Modern Water wins 'breakthrough' contract
22 Jun 2011
Guildford, UK – Modern Water plc, a UK group specialising in technologies for the production of fresh water and monitoring of water quality, has won a contract to build and operate a desalination plant by Oman’s Public Authority for Electricity and Water (PAEW).
Under the contract, the Guildford-based company is to build a desalination plant at Al Naghdah in the Al Wusta region of Oman capable of producing 200m3 of fresh water per day. The contract, which was won in a competitive process, is worth £500,000, the group said.
The plant, which will supply fresh water to the local community, will be the world’s first fully commercial application of forward osmosis, said Modern Water. The award, it noted, follows trials of the technology at plants in Gibraltar and Oman.
The new plant will employ the group’s patented ’manipulated osmosis’ process. The desalination technique is said to achieve significant cost savings, use less energy and to be more reliable than conventional methods, particularly when operating in challenging conditions.
“Winning this tender marks a key milestone for Modern Water,” said Neil McDougall, executive chairman. “Forward osmosis has emerged as a hugely important technological step-change within the desalination industry, and Modern Water has shown how advanced the company is in this critical area.”
