Welsh firm becomes pride of Ecuador after meeting water challenge

Martin Shipton 

A Welsh company has built the highest altitude waste water treatment facility in the world in just four months – safeguarding the river that runs through a World Heritage Site at Quito, the capital of Ecuador.

Wayne Preece, the CEO of Hydro Industries, based at Llangennech near Llanelli, says it’s the most challenging project the firm has been involved in since it was founded 15 years ago.

Stunning

He said: “We saw the site in September 2023. It was stunning. Cotopaxi, the second highest volcano in the country, cast its shadow over it. Capped in snow, yet very much active, its peak stands 19,347 feet tall, visible from virtually every vantage point in the capital.

“Equally striking, though not remotely beautiful, was the landfill site overshadowed by Cotopaxi. The waste produced by more than 2.5 million people is sent there for both recycling and landfill. That’s the equivalent of the residual waste of the whole of south Wales.

“The liquid from the landfill waste is pumped to very large holding ponds. The mission was to make sure these ponds were treated to remove the fresh water and therefore reduce the volume.

“The Mayor of Quito as well as the site operator were determined to protect the El Inga River, which would inevitably be the recipient of the waste should there be an overflow.

“There was real urgency therefore, as well as a compelling case, for cleaning it up, which is when I flew 6000 miles to Ecuador with our chairman David Pickering. Having played, captained, and managed the Welsh rugby team at different points in his illustrious career, it’s fair to say that David, like me, relishes a challenge.

“Quito was a demanding environment, working at 9,000 feet altitude, an incredibly technical challenge with an installation time of record-breaking proportions. Yet barely a year after seeing the site, we were there again with the Mayor of Quito as he formally opened it, and – to my delight and the astonishment of the local dignitaries, diplomats and media – drank a large glass of the tested water coming out of our plant.

“That water now flows freely into the El Inga River, or into the irrigation channels that have allowed our client to plant an unprecedented number of trees, together with a re-landscaping of the entire site. The icing on the cake, perhaps, was introducing fish into the pools that store the Hydro treated water, proving day by day that our technology is doing its job.”

Heavy hydrocarbons

Mr Preece said the job had entailed treating 192,000 tons of waste water, which tests had confirmed was loaded with heavy hydrocarbons, boron, phosphate, ammonia and anaerobic digestion byproducts, along with some other challenging toxins. One of Hydro’s most battle-hardened scientists declared that it was potentially the most difficult leachate sample that he and his team had ever designed for. It was dense and dark brown with a ‘special’ odour.

“Constructing the plant was going to require physically fit, determined and an acclimatised workforce and Hydro assembled a team that came from three continents,” he said. “We had an exceptional local team formed in Ecuador to supplement our UK and Egyptian engineers. Our chief designer, an Egyptian, and his commissioning team flew in from Cairo. They could certainly handle the heat but struggled initially with the altitude. However, they learnt Spanish at an astonishing pace.

“But the project, as with many of our projects, began at Hydro’s technology park in Llangennech. This is home for the Hydro Industries scientists and engineers. This is where we maintain our laboratories, our integration capabilities and our system designs. And this is where we rapidly launched the programme to design and install the highest altitude treatment facility in the world.

“On design completion, bespoke parts were shipped in large containers across the Atlantic. Some, because of lead time issues, were air-freighted and – unnervingly – a few cases ended up not only in the wrong airport but in the wrong country and the wrong continent!

“We custom-made a power substation to suit the very specific requirements of the plant, and I’ll never forget the special moment when a crane lowered it into place. It gives me great pleasure to see the full system operating on the ground knowing that each stage plays its part in turning the waste liquid from Quito’s landfill to crystal clear water that can be reused in the region.

“As expected with a project of this complexity and speed, there were very tense moments. The week before our official opening by the Mayor was a tough one, finishing off many of the final commissioning protocols with the inevitable surprise and hiccup thrown in. All the while, struggling for breath, I’d look up at Cotopaxi knowing that it’s erupted more than 80 times, and that the landscape around me had been shaped by its lava. The last major explosion was only a few years ago.

“Having proved we can build an exceptionally complex treatment plant in four months, at 9000 feet altitude and 6000 miles away from our Welsh base, we are pretty confident we can meet almost any challenge in this field here in the UK, and look forward to doing so.”