Suez Environnement to offer drinking water management services for SMAEL in France

French utility Suez Environnement has been selected by the LYS Water Supply Syndicate (SMAEL) to manage potable water production for urban and developed areas in the northern parts of the country.

According to the public service delegation contract, Suez will manage SMAEL’s drinking water capacities for the Lille conurbation, the Lens-Liévin conurbation and seven localities in the Pas de Calais department for a period of five years.

The €23m contract is scheduled to start from 2016.

SMAEL produces 20 million m³ of drinking water which is supplied to the regions.

The area has a production facility in Aire sur la Lys, France, which has a daily capacity to produce round 100,000m³ of potable water.
Under the terms of the contract, Suez will deploy two predictive tools for optimising purification process at the facility depending on the availability of water resources and its quality.

The tools will compare the levels of the water table and the flow in the Lys river to indicate periods of low water levels in the river, which acts as the primary water resource for the facility.

The PREDICTURB model will also help in monitoring turbidity of the water which in turn, will help to foresee adaptations of the purification treatment to problems with the quantity or the quality of the resources.

The new installations at the facility are expected to ensure quality of water production throughout the year and its adaptation to local water resources.

SMAEL is also likely to install a POCIS system (Polar Organic Chemical Integrative Sampler) which is expected to enable detection of pollutants in the pumped water from the Lys River.

The solution is expected to improve the quality of the drinking water supplies in the region.

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Image: SMAEL’s drinking water production facility at Aire sur la Lys, France. Photo: ©Sébastien Jarry