Bluewater Bio highlighted its water treatment solutions in Dubai during the WETEX, which was held in November last year
Since its first contract in Bahrain in 2011, Bluewater has grown its presence in the region. At WETEX, which was held in Dubai this November, the company’s commercial director, Fergus Rooksby, said that Bluewater is poised for growth in the region.
“Rather than try and become another main contractor, we seek to support existing contractors with technological know-how and equipment, and enable them to be more competitive and ultimately to deliver greener, more cost competitive solutions to their clients.”
Bluewater Bio provides solutions for wastewater treatment in the region, apart from providing desalination solutions. In Bahrain, where it first launched, the company upgraded an existing wastewater treatment plant by adding another 110 megalitres a day (MLD) to it. It later won another similar contract in Saudi 26 MENA’s growing population needs better water solutions Arabia, according to Rooksby.
“We then won a project at the world's largest industrial wastewater treatment plant in Jubail on behalf of Marafiq, the end user and that's now been operating since 2018.
“One of our technologies is particularly well suited to high rate desalination pretreatment. And it uses approximately a third of the footprint of conventional pretreatment. It's a high rate multimedia filter and Bluewater have had the patent for that technology in desalination in the region since 2009.
“We are currently engaged in expanding treatment works in Bahrain’s North Sitra which is a semi industrial, municipal wastewater treatment work.”
Moreover, Bluwater is looking to expand further in the region. “We have a number of opportunities in our sites in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and in some of the smaller Emirates. Obviously, the largest market is Saudi Arabia, but there are some significant desalination opportunities within the UAE and that's a key focus for us with our high rate pretreatment filtration technology.”
“With the drive for a more privatised model in the desalination market, we're seeing an increased appetite for technology, instead of using conventional treatment means. That's largely brought about by the risk of process being carried by the main contractor or by the developer as opposed to, historically, the end user.”
For Bluewater, WETEX was an opportunity to grow its reference base to win more projects. “We principally are a technology provider. And we support the main contractor in their efforts to secure work with the end user,” concluded Rooksby.
