Southern Water is looking for a supplier to build a trial plant for the removal and recovery of nutrients from decentralised urban wastewater treatment processes in Southern England, rather than sludge treatment centres.
The water company has gone out to tender for the contract as part of the European Union’s NEREUS r & d project which wants to boost the development of the green economy and the transformation of wastewater into a valuable source of water, nutrients (e.g. cellulose, nutrients), and energy.
Around Europe, the conviction is growing that future arrangements for the treatment of wastewater should be based on the principles of a circular economy.
However, although the technology is available, decision makers are still hesitant to implement the technology due to the lack of practical evidence. One of the objectives of the Nereus project is to deliver the evidence base for both private and public decision makers, including cities, regions, water companies and citizens about the benefit of implementing resource recovering solutions to reuse wastewater.
The focus of Southern Water’s involvement in the project is to assess nutrient recovery opportunities, and the tangible impact of this for the business. It will also enable the utility to translate trial outputs onto other works within the SWS network and provide learning for the wider industry.
Work to date has identified possible benefits and potential technologies, together with identification of an appropriate site and analysis of the waste stream.
The trials, which are expected to start in October 2018, are planned to be undertaken on a sidestream at Peel Common Wastewater Treatment works which services a population of 250,000 people in South East England. The water company is hoping to trial 3 technologies as opposed to 1 for a full year because the risk of non commercial / economic recovery is high.
Benefits Southern Water expects to see from its involvement include the introduction of circular economy practices driven by the leadership team. The water company said it is also hoping to gain market leading insights and international industry recognition as a thought leader in this area of the water industry.
The NEREUS project has received a total of €241m in funding from the Interreg 2 Seas 2014-2020 European Territorial Cooperation Programme which is part-financed by the European Regional Development Fund.
Four different Member States are involved in the Interreg 2 Seas programme - England, France, the Netherlands and Belgium. The Programme area covers the coastal regions along the Southern North Sea and the Channel area. With a total area of 88,000 square kilometres, this makes it one of the largest cross-border Programmes in Europe.
Time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participateis 13th July 2018 – click here to access the tender documentation
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