Advanced technologies in water, wastewater and reuse

A technical seminar was conducted on ‘Water, Wastewater and Reuse’ by the Indo Austrian Multinational VA Tech Wabag Ltd. at Hilton Residences recently. 

In a first-of-its-kind multi stake holder seminar, invitees ranged from engineers of the National Water Supply and Drainage Board, Colombo Municipal Corporation, Representatives of the Ministry of Megapolis and Western Development, Ministry of City Planning and Water Supply, professors from Peradeniya and Moratuwa, local consultants, representatives from the Asian Development Bank and JICA. 

VA Tech Wabag is a 90-year-old pioneer in the field of water and wastewater technologies and owns more than 100 patents for various water and wastewater treatment applications. The idea of this congregation of various stake holders at one place by Wabag was to create awareness on the latest advancements in the field of water and wastewater and showcase to the Sri Lankan stakeholders as to how latest technologies can be implemented and used to drive better efficiency and lower costs.

The seminar was inaugurated by Minister of City Planning and Water Supply Rauff Hakeem. Speaking on the occasion he emphasised on the use of latest technologies and encouraged and appreciated the collaboration of knowledge sharing between the industry and the Government. The Minister also proposed that the time has come to have the water footprint like the carbon footprint to encourage the industry and create awareness on the importance of safe drinking water for all.

The four technical presentations were made at this seminar by the Chief Technology officer of Wabag Kim, Chief Operating Officer of Wabag Switzerland Arnold, Wabag’s Global Business Development Head Chopra and Saxena who is Wabag’s Engineering Head. 

They covered a range of topics from water for smart cities to latest developments in drinking water technologies and an interesting aspect of energy neutral plants. The experts emphasised on the range of technologies available with Wabag to deliver the most optimal solutions for the utilities. 

Wabag used the occasion to showcase their patented technologies and some unique projects they had executed which included a plant in Namibia where wastewater was converted into drinking water, large sewerage treatment plants that were running on electricity produced by wastewater itself and were energy neutral and a large 100,000m3/day desalination plant in India. 

Incidentally Wabag is a major player in desalination (converting drinking water from sea water) market worldwide with major projects being executed in Middle East and Latin America.

“Knowledge increases by sharing, we want to be a long-term partner for the water and wastewater needs of Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka is a very important market for Wabag,” said Arvind Dullu, the Country Director for Wabag in Sri Lanka. He emphasised that Wabag would be happy to invest in the upcoming Public-Private Partnership projects, noting that with the right regulations in place and a push from the Government this sector would open up further in the next five to 10 years. 

In Sri Lanka, Wabag wants to focus on wastewater, reuse and desalination going forward. It is currently executing two drinking water projects in Sri Lanka and has bid for a third. “The family which hails from a longstanding background of commerce and industry for over 125 years now in Sri Lanka would always bring the best companies with a technology edge,” said Taher Jafferjee, local partner of Wabag who was instrumental in getting Wabag to Sri Lanka in 2012.

VA Tech Wabag is a publicly quoted company and listed on the India bourses BSE and NSE.