Wastewater treatment
Published: 07 July, 2009
ITT has a presence in 140 countries across the globe, and water is a $3.5bn business for the company. While ITT services the commercial side of the water market in sub-Saharan Africa, such as the mining industry, municipal water treatment is not an area that is commercially attractive, says Mr Sabol.
“The economies in sub-Saharan Africa can’t support the kinds of water and wastewater purification infrastructure that developed countries and their economies can.” He argues that decentralised wastewater solutions present the most suitable, and commercially feasibly option for the sub-Saharan African market. ITT currently deploys such systems, primarily in Latin America, through Watermark, a philanthropic effort. However, Mr Sabol adds that this does not rule out markets such as sub-Saharan Africa from a commercial perspective.
“We do spend R&D in those markets because we see them as fast growing. Specifically we’re working on decentralised wastewater treatment,” he says, adding that decreasing costs for such technologies will inevitably make them suitable for less developed markets.
Worrell Water Technologies is one company that is hoping to introduce a commercially viable decentralised wastewater treatment solution to the region. The company’s trademarked LivingMachine technology is an ecological wastewater treatment system based on microecosystems, and is capable of pumping more than 200,000 gallons per day. Will Kirksey, senior vice president at WWT, says that this system works more efficiently and reliably than conventional wetland-based or centralised treatment methods.
“We have put some significant research and development into it and have made some really substantial advances in the productivity, efficiency and reliability of the system,” he says.
He adds that the technology was designed to be a cost effective, robust and low maintenance system that can be built with local labour and materials. Turning words into practice, WWT has built a demonstration system in Ghana, constructed almost entirely on site. Maintenance does not require highly specialised labour, he adds, and the system is not dependent on existing infrastructure.
While the demonstration site in Ghana is designed for a community of just 60 families, Mr Kirksey is confident about the scalability of the system. “There is no theoretical limit to its size,” he says, pointing to the Qingdao Sustainable Neighbourhood Project in China. Currently in the conceptual phase, the plan is to construct an urban living complex, with tens of thousands of inhabitants, that recycles all of its water and 80 percent of its waste for onsite uses.
WWT is working together with UK based engineering firm Arup to provide the project with a LivingMachine, says Mr Kirksey. “We see a really bright future for this and a lot of things that can be done as we grow into new markets and new areas,” he adds, considering the possibility of reproducing such projects in Africa.
“One of the key things for us to get into the African market in a large way would be to develop a partnership with someone who could carry this forward. We are a small firm and do not have the capability to take this on alone.”
While such partnerships may not yet exist, and while the true potential of such decentralised treatment solutions will continue to unfold in the coming years, it seems likely that they will become an ever-increasing part of the landscape. Crucially, they represent a commercially viable solution to one of the most pressing issues the continent faces, in a sector where private investment is often lacking.
