Vitens wins two WEX international water innovation prizes in Madrid
Drinking water company Vitens has won two international innovation prizes in Madrid.
The Water and Energy Exchange crowned the 'Champagne rinse’ and the Vitens Innovation Playground with a Global Innovation Award.
Rik Thijssen, Manager Business Development at Vitens is pleased with the prizes: "It's really fantastic for our researchers and the partners we work with that we have been able to receive this international acknowledgement."
Real time sensoring in drinking water distribution network
The Vitens Innovation Playground (VIP) in Noardburgum, the Netherlands, won in the infrastructure category.
In this test bed, Vitens conducts research into the possibility of using sensors in the water mains network to measure in real time the quality of and demand for water, and in that way to work towards an intelligent water supply.
The scale of the test bed is unique - nowhere else in the world are new technologies being tested in a 2,000 km mains network.
Rik Thijssen receives the WEX Infrastructure award 2013 from jury member Fiona Griffith of the consultancy firm Isles Utilities.
Cleaning membranes with dissolved CO2
The ‘Champagne rinse’, an innovative and sustainable method of cleaning membranes using CO2 dissolved in water, won in the process technology category.
The innovation is of great importance internationally because membrane filtration is needed for making drinking water from river or seawater.
Vitens and WE consult are co-holder of the patent on this new purification technology.
About Vitens
Vitens invests continuously in sustainability and innovation in order to be able to continue to guarantee an optimal and reliable supply of drinking water in future. Vitens was nominated for no less than four times for a WEX Global Innovation Award.
Vitens is the largest drinking water company in the Netherlands. With 1,700 employees, 100 production plants and a mains network of 47,500 kilometres, it delivers 350 million m3 of water per year to 5.4 million people.
The annual turnover is 450 million euro. The shares in Vitens are 100% held by local and regional governments. The drinking water price per litre is 0.0013 euro.
This news item was originally published on the website of Vitens Solutions
More information
Vitens Solutions
Utrecht, the Netherlands
+31 88 884 55 01
www.vitens.nl
W-E-X Global
p/a WEX Events Limited
London, UK
+44 (0) 207 403 2773
www.w-e-x.com
For more information about sustainability and innovation at Vitens, go to: www.vitens.nl/overvitens/water/paginas/duurzaamheid_innovatie.aspx
For more information about WEX, The Water and Energy Exchange, go to:
www.w-e-x.com