Veolia Water signs 20 year DBO contract with Kildare County Council

20 April 2011: Veolia Water been awarded a design build and operate (DBO) contract for the provision of a greenfield water production plant at Srowland in Athy.

The plant will have a maximum production capacity of 38,400 m³/day and will feed the distribution networks of Co. Kildare. The design and construction component of the contract is valued at €24.6 million. The operation part of the contract is for a period of 20 years and will represent total revenue of approximately €57 million for Veolia Water.

The Water Treatment Plant will be commissioned and available for service by the middle of 2013. This contract will deliver a major new water supply source and treatment plant for County Kildare which has previously relied on adjoining Water Authorities for 88% of its water supply needs. The new plant will allow Kildare County Council to potentially produce an additional 38% of its current water supply needs, reduce its dependence on adjoining Water Authorities and improve its security of supply.

The scope of the project includes raw water abstraction from the river Barrow, bank side storage, coagulation/flocculation/clarification, dual media filtration, ultra-violet deactivation, fluoridation and chlorination. The plant will be fully automated while the core technology used will be the Actifloc® system, an innovative high-speed clarification process developed by Veolia Water. The Actifloc® system provides extremely fast reaction to large changes in raw water quality combined with an industry-leading small footprint. It enables fast and easy start-up and shutdown as well as optimized chemical consumption.