The new Az Zour South desalination plant was inaugurated on Jan. 27, 2015 in the presence of Kuwait Minister of Electricity, Water and Public Works Abdulaziz Abdullatif Al-Ibrahim, Laurent Fabius, French Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development; Antoine Frérot, Chairman of Veolia; and Christian Nakhlé, French Ambassador to Kuwait. In 2011, Veolia had been selected to build the Az Zour South desalination plant through an international tender organized by the Ministry of Electricity and Water. The technology to be used was reverse osmosis membrane. With a daily capacity of 136,000 cubic meters of water, this plant is operating since July 2014, and reinforces the total daily capacity of water treatment at Az Zour site by 25 percent, up to 659,700 cubic meters. The project located 100 kilometers south of the Kuwaiti capital had been won in partnership with Al Ghanim International under a DBO (Design, Build Operate) scheme. The plant will be operated and maintained by Veolia for duration of 5 years up to 2019. The technical originality of the project lies in the configuration of its water intake. Veolia implemented a pumping system on the discharge canal coming from the cooling system of the adjacent power station. The properties of water taken differ from those of raw seawater, to the extent that the same will be chlorinated and its temperature will be above usual standards. It results in CAPEX and energy savings during the whole life cycle of the plant. “This new desalination plant reflects our global expertise in the desalination sector. It demonstrates that the innovative solutions, with high added value, that we offer in the area of water services, as in sanitation, waste management and energy, enable us to meet the most varied technological challenges (and particularly that of the scarcity of water resources) and to satisfy the highest requirements of the public authorities and the constantly evolving needs of cities”, said Antoine Frérot, Chairman and CEO of Veolia. “It reinforces our commitment to foster large infrastructure projects in Kuwait and to support the country in its challenge to respond to increasing water demand and to improve the quality of life of its inhabitants.” — SG
