Los Angeles, CA, -- Tom Keenan, of Ask Tom! fame, and myself, editor of this newsletter spent a few days walking the floor of this year's WEFTEC Show.  First on our "to do" list was to visit with some of our old friends and site sponsors.  Luckily, all these folks were located in the spacious South Hall.

At the Aquastore booth, I had a chance to introduce Dan to the crew from Engineered Storage Products.  Kendall Smith and his group sell those long lasting, blue, glass-fused to steel tanks to the industry.  You can visit their web site at:  http://www.aquastore.com/  .  They have been a sponsor of our site and newsletter for over 4 years now.

Then it was off to see Bill Galanty, President of Franklin Miller.  Bill is an incredibly clever fellow and his company will sell you pretty much any kind of comminutor/grinder gear that you will ever need.  You can find out more about Franklin Miller's products at their web site:
http://www.franklinmiller.com/

(This is a picture of me, your editor.  Sorry Bill, but Dan's camera wiped out all but a few of the photos we took, damn gremlins!)

Cruising through the exhibit halls, Dan and I saw some interesting new equipment and services.  One that comes to mind is the "Digest Boost", by SonerTec, a device that uses ultrasonic shock waves to break down cell walls in sludge ahead of a digester.  Pierre Clouatre of SonerTec, told me that doing this improves the digester's throughput by a factor of three!  Think of what that would mean to an older plant wanting to expand, but without having to install more digesters!  Their web site is at:  http://www.sonertec.com

Alec Mackie and Fritz Egger of JWC Environmental took some time with Dan and I to show us their new screener.  The screener has a unique rotary action to screen and lift the oversize up and out of the stream, with no reciprocating parts.  Here are Alec and Fritz in all their glory (see photo).  Note the clever "Muffin Monster" badge holders - it seems everyone at the show had one!  You can visit JWC's web site at:  JWC Environmental

Some other points of interest, we met face-to-face with Brodie Guy of Hydroxyl Systems.  Brodie is a frequent contributor to our Help Forums and weekly newsletter.  And who could forget the extremely tall, Scott Windham and lab coated associate, Henry Schur of National Resource Protection, (NPR) who manufacture of odor control products for sewer systems.  Scott has been a guest author of an Ask Tom! column and contributor to the Help Forums.  We had also been invited to meet Sandy Walker and Michael Lipparelli of Solar Bee, an interesting company that manufactures a unique solar-powered pond circulators.  Dan and I both like devices that save power and simplify operations.

I would like to extend my thanks to everyone we met, too many people to mention in this newsletter.  We both appreciate your time and attention.  Also, it was nice to meet people who are subscribers of our newsletter and frequent visitors to Water and Wastewater.com web site.  I look forward to seeing everyone again in at the WEFTEC show in New Orleans next year!

- Joe Taylor, Editor

WATERTOWN, Mass. -- Ionics, Incorporated announced that the Algerian Energy Company publicly declared Ionics as the selected bidder for a twenty- five (25) year seawater desalination build-own-operate project. Ionics and AEC will form a joint project company to finance, build and operate the plant, with Ionics owning a majority interest.

The projected US$225 million capital investment will be financed by a combination of equity and non- recourse debt. The initial water tariff will be US$0.8182 per cubic meter, subject to adjustment pending completion of debt financing. The take-or-pay water supply contract will be guaranteed by Sonatrach, the national energy company.

The desalination plant, to be located near Algiers, will have a capacity of 200,000 cubic meters per day (53 million gallons per day) of drinking water. Construction will take approximately two years after completion of debt financing. The plant will be the largest membrane desalination facility in Africa and one of the largest in the world.

Ionics will design and supply the seawater reverse osmosis (RO) desalination system, and operate the facility over the 25-year contract period. In accordance with Company policy, the project will not be booked into backlog until a firm commitment for debt financing is obtained and the final water sales contract is completed. These activities are expected to take approximately 6 to 8 months.

Commenting on the selection, Douglas Brown, Ionics' CEO stated, "This selection reaffirms Ionics as a world leader in membrane-based desalination, and our employees are proud to be associated with this landmark project. Ionics has been supplying water systems to Algeria for almost 40 years. We are pleased to be an important part of helping Algeria solve its long-term water issues."

About Ionics

Ionics is a global separations technology company involved in the manufacture and sale of membranes, equipment, systems and services for the purification, disinfection, concentration and analysis of water, wastewater and ultrapure water. For additional information, please visit www.ionics.com.

DULUTH, Minn. -- ALLETE, Inc. announced today that its subsidiary, Florida Water Services Corporation, has sold its water and wastewater system serving Duval County, Florida to the Jacksonville Electric Authority for approximately $25 million, pending regulatory approval.

Florida Water Services, the largest investor-owned utility system in Florida, has been in the process of selling its assets. Approximately 90 percent of Florida Water assets have been sold or are under contract to be sold for $442 million, which represents an after-tax gain to Florida Water, net of all selling and transaction costs, of about $85 million. To date, the expected net cash proceeds after transaction costs, retirement of most Florida Water debt, and payment of income taxes are approximately $260 million. Net proceeds from the sale will be used to retire debt at ALLETE.

ALLETE's corporate headquarters are located in Duluth, Minnesota. ALLETE's holdings include ADESA, the second largest wholesale vehicle auction network in North America; AFC, the leading provider of independent auto dealer financing; Minnesota Power, a low-cost electric utility that serves some of the largest industrial customers in the United States; and significant real estate holdings in Florida.

For more information about ALLETE, visit the company's Web site at www.allete.com.

People post their requests for help and offer their suggestions to others in our open forum.

Mr. Parissis is looking help with car wash wastewater:

We have to built a small wastewater treatment plant for a car wash business. Since the wastewater contains various substances (soap, oil, HC, salt, brake dust) I wonder if an activated sludge reactor could do the job or it needs something more special (trickling filter).

There is a settling tank and a oil separator tank up front. The daily quantity is about 6 m3 of wastewater. Effluent BOD has to drop below 25 mg/l so that percolation is allowed. How about recycling the treated water for rinsing purposes?  (Click here to post a reply)

Thanks,
Andreas Parissis
aparissis@tee.gr

David needs help with fire hydrants:

We recently replaced a number of our hydrants with the non-draining type. I was wondering how other municipalities handled draining these.

What type of pump? Possibly a venturi hooked on to the fire truck to suck the water out? We are a small town with a volunteer fire dept and one PW employee so we are looking for something simple. (Click here to post a reply)

David H.
dafman2000@hotmail.com

Help Forum:  Share your expertise with others in our Help Forum.

Field Service Technician/Engineer - Houston, TX

Omexell, Inc. manufactures integrated membrane technologies, specializing in Ultrafiltration, Reverse Osmosis and Electrodeionization.  We are seeking an experienced Field Service Technician or Engineer.  Must have hands one experience with RO and Ion Exchange.  UF and EDI would be beneficial.

Mr. Jeff Tate
Omexell, Inc.
Web site:  http://www.omexgroup.com/
Send Email to: jtate@omexgroup.com

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© 1999-2003 Water and Wastewater.com
Home page:  http://www.waterandwastewater.com

Joseph Taylor, Editor
Water and Wastewater Newsletter
3948 South Third Street, No. 121
Jacksonville Beach, FL 32250

Phone: 904-280-4656
Fax: 904-273-1399

Email:  jtaylor@waterandwastewater.com

Water and Wastewater Newsletter is a 100% opt-in e-mail list of information for the water and wastewater treatment professional.  Do you have company news, a new product, new service or other information you would like to share with our subscribers?  Please submit articles via e-mail, only to:  news@waterandwastewater.com

The WEFTEC 03 Show was great fun, see our comments and photos in my article.

Our goal is to provide information to improve your business by using the resources available on the Internet.

Thanks, 
Joe Taylor, Editor
jtaylor@waterandwastewater.com

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This week's photo is of a Crom concrete elevated tank under construction in Murfreesboro, TN.  The Crom Corporation is the world leader in the design and construction of prestressed composite tanks.

Submitted by Robert Oyenarte of Crom Corporation

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