the closure gap. To the north and north-west lies the 3.5 km long hard seawall, consisting of a stony dune and a block dam. This was finished in February 2012.

Connection between hard and soft sea wall
The structure is unique in the Netherlands, due to the combination of stony dune and block dam, for which almost 20,000 blocks of concrete from the seawall of the existing Maasvlakte were recycled.

The soft seawall in the west and south-west is 7.5 km long and consists of a beach with 14 metre high dunes. In 2011, the whole length of the dunes was planted with marram grass.

The closure took place in phases. In May, the trailing suction dredger Prins der Nederlanden began rainbowing operations near to the closure gap. Bulldozers, cranes and shovels are being used to get the sand into the right profile.

Reducing the current
On the northern side of the closure gap, on the outer side of the seawall, the trailing suction dredger Vox Máxima has sprayed on a ‘sand cone’. This mass of sand will form part of the seawall, but by applying this already the current will be reduced for the dredgers during the closure operations.

Raising a sand bar in the gap
In the gap in the outer contour, a bar was been applied crosswise at – 8 m New Amsterdam Water Level (NAP) and later raised to -1.5 m NAP.

Final closure of the gap
If the seawall is closed around the time of slack water, one trailing suction dredger and the suction cutter dredger Edax, which is temporarily ‘trapped’ in Maasvlakte 2, will continue to apply sand in the planned dune profile.

The whole seawall will be at the right height and width by mid-August.

Also read: Maasvlakte2 blockbuster reaches main land building hard seawall (December30, 2011)

This news item (with video) was originally published in the website of Maasvlakte 2/Port of Rotterdam.

More information
Project organization Maasvlakte 2
Rotterdam, the Netherlands
+31 (0)10 252 10 10
info@maasvlakte2.com
www.maasvlakte.com/en


Posted in News.

Delta Alliance and Global Water Partnership share new activities on water management in deltas

July 13th, 2012 by nwp

Expert network Delta Alliance and the Global Water Partnership have jointly started a thinking process on water management and governance in deltas. For that purpose an electronic discussion platform has been set up through a LinkedIn Group ‘What makes water management in deltas different?’

Input for workshop at Stockholm water week
The results of this discussion platform will be used and presented in a special session during the GWP Consulting Partners meeting on 26 August 2012 in Stockholm and in a workshop on deltas during the Stockholm Water Week on 29 August 2012. Both events are jointly organised by Delta Alliance and GWP.

The objective of this process will be a GWP – Delta Alliance document on delta policies and best practices towards the end of 2012 and to develop a joint agenda for further cooperation. These documents will feed into the next GWP and Delta Alliance Strategies.

Invitation to participate

Everybody is invited to participate in this e-consultation which will run until the end of August 2012.

Go to de LinkedIn group: What makes water management in deltas different.

This news item was originally published in the website of Delta Alliance.

More information
Delta Alliance
Wim van Driel, wim.vandriel@wur.nl
Wageningen, the Netherlands
www.delta-alliance.org

Posted in News.

The Dutch coastline has permanently changed

July 12th, 2012 by nwp

As from July 11th 2012, the Dutch coastline has permanently changed. Queen Beatrix gave the sign for the closure of the seawall of Maasvlakte 2. At slack water, when there was minimal current, the large equipment of contractors Boskalis
and Van Oord closed the gap in the eleven-kilometre long seawall.

Hans Smits, President and CEO of the Port of Rotterdam Authority: “After 3.5 years of hard work, today we reached a major milestone. The seawall around Maasvlakte 2 has been closed and these 2,000 hectares of new Netherlands are properly protected against the sea.”

At the end of 2008, the Port of Rotterdam Authority commenced construction of Maasvlakte 2, the land reclamation project in the North Sea for the development of the port of Rotterdam. The construction of the new port area is on schedule, and the first container terminals will be operational in 2014. This project changes the map of the Netherlands. The port of Rotterdam grows by 20%, the Netherlands becomes 2,000 hectares larger, and the coastline is 3.5 km further in the sea.

Seawall
That new coastline is now approaching its completion. Its construction took place from two sides over the past years. On the northern side, alongside the navigation channel to the port, 3.5 km of hard seawall was built. The construction is unique in the Netherlands due to the stony dune in combination with a block dam for which almost 20,000 concrete blocks from the seawall of the existing Maasvlakte were reused. On the south side, a soft seawall of 7.5 km was built, made up of beach with dunes of 14 metres high. The dune has been planted along its entire length with marram grass. The beach on the south side has been widened by 100 metres so that beachgoers can enjoy a lovely wide beach at high tide as well. Today the gap between these two sections was closed.

Closure
Since the middle of June, the trailing suction hopper dredgers Prins der Nederlanden and Vox Máxima and the cutter suction dredger Edax have been bringing the last 10 million cubic metres of sand to the missing section of seawall between the sand and the stony dune. Today the three dredgers are joining forces to connect the northern and southern sections of the outer contour. This first large sand closure since the construction of the Philipsdam 25 years ago is an impressive exploit of the hydraulic engineering contractors Boskalis and Van Oord, united in PUMA (Projectorganisatie Uitbreiding Maasvlakte).

Pride of Holland
The construction of Maasvlakte 2 is a part of the Pride of Holland. The two large Dutch hydraulic engineering companies Boskalis and Van Oord constructed this new land in a very short time. The new area is expected to enable the activities in the port of Rotterdam to continue to grow, certainly in the coming 20 to 25 years. That is good for international trade, good for the position of Rotterdam as the gateway to Europe and good for employment.

Source: press release Port of Rotterdam.
Photo credits: Freek van Arkel
More information: www.maasvlakte2.com

Posted in Features, News.

Review Dutch participation in Singapore International Water Week 2012

July 6th, 2012 by nwp

“Why a red jacket?”, directeur Lennart Silvis of the Netherlands Water Partnership asks professor Mark van Loosdrecht, winner of the Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize 2012.

Mark van Loosdrecht was the key guest at the well-attended networking drinks reception in the Holland pavilion at the Singapore International Water Week.

For the occasion of the hand out of the award Van Loosdrecht had dressed in a very remarkable red suit jacket. “Because I like red and it is the colour of the Anammox-bacteria”, answered the proud winner.

The hand out of the award is the annual high light of the Singapore International Water Week.

Unique corporation
Commenting on the international appreciation of his breakthrough work, the professor of the Technical University of Delft mentioned the unique corporation within the Dutch water sector between research institutes, governmental agencies, water suppliers and water technology firms. “Everybody is involved in the whole process from the idea to the product.”

Many Dutch experts who closely worked with Van Loosdrecht were also present at the reception.

Van Loosdrecht’s research has already resulted in successful waste water treatment processes such as Anammox, Babe and Nereda that are now worldwide marketed by Dutch water technology firms such as RoyalHaskoningDHV and Paques .

Best booth

The Holland Pavilion declared ‘best booth’at the Singapore water week.

Best poster presentation

Elisabeth Vaudevire of PWN Technologies wins the Best Poster Award for her presentation of her research on the treatment of ion exchange brine with dynamic vapour recompression


Students from HongKong attend the booth of PWN Technologies during Educational Day


Director Martien den Blanken (left) of drinking water company PWN gives his view on water technology and water supply at the European Business Forum chaired by Thierry Mallet of Suez Environment (right)

More information
Netherlands Water Partnership
The Hague, the Netherlands
+ 31 70 304 37 00
www.nwp.nl

Water Alliance
Leeuwarden, the Netherlands
+31 58 284 90 44
www.wateralliance.nl

Posted in News.

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