Veolia Water wins $830 million contract

The Australian arm of Paris-based Veolia Water has received a contract valued at $830 million U.S. from coal-seam gas producer QCG to operate three water treatment plants in Australia’s Surat Basin area. Under the 20-year contract, Veolia Water will operate and maintain facilities that combine ultrafiltration, ion exchange, reverse osmosis, and brine concentration technologies to treat groundwater that’s generated during the production of natural gas from coal beds. QGC’s goal is to treat the groundwater to a quality that will allow it to be used in agricultural, industrial, and municipal applications. Two of the three facilities are under construction at QGC’s Kenya and Woleebe Creek sites. The third treatment plant is operating at QGC’s Windibri site. “This is QGC’s biggest operational contract to date, and local communities are poised to benefit for decades to come,” said Walter Simpson, QGC’s operations director.