Water is a central concern of the Government of India, which in 2013 launched the second phase of the JnNURM1 programme to develop key infrastructure essential for access to water and wastewater. With water consumption in India expected to double by 2050, there is a strong focus to treat the wastewater and protect rivers and aquifers, the primary source of drinking water for millions of people. Faced with high levels of urbanisation and significant water supply problems, the authorities are relying on SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT’s expertise and have engaged the company via three new contracts covering the entire water cycle. In Mumbai, one project is to improve water distribution services for 12.5 million people. A second, in Pune, is to build and operate a drinking water plant for 2.5 million residents. Two new wastewater treatment plants are due to open in Bangalore.

In Mumbai, the Indian authorities have engaged SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT to improve water distribution services to 12.5 million people with the aim of supplying water to consumers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The city of Mumbai has commissioned SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT India to improve drinking water distribution to its 12.5 million people, under a 5-year contract worth €31 million in revenue.

The Mumbai water distribution system improvement programme (WDIP) is the first of its kind, and the largest water distribution and network management contract in India. Under this ground-breaking contract, the Group is providing a team of 300 multi- skilled professionals, including nine national and seven international experts to work on this major project, which will also include a training program with particular emphasis on services for the city’s shantytown residents.

The project relies on SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT’s know-how and is perfectly in line with its international development strategy: adapting to local issues, transferring skills and training, improving the quality of services with the goal of supplying water to consumers on a 24/7 basis, drinking water distribution network modeling, leak detection, and the improvement of the customer service.

SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT, through its subsidiary Degrémont, is strengthening its presence in drinking water production and wastewater treatment in India

Pune Municipal Corporation has awarded Degrémont a contract to design, build, operate and maintain a drinking water plant for the 2.5 million people of the second largest city in the Indian state of Maharashtra. This €19 million contract is supported by the local and national government as part of the JnNURM development programme.

Degrémont will take 30 months to build the drinking water plant and will operate it for 5 years. PulsatubeTM and Aquazur V® technologies put in place by Degrémont to treat water from the Khadakwasla reservoir southwest of the city will guarantee totally pure water regardless of fluctuations in the quality and volumes of untreated water inflows, while protecting the environment by minimal energy consumption and removing suspended matter and phosphorous.

In addition, the Water Supply & Sewage Board of Bangalore (a southern Indian city, capital of Karnataka state) has commissioned Degrémont to design and operate two wastewater treatment plants, one in Chikkabanavara on the north-west outskirts of the city, and the other in Kadugodi, east of the city. These two plants are part of a bilateral funding agreement between the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Government of India. The 24-month construction project will be monitored over 7 years of operation and is worth a total €11 million in revenue for Degrémont. The Chikkabanavara plant will treat 5,000m3/day and the Kadugodi plant 6,000m3/day.

For the first time ever in India, Degrémont will be installing its SBR technologyTM to treat Bangalore’s wastewater. Designed for waste in sensitive areas with advanced denitrification and dephosphorisation, its footprint is 40% smaller than traditional solutions because it has no sedimentation tanks, so is a decisive advantage for Bangalore’s dense urban environment.

The construction stage will rely heavily on Degremont’s execution team and its Indian engineering and production centre.

Marie-Ange Debon, Deputy Chief Executive Officer in charge of the international division of SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT, says: “While maintaining our solid position in wastewater treatment and drinking water production, we are boosting our presence in India through our new comprehensive service contract in Mumbai. It enables us to transfer our general technical know-how and our experience to improved water distribution and supply for heavily populated cities like Mumbai. Moreover, construction and operation of a drinking water plant in Pune and two wastewater treatment plants in Bangalore, increase the trust that India has had in our Group for over 30 years.”

SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT IN INDIA:

SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT India, headquartered in Gurgaon, a suburb of the Indian capital New Delhi, has regional offices in Bangalore and Mumbai as well as contracts in many cities around the country. The Group has operated in India for 30 years through its subsidiary Degrémont which has designed and built over 150 water treatment plants across the country and currently operates 18 of them, distributing 5 billion litres of drinking water every day to over 44 million people. In Mumbai, Degrémont has designed a drinking water treatment plant with a distribution capacity of 2,800 million litres a day for over 15 million people in the city. The wastewater treatment services of the plants built and managed by the company serve some 5.5 million inhabitants.

SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT entered the water services sector in 2011 and subsequently won contracts in Pimpri Chinchwad, New Delhi and Bangalore. In New Delhi, the company is now working to improve the water distribution system and customer services for Delhi Jal Board in the Malviya Nagar UGR region. The goal of this project is to improve water distribution to its 400,000 customers, reduce water losses, improve customer services, enhance invoicing and debt collection, and deliver general services in the region. In Bangalore, the company’s goal is to lower the current Unaccounted For Water (UFW) level from 42% to 16% in 5 to 8 years by conducting a network survey and carrying out development and rehabilitation work.

Watch a video interview on the Mumbai contract.

Degrémont

As a SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT subsidiary, Degrémont has been the worldwide specialist in water treatment for local authorities and industry for more than 70 years. Operating in more than 70 countries, the company has 5,000 employees and achieve revenue of 1,110 million euros in 2013.

SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT

Natural resources are not infinite. Each day, SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT (Paris: SEV, Brussels: SEVB) and its subsidiaries deal with the challenge of protecting resources by providing innovative solutions to industries and to millions of people. SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT supplies drinking water to 92 million people provides wastewater treatment services for 65 million people and collects the waste produced by 52 million people. SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT has 79,550 employees and, with its presence on five continents, is a world leader exclusively dedicated to the water and waste industry. In 2013, SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT achieved revenue of 14.6 billion euros.

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