Cadagua adds a further five desalination plants in 2016, with a production output of more than 335,000 m3 of water per day

In 2016, Cadagua, Ferrovial’s subsidiary specialising in water treatment, has successfully commissioned five seawater desalination plants in Oman, United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Spain. These new projects together represent a production capacity of over 335,000 m3 of drinking water per day. At the beginning of the year, the desalination plant of Al Ghubrah, in Muscat (Oman) reached the commercial operation stage. The plant uses reverse osmosis technology and has a production capacity of 191,000 m3 of drinking water per day. Moreover, this was a plant that Cadagua successfully completed in record time. [caption id="attachment_169702" align="aligncenter" width="500"] A desalination plant in Al Ghubrah, Oman[/caption] The seawater desalination plant of Al Zawra, in Ajman (UAE), was delivered in June 2016, to produce 45,500 m3 of drinking water per day. The pretreatment system for water purification consists of a process based on coagulation-flocculation, dissolved air flotation, self-cleaning filtration and ultrafiltration membranes (pressurised hollow fibre). As post-treatment, a system of remineralisation based on the addition of lime and CO₂ is applied. [caption id="attachment_169703" align="aligncenter" width="500"] A seawater desalination plant Al Zawra, UAE[/caption] Another of the year’s significant projects is the commissioning of the desalination plant in Jorf Lasfar (Morocco). This was a particularly complex project due to pollutants in the seawater. As pretreatment technology for water purification, a stage of sieving (rough and fine), dissolved air flotation, self-cleaning filtration and ultrafiltration membranes (pressurised hollow fibre) was included. A system of reverse osmosis membranes, configured in two steps, allows the use of any operational arrangement to guarantee the quality requirements in the water produced. [caption id="attachment_169704" align="aligncenter" width="500"] The Jorf Lasfar desalination plant in Morocco[/caption] In October, Cadagua successfully delivered operation of the extension to the desalination plant in the Autonomous City of Ceuta (Spain). This extension adds a further 10,000 m3/d to the plant’s existing capacity of 22,000 m3 per day. Civil infrastructure works have also been carried out for potential future expansion to a further 10,000 m3 per day, which would now only require installation of the relevant electromechanical equipment. This guarantees supply of drinking water to the city of Ceuta even in periods of drought. The extension includes a new open collection system. a pretreatment system with closed sand filters, and the option of working both in single or double stage, in reverse osmosis with isobaric chamber energy recovery systems (dweer) and remineralisation with CO₂ and lime. [caption id="attachment_169706" align="aligncenter" width="500"] A water desalination plant in Ceuta[/caption] Cadagua also finalised construction of a seawater desalination plant in Granadilla (Tenerife, Spain), to guarantee a quality water supply with a capacity for 14,000 m3 per day, which may in the future be increased to a maximum of 42,000 m3 per day. In this plant, water is collected through beach wells, and pretreatment is therefore based on a closed filtration system using sand and anthracite. [caption id="attachment_169707" align="aligncenter" width="500"] A water desalination plant in Granadilla in Tenerife[/caption] These five new projects which were finalised in 2016 mean that Cadagua has now built more than 40 desalination plants which produce close to 2 million m3 of drinking water per day, as well as 250+ water treatment plants (drinking water, waste water, advanced treatments and desalination).  This represents a total treatment capacity of over 15,000,000 m3 per day.