Asia's Water Crisis will affect the Economy

If the water crisis in Asia is not addressed it could be a significant setback to the region's economic growth, according to Asian Development Bank (ADB).

ADB says there is a widening gap between demand and supply of water, and that the estimated gap, 40% by 2030, is a reasonable expectation.

In China, India and the Philippines, per capita availability of water per year has fallen below 1,700m³, the global threshold for water stress.

The water shortage could become more serious because 80% of Asia's water is used for irrigation, which could have a serious bearing on food supplies in the region.

According to ADB, the efficiency in water usage in agriculture and industry has improved by only 1% a year since 1990, according to independent.co.uk.

How to Treat oil sands in Water

GE and FilterBoxx have signed an agreement to develop innovative water treatment solutions for the oil sands in Alberta, Canada.

Calgary-based FilterBoxx will work alongside Connecticut-based GE on heavy oil-producing water treatment projects for de-oiling and water treatment options, using in-situ thermal methods such as steam-assisted gravity drainage.

In-situ methods are required because 80% of the oil sands in Alberta cannot be mined through open pit due to the bitumen being too deep under the surface.

The in-situ processes will use thermal energy, steam or solvents to make the bitumen flow so that it can be pumped by a well to the surface.

The new system will give higher recoveries of produced water, requiring 30-50% less water for steam-assisted gravity drainage process compared with 0.3-0.4bbls of water required for each barrel of bitumen produced

Is it possible to make UV desgin Specific ??

Possible from Siemens !!

Warrendale, PA -- Five Siemens ultraviolet (UV) disinfection plants came into operation in May in the Echthausen Water Works belonging to Wasserwerke Westfalen GmbH, Germany. They have considerably reduced the amount of chemicals used by the drinking water supplier. This process also eliminates microorganisms which cannot always be adequately controlled by other disinfection processes. These new UV plants are part of Wasserwerke Westfalen's extensive investment project to further improve the quality of its drinking water.

Echthausen Water Works supplies 20 communities with some 20 million cubic meters of drinking water. Wasserwerke Westfalen GmbH is a subsidiary company of both Dortmunder Energie- und Wasserversorgung GmbH and Gelsenwasser AG, and is the largest producer of drinking water in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Ingo Becker, managing director of Wasserwerke Westfalen GmbH, said that all water works would need to install additional treatment stages in the next few years in order to meet future drinking water quality requirements, and that most of these stages would involve physical processes. This would involve an investment of approximately 20 million Euros at each location.

Five Barrier M 3800 type UV plants have been installed in Echthausen. They have replaced the previous chlorine dioxide stage, and complete the water treatment. Rob van Esch, the Siemens project manager, explained, “UV plants are often more effective than other disinfection processes, particularly against spore forming microorganisms which can encapsulate.” In addition to that, the taste of the drinking water remains unchanged, and the operational handling of chemicals is eliminated.

The UV plants are operated in parallel, and have an average of 2,200 and a maximum throughput of 4,000 cubic meters of water per hour. Each plant can be separately controlled to match requirements. The continuously variable control of the intensity of irradiation delivers exactly the required “dose”. Electronic control gear ensures high efficiency: combining the safest possible disinfection with energy-saving operation.

The Simatic PCS7 process control system is used to control the plants. This enables the UV disinfection stage to be seamlessly integrated into Wasserwerke Westfalen's overall control concept, which is also based on PCS7. The peripheral equipment is connected by ET200 signal modules and communications via Profibus are also integrated. The UV plants can be operated either with the WinCC HMI system from the local Echthausen works control center or from the control center in Hengsen.

The main reasons for winning the order were the integrated control concept, and Siemens's ability to offer both the design engineering and the construction of the plant.