Anglian Water Breaks Ground On First Aero-Fac Wastewater Treatment System

LAS International starts 2008 on a roll with the ground breaking of a new Aero-Fac wastewater treatment plant for Anglian Water to serve the village of Sutton St. James in the Lincolnshire fens.

The plant, a first for an English water company, builds on the success of similar plants operating in East Anglia at West Newton on the Sandringham Estate and Holkham on the Holkham Estate. Both these privately run plants received extensive evaluation by Anglian Water before the Aero-Fac process was selected as the best solution for their customers at Sutton St. James.

John Forkin, Anglian Water Contracts Manager, said: "We are committed to providing environmentally friendly and cost efficient solutions. The Aero-Fac system offers a low carbon footprint solution both for construction and the long term operational costs. The system has no odour during normal operation and the earth banks around the cells give a visual aspect which is in keeping with the rural environment."

John Gillett, Managing Director of LAS International, explains the Aero-Fac system incorporates a number of unique features. "Not the least of which is a self-digesting sludge process that requires no pre-screening, sedimentation tanks or clarifiers, no sludge removal, dewatering or conditioning, and best of all, no routine sludge disposal and the associated lorry traffic in and out of the works. All sludge is continuously self digested within the initial treatment stage. The Sutton St. James plant will also be the first in the U.K. to incorporate the Bio2Bloc ammonia removal process." This modular, floating SAF system enables year-round compliance with ammonia consents but, in keeping with the overall design philosophy, minimises energy consumption by operating only when needed.

The new plant at Sutton St. James is designed to provide wastewater treatment for approximately 830 people and was judged by Anglian Water to have the lowest overall carbon footprint of all the considered alternatives. The project is being delivered by the @One Alliance which is a collaboration between Anglian Water, Grontmij and Barhale Construction Ltd.

Further information on the Aero-Fac system can be obtained from the Company's web site at www.lasinternational.com.

SOURCE: LAS International