Work has begun on the €25m ($33m) bi-communal wastewater treatment plant at Mia Milia / Haspolat, Cyprus, by contractor WTE-EMEK.
Serving 270,000 people in Nicosia region, the plant will treat an average flow of 30,000m³/day by 2017.
The project will produce ten million cubic metres of water a year for irrigation and will also handle tankered septic material.
In addition, the plant will produce valuable biosolids as a by-product of the wastewater treatment, which will be converted into green electricity.
The project, financed by the Nicosia Sewerage Board and the European Union, is being implemented under the United Nations Development Programme / Partnership for the Future.
Completion, expected in May 2012, is in line with the water conservation policy introduced by the EU Water Framework Directive and EU legislation on urban wastewater treatment.
The commission said the plant will be the largest waste water treatment plant in Cyprus, and one of largest facilities using membrane bioreactor technology in the world.
The project is expected to improve the Pedhieos river catchment and eliminate the odours generated by the existing wastewater treatment plant.
