PARIS, FR, Sept. 4 -- SUEZ concluded the sale of Nalco, its subsidiary specializing in chemical water treatment and industrial process water, to a consortium composed of the Blackstone Group, Apollo Management L.P., and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners. The transaction values Nalco at USD 4.350 billion.

The sale of Nalco is a strategic decision, in line with the objectives of the SUEZ 2003-2004 action plan announced January 9 of this year, namely, to improve profitability and strengthen the Group's financial structure. This decision also reflects the new economic environment, the Group's more stringent financial criteria, and Nalco's development potential. In addition, the sale of Nalco will reduce the Group's debt by approximately USD 3.8 billion.

Therefore, already in 2003, the Group has achieved one of the principal goals of the Action Plan, namely, to reduce its net debt (which stood at EUR 28 billion at June 30, 2002) by one-third. Total disposals carried out since February 2003 will have contributed EUR 10 billion to reducing SUEZ debt.

Nalco's sale was arranged through a competitive private bidding process over a period of several months. Nalco's valuation took into account operating performance improvements, cost reductions of the past several years, as well as a potential rebound in U.S. industrial activity.

With the disposal of Nalco, the Group continues to implement its action plan, while confirming its business strategy focused on two businesses (energy, environment), from a solid base in Europe and with strong positions in the rest of the world (including North America, Brazil and China), pursuing a profitable and sustainable growth.

In 2003, Nalco generated 5.9% of Group revenues (less than 15% of the Group's industrial customer revenues), approximately 27% of Group revenues derived from North American operations, accounted for 6.5% of Group EBITDA, 6.8% of Group NCR, and 13.6% of the Group's capital employed. Ondeo Nalco has a work force of 10,000 employees.

SUEZ, a worldwide industrial and services Group, provides companies, municipalities, and individuals innovative solutions in Energy -- electricity and gas -- and the Environment -- water and waste services. In 2002, SUEZ generated revenues of EUR 40.218 billion (excluding energy trading).

Source:  http://www.suez.com/

DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 4, 2003--The Colorado Governor's Office of Energy Management and Conservation (OEMC), the Colorado Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Coors Brewing Company today announced the completion of a constructed test wetland at the Coors Brewery in Golden, Colorado.

Constructed wetlands have long been recognized for their cleansing abilities and they provide an environmentally friendly and energy-efficient method of treating wastewater. The pilot wetland will test the effectiveness of wetlands as tertiary treatment, and offer a wildlife habitat and educational opportunity to the public.

The project was designed and implemented in conjunction with DNR wildlife biologists based on a plan initiated and approved by them.

"More than 90 percent of Colorado's native species occupy wetlands for at least a portion of their lives," said Greg Walcher, executive director of the DNR. "Efforts by Coors to improve wetlands and our basic understanding of these critical habitats will not only benefit wildlife, but also provide another window into what we love most about Colorado for our citizens and for visitors."

The design incorporates energy savings and efficiency, water treatment test cells, wildlife habitat and a public viewing area. Continuous monitoring of key water quality indicators will evaluate the wetland performance for removal of nutrients, sediment, and other parameters.

"OEMC completed an inventory of all functional constructed treatment wetlands in Colorado. The project team recorded effective practices and features, as well as 'lessons learned' from the first generation of treatment wetlands. From this project, OEMC's goal was to build a wetland that incorporated the identified 'best practices.' Coors was identified as a partner because of its commitment to water quality, location and resources to construct and maintain the wetland," said Rick Grice, executive director of OEMC. "We are thrilled that this demonstration provides such benefits to the community, environment and wildlife."

Construction of the wetland began in June 2003, and was completed in late August. The wetland is open to public viewing from the public bike path. The public viewing area includes informational displays explaining the purpose of wetlands, including benefits to the public, wildlife, and water quality.

"We are fortunate to have committed groups like OEMC and DNR on this project," said Catherine Adams, vice president and Chief Environmental Officer for Coors. "Hopefully, what we all learn through this project will lead to improvements in water quality for Colorado."

Coors will submit a comprehensive technical analysis of the wetland in a report to OEMC and DNR at the conclusion of the study in 2005. The report will include achieved results, successes and lessons learned, as well as a copy of the engineering plans and design, photos, wetland performance and conclusions. The report will be made available to the public by OEMC.

TOWSON, Maryland  -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded USFilter Memcor Products its ETV Drinking Water Systems verification for the 3M10C CMF Microfiltration System. The EPA's verification statement validates the performance of the Memcor microfiltration system through third party independent testing.

The EPA created the Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) Program to assist the use and acceptance of innovative or improved environmental technologies through performance verification and information sharing.

The 3M10C CMF unit is part of USFilter’s small range continuous microfiltration (CMF) product line that also includes 6M10 and 12M10 units. The small range CMF units are packaged systems designed to include all of the necessary controls and equipment required for an operational system, with minimal installation required. Memcor has more than 800 of these units installed throughout the world and has a wide variety of membranes and system configurations for providing safe drinking water.

The 3M10C CMF unit is a pressurized membrane filtration process that was tested using polypropylene membranes that are ANSI/NSF Standard 61 certified along with the module housing. Complete reports on these certifications can be downloaded from the EPA ETV website at www.epa.gov/etv or NSF website at www.nsf.org/etv/dws

Montgomery Watson, Broomfield, Colo., served as the third party independent verification testing organization for USFilter.

United States Filter Corporation, a Veolia Environnement company, is North America’s leading water company providing comprehensive water and wastewater systems and services to commercial, industrial, municipal and residential customers. Visit the company’s web sites at www.usfilter.com

(Editor's note:  We have excerpted a portion of the ASCE report card, see link below for the full report online at their web site)

In March 2001, ASCE released a Report Card for America's Infrastructure, grading 12 infrastructure categories at a discouraging D+ overall and estimating the need for a $1.3 trillion investment to bring conditions to acceptable levels. In September 2003, ASCE released a Progress Report that examines the current trends for addressing the nation's deteriorating infrastructure and discusses actions the federal government should take to bring conditions up to acceptable levels. ASCE did not issue new grades because the condition and performance have not changed significantly in two years.

Drinking Water

While drinking water quality remains good, the infrastructure of the nation's 54,000 drinking water systems is aging rapidly. Federal funding remains flat, while the infrastructure needs continue to increase. There is an annual shortfall of $11 billion needed to replace or rehabilitate facilities that are nearing the end of their useful life and to comply with federal water regulations. The forecast for our nation's drinking water systems indicates a downward slope. Drinking water received a D on the 2001 Report Card, yet the situation continues to worsen as aging systems - some developed more than a century ago - continue to service our ever-growing population.

FEDERAL ACTION NEEDED: Reauthorization of the Safe Drinking Water Act at $25 billion over a five-year period would go a long way toward improving our nation's water infrastructure.

Wastewater

The nation's 16,000 wastewater systems face enormous needs. Some sewer systems are 100 years old and many treatment facilities are past their recommended life expectancy. Currently, there is a $12 billion annual shortfall in funding for infrastructure needs; however, federal funding has remained flat for a decade. Because of this continuing shortfall, more than one third of U.S. surface waters do not meet water quality standards.

America's farmers, fishermen, manufacturers and tourism industries rely on clean water to carry out activities that contribute over $300 billion to our economy each year. However, the challenge to continue providing clean water remains, as our existing national wastewater infrastructure is aging, deteriorating and in need of repair, replacement and upgrading. In fact, EPA has reported that without improvements to the nation's wastewater treatment infrastructure, we face the very real risk of losing the environmental gains we have achieved over the last three decades since the passage of the Clean Water Act of 1972.

FEDERAL ACTION NEEDED: Reauthorization of the Clean Water Act at $25 billion over a five-year period would begin to improve our nation's wastewater infrastructure. Congress should pass H.R. 1560, the Water Quality Financing Act of 2003, or S. 170, the Clean Water Infrastructure Financing Act of 2003, at the recommended funding level.

For the full report card:  http://www.asce.org/reportcard/index.cfm?reaction=full&page=6

Source:  http://www.asce.org/

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

Mr. Gallo wants to know about arsenic removal:

Can somebody tell me if currently there is any facility being constructed for the removal of arsenic to accomplish the new regulation deadline of 2006 for the lowering of As in drinking water from 50 to 10 ppb.

If there are some, please can you update me with location and name?
(Click here to post a reply)

Daniel Gallo
danielgallo@ou.edu

Mr. Senok needs help slaughterhouse effluent:

I am trying to break a blood-water emulsion. It is actually more like a solution, however every coagulant that I have tried seems to give me a pin floc, but doesn't seem to do anything to the blood. I have had limited success with lowering and raising the pH. I am trying to get a floc for a DAF application.  
(Click here to post a reply)

Sinan Senok
sinansenok@e-kolay.net

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

Representatives/Distributors Wanted

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If interested please contact Charles Landis, telephone: 303-571-8248 and mention this post.

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Summer is over and its back to the "grind".  I hope everyone had a great summer, I know I did.  This week we have Suez selling off Nalco, a report card from the ASCE and much more...read on!

Also, Tom Keenan and I will be walking the exhibits at the upcoming WEFTEC show, hope to see you there!

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 the restoration of City of Eastpoint Georgia's existing water treatment plant basins.  Precision Concrete installed a cement-based, overlay material to the badly eroded surfaces in approximately 10 basins.  Precision Concrete has worked hard to gain the reputation as the Southeast's premier concrete contractor.

Submitted by Bob Baumeister of Precision Concrete Construction, Inc.

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