WORLD PUMPS April 2005 www.worldpumps.com 5

n e w s b u s i n e s s

A comprehensive study of thewater market in China haswarned that the country maysoon face a water crisis, butsuppliers of water treatmentmaterials could find themselvesin the midst of a boom. Thereport, ‘China Water’ by theHelmut Kaiser Consultancyexamines the water market,technology and projects in 34Provinces in China 2003-15.

The study sees China’s marketfor water and wastewatertreatment increasing toUS$22,7 billion in 2005 fromUS$18,7 billion in 2004 and isexpected to reach US$33.2billion by 2010. The residentialwater market reached US$1.46billion in 2004 and will increaseto US$3.3 billion by 2010 andUS$5.48 billion by 2015.

China, with a population of1.3 billion, is now confrontedwith severe problems of watershortages as well as waterpollution. As a result ofeconomic growth in the last tenyears, 77% of effluent iscurrently untreated, 70% of thepopulation has no access tosafe drinking water and 400 in600 cities face water shortages.

Contamination and lack ofsupply capacity are leadingfactors of these watershortages.

The Chinese government,vowing to solve water problemsby 2015, has constituted andimproved a series of laws andregulations such as opening thewater industry to civil andforeign investors under certainconditions. The tenth five yearplan of the Ministry ofConstruction determines thatsewage treatment facilitiesmust be built in all cities by2005, and that the sewagetreatment rate should increaseto 45% by 2005 and up to 90%by 2010. Massive investment(over US$200 billion) over thenext ten years is needed in bothwater supplies and wastewatertreatment.

Thanks to a large marketvolume and increasing growthrate, the market for watertreatment and water treatmentequipment presents a highprofit margin and profitpotential, although a relativelylow drinking water price mayhinder some investors fromentering the water industry.

China crisis – but boom forsuppliers in water market

Huge investment in USmunicipal wastewater plantsA recent report by the Mcllvaineresearch company says that needsfor higher wastewater dischargepurity, control of odours, capacityexpansion and replacement ofoverage systems are factorscontributing to the thousands ofcapital investment projects at USmunicipal wastewater treatmentplants (MWTP).

The online report, ‘US MunicipalWastewater Treatment Facilitiesand People’ states that whilelarge numbers of wastewatertreatment plants wereconstructed in the US during the1970s and 1980s, when largesums of federal money wereavailable for implementation of

the Clean Water Act, much ofthe equipment is now over 25years old and reaching the endof its useful life. This means anumber of upgrades at the16,000 municipal wastewatertreatment plants in the US.

For example, the Lake Pleasantplant in Pheonix, Arizona, isundergoing a new $336mdesign-build-operate contractwith 80 MGD capacity and inColorado Springs, work on anew $68 million new MunicipalWater Treatment Plant isplanned to start in the spring of2006. Other projects are goingahead in Santa Paula, Californiaand Clackamas County, Oregon.

John Crane buys in ChinaJohn Crane EAA has acquired theChinese company Tianjin TimingSeals. The new company will beknown as John Crane Timing,but will continue to be based inTianjin. Tianjin Timing Seals hasbeen a provider of hi-technologyturbo-machinery sealingproducts for industrialapplications. John Crane Timingintends to offer customers in theregion a wider range of products,improved in-territory facilities andaccess to larger resources.

The company’s product range willcome from both the existing JohnCrane and Tianjin Timing Sealsportfolios. It will include both highand low pressure seals suited tosuch process industries as oil, gas,pulp and paper, petrochemicalsand chemicals. Technical supportand service will be available on around-the-clock basis both on-site, and at the company’s Tianjinheadquarters, which also providescustomers with access seal repairand test facilities.

Flowserve has acquired theInterseal assets of Australia-based Ludowici MineralProcessing Equipment Pty Ltd.Interseal had 2004 revenues ofA$2.2 million. The acquisitiondemonstrates Flowserve FlowSolutions Division serious interestin the mineral and ore processingmarket. "This transaction is inline with Flowserve's strategy to

manage our portfolio ofbusinesses to capture the full lifecycle of our products andenhance our end-user support,"said Andy Beall, president of theFlow Solutions Division. It ishoped that the acquisition willhelp customers improve thereliability and lower theoperating costs of their rotatingequipment.

Flowserve moves further into ores andminerals with Interseal acquisition