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AdTech forms alliance with DATS Environmental Services

Every Drop’s parent company, AdTech Environmental is discussing a likely agreement with DATS Environmental Services to enable that company’s clients to economically treat and dispose of water on building sites.

DATS operates a waste management service using a fleet of trucks fitted with skip bins to cater for clients throughout the entire Sydney metropolitan area. Until now, they have only dealt with solid waste, collecting and transporting it to approved or licensed waste disposal and recycling facilities at which it is sorted in an attempt to separate and recover materials, which can then be reused or reprocessed to reduce the amount of waste being committed to landfill.

Given both companies’ commitment to addressing environmental responsibilities and outcomes, the proposed agreement between AdTech and DATS is a natural fit and the alliance would mean that DATS could offer their customers both liquid and solid waste removal.

AdTech is currently designing a cost effective treatment system for wastewater on building sites. The compact plant will remove silt and other particulate matter from site water so it can be safely discharged to drains, reducing downtime on building sites where ground or storm water is causing a problem. The money saved by using this technology would be considerable as it would enable builders to return to work much faster than is currently the case.

The AdTech system will be more compact and far less expensive than other plants currently in the marketplace for this purpose, yet will clean site water to a superior quality before discharge to drain. The simple plant would be delivered to site when required and collected with a DATS forklift truck.

Sydney water prices on the rise

The 13 per cent rise in the price of water that residents of Australia’s largest capital city have been paying since July 1 is less than that sought by Sydney Water.

The pricing regulator argued that, following recent rains that have lifted dam storage levels to about 65 per cent, combined with the NSW Government’s decision to build the desalination plant, "… we no longer face water shortages in the short term".

However, the July price rise is the first in a series that will lead to an expected average household water bill increase of $203 p.a. by 2011. The increased revenue will be used to fund projects that will increase Sydney Water’s supply and encourage more efficient use of water. The bulk of the immediate increase is helping to fund the unpopular desalination plant, now under construction at Kurnell.

Price rises for larger users of water and also for commercial users are forecast to rise by as much as 29 per cent over the same period of time.

The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) sets the prices for water, wastewater, stormwater and some recycled water services. To read IPART’s determination on the water price increase, visit www.ipart.nsw.gov.au

World Water Week results in major outcome for Asia

Over 2,400 participants from more than 130 countries attended the plenary sessions, workshops, seminars and side events in collaboration with over 200 convening organisations at this year’s World Water Week in Stockholm.

One of the most important outcomes of the conference for our region was an agreement between the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), International Water Association (IWA) and Asian Development Bank (ADB).

All three parties signed an agreement in Stockholm to establish an Asia-wide partnership called WaterLinks that would help provide clean drinking water and sanitation throughout the region by co-ordinating, promoting and aligning efforts to create Water Operators Partnerships.

These partnerships have proven their value in many parts of the world by successfully pairing water operators in search of solutions with other operators who have addressed similar challenges. These arrangements have helped recipient water operators improve their efficiencies and capacities, resulting in more people gaining access to safe drinking water and sanitation.

“One of the biggest challenges in the water sector is enabling intra-regional and international cooperation. This is especially true among water service providers in utilities and municipalities, who by nature are locally focused,” said Mr Bert Diphoorn, Director of Human Settlements Financing Division of UN-HABITAT and the lead for the Global Water Operators Partnerships initiative.

“These partnerships have demonstrated their value in helping to build service capacity. WaterLinks is a vital step forward in unleashing this potential in Asia in a coordinated manner that involves all major stakeholders,” said Mr Diphoorn.

WaterLinks currently operates as an unofficial collaborative network of development partners, although plans are underway to create a permanent WaterLinks secretariat in the near future.

The WaterLinks web site is currently under construction but will be found at: www.waterlinks.org

Next year’s World Water Week will be held from August 16-22 2009. For more information, contact: michael.moore@siwi.org

FLOW – For the Love Of Water

FLOW is an eye opening film showing that several nations (including Australia) are banking on controversial technology such as desalination plants to meet future water needs, while water has become a commodity that now supports a $400 billion global industry – the third largest in the world behind energy and oil!

The film raises the essential question: Is water a commodity, or is it a common natural resource? The film argues that nobody ‘owns’ water… that it belongs to the earth; to all species; to future generations. In a recent interview with CNN, ‘water activist’ Maude Barlow, author of "Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water" discussed her concerns…

“Access to safe, clean water is a public trust and a human right,” says Barlow. "The World Bank however says it's not a human right, but a human need – and therefore the private sector can provide it just as well as the public sector. But you can't deny somebody water just because they can't pay for it.

“The demand for fresh water in our world over the next 30 years will far outstrip supply. We have polluted it, diverted it, allowed it to get poisoned by seawater, to the point that we’re actually running out of fresh, clean water everywhere. We have to give up this myth of abundance. We have come to the limits of the planet.

“Private corporations have decided that water is now more important than oil. They're going to make more money and become more powerful owning and distributing water than they can from anything else… which means the poor of the world don't have access to affordable clean water… and the problem will only get worse.”

FLOW’s Director, Irena Salina said: “This film is a first step towards creating awareness. You plant the seed, then action can take place. People deeply, passionately care about their water. But they need to have the tools to get involved. A year from now we hope that maybe people will look at water differently. It's coming, drop by drop... that's how we make change.”

For more information about FLOW, visit www.flowthefilm.com

E greg@adtechenviro.com W www.adtechenviro.com
T +61 2 9474 1055 F +61 2 9976 2129

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