A 24,000 m³/d desalination facility is to be designed and built on the Caribbean island of Aruba by two Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies (VWS) companies: NA Water Systems and OTV.
The contract, issued by Water en Energiebedrijf Aruba NV, the island’s electric and water utility, will be carried out over 22 months. The plant will treat seawater from beach wells to provide high quality drinking water to the island.
The desalination facility will utilize the latest reverse-osmosis technology to replace thermal desalination units that were operating with low-pressure steam. As a result, the new facility will be more economical to operate and better for the environment.
The contract includes performance guarantees for water production and quality, minimal downtime, as well as electrical and chemical consumption. In addition to the design-build work, the contract includes an option for one year of on-site operations assistance and two years of off-site technical assistance.
“VWS is pleased to be working with Aruba on this project. We have a long history with the island, dating back to 1932 when we installed the first desalination plants there,” said Paul Choules, vice president of desalination at NA Water Systems.