“Enhanced wastewater treatment holds the key to reducing sewage overflows to the environment in a sustainable way,” says Dominic Hurd, managing director, ACWA Services.

Public and political pressure on water companies to address the issue of sewage spills into rivers and seas means overflows are no longer solely an issue for operations teams. They top the in-trays of water company chief executives, who are personally invested in finding the best solutions available to address this highly charged challenge.

Given the scale, extent, and site constraints of existing AS installations, a focus on technologies and equipment that can advance site efficiency and increase process volumes will be a pragmatic way to go in many instances. There are proven alternatives, readily available, that can be rapidly retrofitted to upgrade existing sites.

One such is ACWA-Nuvoda’s MOB – Mobile Organic Biofilm, which uses a unique organic mobile carrier media, derived from the core of the kenaf plant, to achieve a rapid and significant increase in treatment capacity. Retrofitting existing wastewater treatment plants with MOB ensures discharge consents are met by reducing nutrient levels in effluent discharges, while delivering energy, carbon, and chemical savings.