BILFINGER magazine - 01.2014 THE ELEMENT OF LIFE
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BILFINGER
THE
ELEMENT
OF LIFE
01.2014
NEW ENERGY | 8
NUTRITION | 24
RENEWAL | 30
2
BILFINGER
MAGAZINE
01.2014
WE MAKE IT WORK 3
WINTER JOY
“When the snow falls, and when the sun snow per hour – more than a million cubic meters
shines,” sings Austrian songwriter Wolfgang Am- over the course of a season. The machines are fed
bros, there is only one longing: “Go skiing!” In with glacial water that is collected in giant stor-
Sölden, Austria, for example. Here, skiiers are at- age ponds. With its fully automated pumping sta-
tracted by 150 kilometers of slopes between 1,500 tions and distribution systems, Bilfinger Industrie-
and over 3,000 meters above sea level and a snow technik Salzburg ensures that the water from the
guarantee from October to May. Such a guarantee ponds finds its way up to the snow machines. The
is possible not only because of the glaciers, but effort is well worth it – in his heavy Austrian ac-
also because of the 330 snow machines. In a mat- cent, pop singer Ambros describes the feeling one
ter of seconds, they turn water into fine ice crys- gets when skiing as follows: “Everybody’s happy,
tals. They spit out about 10,000 cubic meters of everybody’s having a good time!”
4
BILFINGER
MAGAZINE
01.2014
CONTENTS 5
EDITORIAL
Photo Catherine Karnow / Agentur Focus
8 17
22 24
DEAR READER,
Water is essential. We need it to drink and
wash, for agriculture and industry, for cool-
ing and heating and to generate electricity.
It is a resource, source of energy and eco-
nomic engine. And for these reasons, it is
one of our greatest assets.
30 44
Roland Koch
Chief Executive Officer
of Bilfinger SE
All around the world, Bilfinger is support-
ing communities and industry in their ef-
forts to use water more efficiently. We help
8 17 22 24 30 38 44 to reduce consumption and to purify waste-
water. We manufacture and assemble pres-
Energy Blue Power from Jelly Water in Resource Deep sure piping for hydroelectric plants, install
transformation wonder the stream treat Mexico City manager civilization turbines and develop electrical systems
In Austria, Bilfinger is The water we use every The Lehen river sill in Jellyfish have become The megacity suffers Professor Peter Cornel French architect Jacques with which energy generation and distribu-
working on one of the lar- day is among our most Salzburg crosses the a plague of the seas. from water shortages advocates for small, Rougerie designs fantas- tion can be controlled.
gest hydroelectric power important resources – Salzach. A spectacularly What can we do about it? and floods. decentralized plants tic residential and work- Together with committed partners from the
plants in Europe: the and the most beautiful: beautiful structure that One possibility is to eat Bilfinger is involved and for the reuse of ing spaces under water. world of science, we are also looking into
Reißeck II pumped sto- a journey to World tames the river and them! A visit with a in giant infrastructure water. He is heading a His Sea Orbiter will revo- decentralized water supply systems and
rage plant is key to the Heritage Sites around generates clean energy. jellyfish cook in Berlin. projects that will bring pilot project in Namibia. lutionize ocean research. create solutions for integrated wastewater
new energy policy. the globe. some relief. management.
Read all about these topics in this issue of
the magazine.
2 6 28 40 43 48 50 Yours truly,
WE MAKE IT WORK KALEIDOSCOPE COMPLEMENTARY EUREKA! WHAT EXACTLY IS NEWS INSIDE STORY
Winter joy Little streams, Clean stream Solutions from Bilfinger … cumulative fatigue? From the company Susan Rooi – South Africa
big rivers
6
BILFINGER
MAGAZINE
01.2014
KALEIDOSCOPE WATER 7
BIG WORDS
VISIONARY
“THE BIG FLOWING RIVERS “Water is the coal of the future. The energy of tomorrow is water that has been separated by an electrical current.
NEED THE LITTLE STREAMS.” The elements from water that are gained in this way, hydrogen and oxygen, will secure the world’s energy supply
far into the future.”
ALBERT SCHWEITZER (1875 – 1965) JU LES VERN E IN HIS NOVEL “THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND,” PUBLISHED IN 1874
WATER RESERVES A FEVERISH FINAL
0%
Following the Champions League Final in London between Borussia Dort-
of the eart mund and Bayern München on May 25, 2013, Munich’s municipal utility
h’s
e oceans th showed a kind of fever curve on its Facebook page. Highs and lows are
su
7
of marked by the volume of water that rushed through the waste pipes in Mu-
rfac
er
nich’s households during the game.
h e s alt w at
Wate vers
e
Between the 30th and 43rd minute Arjen Robben’s moves kept viewers glued
r co
to their televisions. The first opportunity for a trip down the hall came dur-
ing halftime. The wastewater curve also clearly reflects frustration after the
97
.5 %
is t
penalty shot for Dortmund and the sense of relief after the 2-1 game-win-
at
th
of ning goal for Munich.
Frustration in Munich
L/sec
front of Weidenfeller
Halftime
Robben all alone in
1:0 Mandžukić
2:1 Robben
Only
0.3 %
5,000
of all freshwater reserves on
r earth are easily accessible
ate
.3ter%
o f the f r es to people in rivers
o u n d wa t h -
is gr
hw
er and lakes
30 60 89
33
is fres
36
wa
About
66.6 %
3,000 43
.5%
of the earth’s freshwater
is frozen – as polar ice
and glaciers 67 68 Time
2 8:15 p.m 12:00
midnight
1:1
Only
Starting
whistle
Penalty
shot called
source: German Federal Agency for Civic Education source: Municipal Utility of Munich
WATER IS A
BASIC HUMAN RIGHT
WHAT YOU CAN DO WITH
1,000 LITERS OF WATER ALL DRIED UP
DOWN UNDER
Photo © 2011 Rotary Henley on Todd Inc.
780 million people around the world are ... take 10 baths ... shave 365 days
without access to clean drinking water. The Henley-on-Todd Regatta is held every year in Alice Springs. The boats can’t sink even
... shower 20 times ... wash your hands 400 times though they are bottomless: competitors race along the dried-up bed of the Todd River. In
2.5 billion people have no sanitary facilities. the fifty-year history of the event, it was canceled only once: in 1993 water was running
Every day, 2,000 children under the age of five ... do 22 loads of laundry ... brush your teeth 2,600 times in the river following a rare rainfall in the Outback. Members of the local Rotary Club
die as a result of polluted water. came up with the idea for the Regatta after wetting their throats with a few cold beers.
... flush the toilet 166 times ... make 45,454 ice cubes WWW.HENLEYONTODD.COM.AU
source: Unicef source: Energy and Water Potsdam
Bilfinger Project Manager Stephan Ebner and Technical
8 Project Manager Roland Eder at the Reißeck II pipe
bifurcation. The 215 megawatt turbines are being
BILFINGER installed just a few meters behind them.
MAGAZINE
01.2014 9
TRANSFORMING
THE WAY WE
PRODUCE ENERGY
The construction of the Reißeck II pumped storage power plant gives rise to
one of Europe’s largest hydroelectric power plants in Kärnten, Austria.
Text MARKUS WANZECK | Photos CH RISTOPH PÜSCH N ER
The construction site – Austria’s answer to a future nuclear power plant, had it been connected to the grid. cost and effort: existing lakes simply had to be opened
when the rethink in energy policy will be reality – is a Now the Malta main stage is being extended. Today, up for the pumped storage operation. Payback of the
trip down memory lane for Erich Payer, 58. Almost 40 power generation is not the be-all and end-all. The in- €385 million invested will take an estimated 30 years.
years ago he was here on the mountain, back in the telligent distribution and intermediate storage of the In early 2012, Erich Payer returned to the Möll valley
days when the power plant Malta main stage was be- generated energy is becoming more important all the under contract to Bilfinger VAM. Since then he has been
ing built. Yes, of course, he still remembers it like it was time. The Reißeck II pumped storage power plant has spending most of his days in the mountain, as the new
yesterday. He was a young fitter, crawling through the therefore been taking shape across the Möll valley since pumped storage power plant is being built entirely un-
two pressurized pipes, which since then run from the 2010. By connecting the lakes and hydroelectric power derground. Galleries stretching nine kilometers were
Burgstall down to the Rottau power station in the Möll stations of the hitherto separate Malta and Reißeck- driven into the mountain. “You go in in the morning, in
valley, cascading in parallel, virtually two kilometers Kreuzeck systems, a power plant grid with huge storage brilliant sunshine,” he says. “And when you come out
long, like gigantic waterfalls. That was 1974 through capacity is being created – the Kölnbrein reservoir again, there’s 20 centimeters of fresh snow.” But it also
1976. Two years later the hydroelectric power station forms part of this system; with a capacity of 200 mil- has its good points: “In summer it’s not that hot. In win-
came on stream. In the same year, a national referen- lion cubic meters of water it is Austria’s largest storage ter not that cold.”
dum forced the plug to be pulled on Austria’s only nu- reservoir – along with sophisticated instrumentation Take today for instance. Outside, up the mountain,
clear power plant shortly before it went into operation. for voltage management in the European power grid. the first snow has fallen. Here, at 1,585 meters, in the 40-
Bilfinger employees completing the final welding seams on the
The hydroelectric power station has an output of 730 Reißeck II increases the output of the power plant meter-high cavern in which power will be generated so-called T-section which connects the Malta and Reißeck-Kreuzeck
megawatts – roughly the same as the Zwentendorf by over 40 percent to 1,459 megawatts at relatively little from 2014, Erich Payer can breathe in and out deeply power plant groups.
Largest reservoir, highest dam: the Kölnbrein reservoir is a symbol
10 of Austrian ingenuity. Reißeck II connects it with the lakes of the
Reißeck-Kreuzeck power plant group. OVERVIEW
BILFINGER
MAGAZINE
01.2014 How Reißeck II
works
The amount of power fed in from renewable energy
sources, especially from wind and solar power plants,
cannot be predicted exactly. In order to stabilize the volt-
age in the power grid, intermediate storage is therefore
set to become increasingly important, along with cross-
border cooperation between power plant and grid opera-
tors. The ideal scenario is a smart grid in which all ener-
gy producers, storage facilities and consumers are in con-
stant contact with each other and respond to each other.
Pumped storage power plants such as Reißeck II pump
water from the valley into the higher-lying storage reser-
voirs in times when there is surplus energy (and low en-
MULTIFUNCTIONAL ergy costs). At night, for example. When power demand
surges (along with energy costs), the reservoirs are emp-
Energy grid management with water tied again, the water flows through the turbines back
into the valley. In this way around 75 percent of the
energy, which is not required during surplus phases, is
stored intermediately and can be called upon when re-
quired.
Two existing hydroelectric power station groups, Mal-
ta and Reißeck-Kreuzeck, will be connected with each
other thanks to the construction of Reißeck II. The new
pumped storage power plant increases, on the one hand,
In times of surplus energy, Reißeck II pumps When energy is needed, water from the Water from the higher-lying reservoirs is
water into the higher-lying reservoirs. reservoirs is released through the Reißeck II released through the Reißeck II turbines the maximum output of the combined power plant group:
ENERGY IS STORED. turbines into the valley. into lower-lying reservoirs. plus 40 percent is the figure for power generation during
ENERGY IS GENERATED. ENERGY IS GENERATED. turbine operation, while the output is even doubled dur-
ALTERNATIVE 1 ALTERNATIVE 2 ing pump operation. On the other hand, the power plant
opens up storage reservoirs, which had been built as
annual storage facilities in the 1950s and 1960s, for
pumped storage operation. The content of these reservoirs
Reißeck II networked will no longer be emptied and filled just annually, but
without his breath condensing into clouds. He tightens be shattered even when putting up IKEA shelves,” says 2 500 m within the space of a week.
Power plant group 1
up nuts: completion work on the intake manifold flaps. Payer. A mischievous smile breaks out upon his lips un- Reißeck II can generate large quantities of electricity
Reißeck-
Erich is responsible for assembling these two flaps as der his moustache. “But these things here are one-offs, 2 000 m Kreuzeck 4 with a starting time of just one to two minutes – and
2 3
Malta upper stage
well as for assembling the two rotary valves. These four there’s no foolproof assembly instructions to go with thereby react immediately to temporary energy bottle-
main stage
Malta
elements act like a faucet. They can interrupt the flow them.” 1500 m necks. Conversely when, for instance, offshore wind pow-
of water where necessary – no easy task. After all, up Malta power plant group Galgenbichl er generators feed excessive amounts of power into the
power plant
to 80,000 liters of water per second gush through two MAKING CONNECTIONS 1000 m
Rottau power plant
grid during a storm on the North Sea coast, the pumped
turbines when generating electricity, each turbine driv- In addition to the rotary valves and the intake manifold Kolbnitz power plant and equalizing reservoir storage power plant can be deployed in a matter of min-
500 m Möll
ing a dynamo that weighs 265 tons. By contrast, pump flaps, Bilfinger VAM is also contributing other crucial utes to reduce the voltage by switching to pump opera-
mode involves the turbines rotating in the opposite di- components in the new plant, including the 1,400-me- 1 Großer Mühldorfer Lake 2 Gößkar reservoir 3 Galgenbichl reservoir 4 Kölnbrein reservoir tion and consuming large amounts of energy. Even a “hy-
rection, pumping up to 70,000 liters every second into ter-long pressure shaft above the power plant and the draulic short-circuit” is possible. As part of this process
the high-lying storage reservoirs. T-section below the power plant, which merges the 2 500 m one of the two turbines in the power plant generates elec-
Erich Payer is already looking forward to installing pipes from Reißeck II with the existing plant from the 1 tricity with water flowing down the valley, while the oth-
the rotary valves. Each rotary valve weighs 120 tons. 1970s. This junction connects the hitherto hydraulical- Pressure shaft er turbine pumps water up the mountain in pump mode.
2 000 m
Reißeck II pumped 2 3 4
They have to be transported from the Zgorcelec produc- ly separated power plant groups Malta and Reißeck- storage power plant The water comes full circle. “That is pure energy destruc-
tion site in Poland to the Möll valley and from there ne- Kreuzeck. The T-section is therefore the central link in 1500 m tion,” says Roland Eder, Technical Project Manager at
Rotary valves
gotiate the 16 hairpin bends up the mountain. That’s the power plant group that is under construction. T-section and intake manifold flaps Bilfinger VAM. This may be necessary in response to an
where the really difficult part begins. It comes down to “The welding on the T-section will be finished with 1000 m extended surplus of power in the grid when the storage
pinpoint accuracy when winching these leviathans in- the night shift,” explains August Katteneder, the Deputy reservoirs are full.
to the cavern during the installation. “Relationships can Construction Site Manager. In the afternoon at six, 500 m
12
BILFINGER
MAGAZINE
01.2014 13
Work on the pressure shaft and the T-section is now behind the Bilfinger VAM team.
The mighty 3.60-meter tubes will be filled with water in a few months.
punctually at the shift changeover, there is a barbecue veritable world record”: over 800 meters of inclined
on the terrace of the Bilfinger office container. Meat, sal-
shaft in just five months.
ad, drinks by the crate, Katteneder has thought of every- Just below the Schoberboden summit station where
thing. “You can often see deer from the terrace,” the am-
Europe’s highest narrow gauge railway climbs to 2,247
ateur hunter says. The raised hides which the local meters lies the top end of the inclined shaft. It is damp
huntsmen have built into the treetops on the sides of the
in the access tunnel. Solid white bony stalactites hang
valley almost impress him more than the scale of the down from the ceiling. Here the huge sections of pres-
huge construction site in the mountain: “You wouldn’t sure pipe, fourteen meters long, 3.6 meters in diameter,
get me up there.” were driven by a low-loader into the mountain and
then fed into the shaft with the aid of a 60-ton cable AUGUST KATTENEDER ERICH PAYER
90 DEGREE GRADIENT winch and a transport trolley built in-house. Hydraulics Deputy Construction Site Manager Assembly Foreman
On the next morning Stephan Ebner, Reißeck overall enabled the trolley to be maneuvered precisely so the
Project Manager at Bilfinger, and Technical Project pipes could be pushed together with millimeter accu-
Manager Roland Eder discuss progress to date with Site racy. The heaviest assembly unit weighed 36 tons. The
Erich Payer and August Katteneder have been working together for decades.
Manager Friedrich Brandstätter. Intake manifold flaps: shaft has a gradient of 90 percent. Working platforms
tick. T-section: tick. Pressure shaft? Assembly of the were inserted into the pipe, which is being built up In the power plant cavern they discuss the assembly of the rotary valves.
pressure shaft was a masterpiece, says Brandstätter, “a from the bottom and connected via access steps and Unique specimens weighing 120 tons each.
14
BILFINGER
MAGAZINE
01.2014 INTERVIEW Dr. Larcher, how much electricity can the new power plant group
around Reißeck II produce?
Peak energy 1,459 megawatts. That’s equivalent to around the output of one-and-a-
half state-of-the-art nuclear reactors. With Reißeck II we will in future
be able to supply around 200,000 more homes with peak current, which
Reißeck II was commissioned means that we control around 10 percent of demand for peak energy in
by Verbund Hydro Power AG. Austria.
An interview with Dr. Markus What does peak energy mean?
Larcher, the energy utility’s It means we feed electricity into the grid when consumption is particu-
project manager. larly high. Typically in the morning when everyone gets up, then again
around midday and finally when everyone finishes work. When power
consumption is low, on the other hand, we take power from the grid
and use it to pump water back into the storage reservoirs.
You fill your “green batteries.”
Some people describe it like that. “Green” is associated with environ-
mentally friendly energy. Power produced from coal and nuclear plants,
however, accounts for a substantial part of the European and Austrian
electricity mix. It’s what we call gray power, which we use to fill our
storage reservoirs with water. Accordingly, our hydroelectric power
stations can also only feed gray power back into the grid.
But you do actually generate green energy from the natural
water inflow.
Yes, but the proportion of water at Reißeck II that flows from outside
into the storage system is minuscule. Compared with the amount of
water which we will be actively pumping up, it is perhaps just two per-
cent. The bottom line is that our power plant group consumes more
power than it generates. Pumping up the water wastes between 15 and
25 percent of the energy.
So Reißeck II does not contribute to environmentally friendly energy
View of the mountain landscape above the Möll Valley with the 2,500-meter generation?
Salzkofel in the background. The panorama will remain untouched: the new It certainly does. After all, our power plant group is connected to the
Reißeck II power plant is burrowed deep in the mountain. European power grid. Here, increasing amounts of power are being fed
in from renewable energy sources, primarily wind and solar power.
There are never-ending cycles of energy surpluses or shortfalls. That’s
where our storage reservoirs come into play. Without these kinds of in-
termediate storage facilities, the shift in energy policy would not be
carried along in the shaft. A narrow, steep, up to 70-me- the client was satisfied, very satisfied in fact: “We did possible. They help guarantee the stability of the electricity grid de-
ter-high staircase traveling upward step by step: “There not find a single weld seam that needed reworking,” spite the feed-in fluctuations.
you need people who don’t get fazed by confined spaces says Dr. Markus Larcher, Project Manager of the Ver- How quickly can you feed in electricity if necessary?
or heights.” bund Hydro Power AG. “This isn’t something you come It takes just a minute to flip the power switch at Reißeck II. A gas-fired
across every day.” power plant is no match. And coal-fired power plants are in an entirely
PERFECT WELD SEAMS So, pressure shaft: tick. All that’s missing are the two different league – where starting up and shutting down take days.
The TIG hot wire process was used for the weld seams rotary valves. Erich Payer will supervise their installa- Bilfinger provides key components for Reißeck II. How did that
on the pressure shaft, a semiautomated technology. The tion together with six colleagues. In spring 2014 the come about?
pipe junctions are heated to 130° Celsius prior to the commissioning work will begin; the inclined shaft will Bilfinger can look back on many years’ experience of power plant con-
welding. A robot controlled by a supervisor then welds be slowly flooded. The dress rehearsal for Reißeck II will struction. We worked together well on many occasions, such as with
them together with extreme precision using a welding coincide almost exactly with Payer’s 40th anniversary the Limberg II pumped storage power plant completed in Kaprun in
rod that has also been preheated. The welding process with the company. 2011. With these kinds of projects Bilfinger has consistently demon-
is thus faster and uses less energy. And the results are What then when the pumped storage power plant is strated its extensive expertise in coordinating with other contractors.
also extraordinary: the toughness values of the weld connected to the grid? When everything has come full At Reißeck II it was equally important that deadline compliance went
seams in the pressure shaft were so outstanding that circle for Erich Payer? Payer shrugs his shoulders: What hand in hand with extremely high flexibility. That turned out to be one
the client was convinced the measurements must be would you expect me to do? “I’m not sentimental,” he of Bilfinger’s fortes. Today, only three years after the start of construc-
flawed when the data was handed over, and conse- finally says. He’ll take a few days off. “Afterwards, we’ll tion and a year before commissioning the power plant, we are on time
quently had everything rechecked. In the end though, move on together, Katteneder and me.” and on budget.
VAM.BILFINGER.COM VERBUND.COM
16 MAUELL.BILFINGER.COM
BILFINGER
MAGAZINE
01.2014 17
WATERWORLD
BILFINGER MAUELL
Control technology
for hydroelectric
power The water we use every day is among our most important resources –
The turbines of a hydroelectric power plant must run and the most beautiful: a journey to World Heritage Sites around the globe.
at a constant speed in order for them to feed electrici-
ty into the power grid. When that happens, the gener-
ators deliver the necessary alternating current with Texts PAU L LAM PE / MATH IAS RITTG EROTT
exactly 50 hertz. The speed of the turbines is con-
trolled fully automatically by the position of the
blades, for example, or by changing the turbine in-
take. Bilfinger Mauell has been providing this tech-
nology for many decades, including for EnBW at the
Forbach pumped storage power plant in southern
Germany. Bilfinger Mauell controls over two dozen
hydroelectric power plants in Europe alone. The com-
pany is not just involved with the turbines, but also
ensures that the power plants work reliably when
networked with other power producers and that the
grid is not overloaded. The company’s control technol-
ogy manages the switchover between power produc-
tion where demand is high in the grid, and pumping
the water back into the storage reservoirs. In addi-
tion, this technology plays an important role in main-
taining the levels of rivers and storage reservoirs at
the prescribed height. Ultimately, hydroelectric power
plants and mills located downstream have to receive
sufficient water, fish stocks cannot be endangered
and shipping needs to be taken into account. The con-
trol data comes from a host of sensors located in the BETWEEN THE TIDES
power stations, but is often spread out over many
The Wadden Sea Gray sand stretches as far as the eye can see. With its surface ribbed by small
kilometers along waterways and in storage reservoirs
waves, the seabed resembles a giant washing board. The disappearing waterline can be seen in the
and connected via secure lines and UMTS connections
distance, an undulating white line. That’s where the sea begins.
to the control room. “Clients value our in-depth The rising winds push the gulls through the sky. The birds cry, the water gurgles and splashes.
The Forbach pumped storage power plant has been providing electricity knowledge,” says Jörg Meißner, Sales Engineer for Crabs rush from puddle to puddle. Small round pyramids that look like rolled-up spaghetti piles mark
in the Black Forest region for nearly a century. In the machine room, southern Germany. the places where the lugworms have made their homes.
control technology from Bilfinger Mauell ensures reliable operation. With its workforce of just under 500 employees, The moon’s gravity causes the waters to rise and fall along the 450-kilometer strip of coastline
Bilfinger Mauell not only supplies control technology between the Dutch island of Texel and the Danish city of Esbjerg. The tidal flats run dry twice a day.
for hydroelectric power, but for the entire energy sec- This unique ecosystem is home to millions of birds. The flat waters are at once a breeding
tor, right through to power transmission. Network ground and a source of food for fish. The salt marsh provides shelter to 2,300 animal and plant
technology for transformation networks in particular species. Migratory birds rest here to build up fat reserves before beginning their long journey south:
since 2009, these North Sea tidal flats have been a World Heritage Site, recognized as the “largest
is becoming a key competence in the wake of the
unbroken system of intertidal sand and mud flats in the world.”
shift in energy policy. Bilfinger Mauell already has a
significant market share in Germany in this
sector. Text MATH IAS RITTG EROTT
18
BILFINGER
MAGAZINE
01.2014 THE ISLANDS OF THE DRAGON 19
Ha Long Bay “Descending Dragon Bay” is the name the Vietnamese have given to this breathtaking
area. The group of 1,600 islands is said to have been formed by a monster with its tail. Some of the
towers and crests rise like giant goblets out of the sea. Cliff walls with vertical drops of 100 meters
cascade into the water. Caves pervade the islands. Inside they expand to reveal walls covered with
stalactites.
Geographers refer to this landscape as a “drowned cone karst.” Over a period of millions of
years, the water ate its way through the limestone, creating a mountainous landscape that was then
flooded by the sea: mountain peaks were transformed into islands.
Land and sea are intricately interwoven in Halong. Luxuriant tropical rain forest clings to the
islands, which are for the most part uninhabited. There are 74 animal and plant species that live only
here and nowhere else on the planet. This biological diversity continues below the surface of the
water, where more than 1,000 species of fish and corral are to be found.
Inhabitants of the bay live from fishing; they raise shrimps and oysters. Daily life, for the most
part, is played out on the water. Several villages float like rafts on the sea. Junks, barges and motor-
boats are the most important methods of transportation in this amazing water world.
WHEN GLACIERS GIVE BIRTH
Ilulissat Icefjord They drift lazily southward through the mirror-like waters of Disco Bay. As tall as
houses, their shining blue flanks and sharp edges rise out of the sea. The icebergs hide nine-tenths of
their mass underneath the water. Researchers believe that one of them sank the Titanic more than one
hundred years ago. Their nursery is located at the end of the Ilulissat Icefjord in Western Greenland.
With a speed of 19 meters a day, the Sermeq Kujalleq Glacier pushes its frozen treasure into the
fjord. The fjord, which is 1,000 meters deep and 60 kilometers long, transports about 35 cubic kilo-
meters of this treasure into the open sea each year, ten percent of the total ice mass pushed out by
Greenland annually. The only other ice movements on this scale can be found in the Antarctic.
Here, 250 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle, is the ideal location to explore how glaciers work
and how our climate is changing. The dramatic deterioration of the Sermeq Kujalleq Glacier of ten kilo-
meters between 2001 and 2007 is a clear indication of the impact that global climate change is having.
The temperature rises up to 25 degrees in the summer; that’s when the cruise ships anchor in Disco
Bay. Their passengers stare in wonder as the glacier gives birth to new icebergs.20
BILFINGER
MAGAZINE
01.2014 21
STILL WATERS RUN DEEP
Lake Baikal Jack Frost transforms Lake Baikal in Siberia into what appears to be an endless waste-
land of snow and ice. It is frozen from November to May when the average temperature dips to minus
20 degrees Celsius. The plate of ice is so thick that it becomes a transport route for cars, buses and
trucks. Several towns and a large number of islands are only accessible over this ice road.
At its widest point, the 636-kilometer-long lake measures a mere 82 kilometers, but its depth is
what makes it unique: the lake bottom is 1,642 meters below the surface at its deepest point. That
makes it the world’s deepest lake. The Amazon, the Nile, Ganges, Mississippi, Lena and several other
major rivers would need to flow into this giant reservoir for a year in order to fill it. One-fifth of the
world’s unfrozen freshwater is stored here, more than in North America’s five Great Lakes.
Despite its unusual purity, the freshwater seals that can only be found in Lake Baikal have the
water pretty much to themselves: human swimmers rarely dare to take a dip in the cold waters. Even
in the mild summer months, water temperatures only reach above ten degrees Celsius in a few shallow
bays due to the extreme depths elsewhere. In winter, the seals can only survive by staying close to
holes in the ice, which they keep open with their claws and teeth – a lot of work when the ice is near-
ly one meter thick.
THUNDERING SMOKE
Victoria Falls In 1855, the legendary researcher David Livingstone raved that he had never seen
anything more beautiful in Africa and dedicated the natural spectacle to her Majesty, Queen Victoria.
The Zambezi tumbles more than 100 meters across a breadth of 1,708 meters. 500 million liters of
water roars over the basalt ledge every minute. The veil of spray is often so thick that the falls them-
selves remain hidden behind it.
Upriver from the waterfall, the Zambezi, which here marks the border between Zambia and
Zimbabwe and is more than two kilometers wide, meanders lazily through the savannah. Suddenly
and unexpectedly, it throws itself with wild abandon into the gorge. When the waters are low during
the dry season, taking a swim in the Devil’s Pool is a special thrill for tourists. The natural basin lies
right at the edge of the falls.
Water from the falls nourishes a lush rain forest that does not live from precipitation, but from
the river’s spray: the torrent thus forms a green island in the vast expanse of the Savannah. The Kolo-
lo Tribe, which settled near the falls, called them “Thundering Smoke”: the spray climbs up to 300 me-
ters into the sky and can be seen from a distance of 30 kilometers.22
BILFINGER
MAGAZINE
01.2014 23
When the city of Salzburg makes itself
A POWERFUL
plant that provides 23,000 homes in Salzburg with ecological energy. Bil-
fit for the future, it does it in style: finger VAM was responsible for the prestigious project’s hydraulic steel
the Lehen riverbed sill is a spectacular structure. Among other things, the company designed, manufactured and
sculpture. It tames the river and generates assembled the four weir fields each of which is 16 meters wide with a
WORK OF ART electricity from the flow.
Opulent buildings, Mozart weeks and the city’s festival – Salzburg lives
well from its past. Over the last three years, another landmark has sprung
water level of nearly eight meters. They dam the Salzach when water lev-
els are normal – and allow it to partially or fully flow when waters are
high. Further components included the intake and outlet bulkheads with
which the turbines can be kept dry during maintenance. The screens that
up in the middle of this World Cultural Heritage City with its millions of keep debris out also come from Bilfinger as do the cleaning machines that
tourists annually: 10-meter waves now tower in the Salzach River, which automatically remove debris from the screens. In addition, Bilfinger VAM
had previously flowed quietly through the city. Immovable. Poured in con- installed the two turbines which together generate about 14 megawatts
crete. The work of art from architects Erich Wagner and Max Rieder cost of ecological energy.
€85 million. “The riverbed sill is a signpost pointing toward an energy-aware city
It is a work of art that connects: a pedestrian and bicycle bridge leads in which energy is generated directly,” says August Hirschbichler, Chief
across the concrete waves between the Lehen and Itzling districts of the Executive Officer of power plant operator Salzburg AG. Further advantages
city. And the upstream and downstream sections of the river itself, sep- of the structure: it prevents the recessing of the Salzach, the bed of which,
arated since the 1960s by a weir, have been connected once again thanks without regulation, threatens to erode several meters deep. And, through
Text MARKUS WANZECK to a fish ladder and a bypass channel. shore protection walls and a drainage system, it improves residents’ pro-
Photo CH RISTOPH PÜSCH N ER The special thing about it, however, is that the work of art is a power tection against floodwaters: a power plant as a complete work of art. |24
BILFINGER
MAGAZINE
01.2014 25
A soup bowl with odd strips of some
Who gelatinous substance. They have a whitish-
says brown shimmer and slip easily between
the fingers. Guan Guanfeng, chef at the
you
Connoisseurs especially enjoy the rhopilema esculentum which can weigh up to 50 kilograms each.
Long March Canteen in Berlin Kreuzberg,
can’t enthusiastically presents a dish on the
eat wood table, and it’s anything but appetiz-
ing. Jellyfish. Mr. Guan grins. “Back home
jellyfish? in China, I used to eat them with my bare
Jellyfish hands, just like German children eat slices
are of sandwich meat.” The 42-year-old chef
now prepares jellyfish salads for modern
considered
A whole new kettle of fish: it is every bit as fresh as it is complex with
city dwellers in the West: “I like to chal-
a delicacy lenge my guests a little.”
Jellies have been on the menu for thou-
in Asia sands of years in Asia – evidence dates
and back to the third century in the writings
intermingling savory, sweet, sour and spicy notes.
business of Chinese philosopher Zhang Hua. They
can be served as salad or as a side with
is soup and meat dishes, even offered along-
booming. side a shot of spirits or stuffed in spring
rolls. How about having your jellyfish
sautéed briefly with celery? Or perhaps
fried with noodles? They are especially
prized as delicacies in China and Japan.
Around one dozen types of jellies are con-
sidered edible. Leading the pack is rhopile-
ma esculentum, a jellyfish that can be up
to 50 centimeters wide and weigh as
much as 50 kilograms. Traditional Chinese
medicine attributes miraculous qualities
to the fish – it is thought to reduce blood
pressure, strengthen the joints and rejuve-
nate the skin. Nemopilema nomurai is
another mealtime favorite. At up to two
meters wide and weighing up to 200 kilo-
grams, it really is a true sea monster.
The jellyfish gourmet’s appetite is
virtually insatiable – in peak years up to
GOOEY 400,000 tons of jellyfish are pulled from
the waters of China, Thailand, Indonesia,
Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines
using nets, fish traps and hooks as long
as an adult’s forearm. But now even Aus-
BUT
tralian, Argentinian and American fisher-
men are on the hunt for jellies to export to
Asia. The international jellyfish trade is a
Text CH RISTIAN SYWOTTEK | Photos RAI N ER KWIOTEK multi-million dollar business.
Currently, jellyfish rarely find their way
GOOD
to plates in the West; even Chinese restau-
rants seldom put them on the menu. Guan
Guanfeng considers this more of a cultural
issue than a question of taste. He pushes26
BILFINGER
MAGAZINE
01.2014 27
the spaghetti-thin strips closer: “Give it a them together.” To that end, he stirs to-
try.” The consistency is reminiscent of gether a sauce of black rice vinegar, chili
tripe. They are a bit crunchy and taste oil and sugar, then, after coating the jelly-
slightly salty and fresh. There is not much fish-apple mixture with the sauce, he adds
more to them than that – but it is precise- a good shot of sesame oil, two tablespoons
Jellyfish spell trouble for the planet. But there is a solution: eat them up!
ly this that makes them the ideal treat for of coriander and finally stirs in some black
Guan Guanfeng. “They just have that per- pepper. The composition tastes quite fresh
Will jellyfish go on a triumphant march through European kitchens?
It’s already started at the Long March Canteen in Berlin-Kreuzberg.
fect crunch!” and sophisticated with intermingling sa-
The fact that the jellyfish are crunchy vory, sweet, sour and spicy notes.
Chef Guan Guanfeng: “I like to challenge my guests a little.”
at all is the result of a long process that
begins back on the fishing boats. Mere IDEAL FOR SLIM WAISTLINES
hours after capture, fishermen remove A small dish with a big impact. Just the
the tentacles with their poisonous cnidae, way it should be. “Jellyfish are for the
along with mouth and entrails, leaving be- mouth, not the stomach,” says Guan Guan -
hind nothing but the jelly’s umbrella. Back feng, “they don’t fill you up.” But they are
on land, experienced “jellyfish masters” certainly healthy. What they lack in fat
cure the umbrellas for weeks in various and cholesterol they make up for with a
salt mixtures until the centimeter-thick good dose of protein and important trace
watery masses have been reduced to mil- elements like selenium and minerals such
limeter-thin, highly salty skins. as potassium and calcium. At less than 20
Now in the form of table-sized sheets, kilocalories per 100 grams, they are ideal
they land in the hands of cooks, like Guan for slim waistlines.
And that is not the only reason they
may yet start turning up on plates in ever-
greater frequency. As farmland grows
scarce and the global livestock industry
continues to consume – often irresponsi-
bly – natural resources, jellyfish are avail-
able on a massive scale. Coastal regions
worldwide have been outright plagued by
jellyfish with dramatic consequences.
Japanese fishermen, for example, are fre-
quently troubled by swarms of giant No-
mura jellyfish numbering in the millions,
which either rip the fishermen’s nets or
kill the entire catch in the nets with their
venomous tentacles. Injuries to swimmers
are on the rise in the Mediterranean, and
jellyfish have clogged the cooling water
systems at power plants and seawater
desalination plants across the globe.
Guanfeng, who then prepare thinly sliced The jellyfish population boom is attrib- the threat of jellyfish-dominated ecosys- recipes while the Food and Agriculture Or- mauve stinger pelagia noctiluca. At the In-
strips which are soaked in water for about uted to climate change and an increased tems where fish populations die out in ganization of the United Nations has en- stitute of Marine Sciences in Barcelona,
six hours to reduce the salt content and al- amount of nutrients from river estuaries, ever-greater frequency – as is the case couraged the consumption of jellyfish to Spain, researchers are developing methods
low them to swell. They serve as an excel- but the primary cause lies in the overfish- off the coast of Namibia where jellyfish lessen their impact. The situation also has to detoxify the approximately 30-centime-
lent medium for the subtle taste that sur- ing of the world’s oceans. Natural preda- have decimated the once plentiful sardine scientists in Europe worried. On behalf of ter-wide Mediterranean “fried egg” jelly.
rounds them, which should not overpower tors such as tuna, swordfish and tortoises population. the Spanish government, the Balearic Cen- “We’re going to have more and more prob-
their own modest flavor. are on the decline along with jellyfish ter for Applied Biology in Palma de Mallor- lems with jellyfish in the future,” agrees
Guan Guanfeng starts by carefully mix- competitors who also eat fish eggs, larvae ICE CREAM AND RISOTTO ca collaborated with chefs to come up marine biologist Jamileh Javidpour at
ing a handful of jellyfish strips with a and small fish. As a result, the jellyfish In light of the situation, jellyfish are in- with jellyfish-flavored biscuits, jellyfish GEOMAR Helmholtz Center for Ocean
handful of sour strips of apple. “And since population is expanding rapidly and, in creasingly catching the attention of politi- ice cream and jellyfish risotto – putting Research in Kiel, Germany, “but they cer-
these two ingredients really have nothing the process, eating up the next genera- cians. The Japanese Ministry of Fisheries, two particular pests to good use: the bar- tainly could have a lot to offer as a delica-
in common, they need something to pull tions of other species of fish. This presents for example, has published a collection of rel jellyfish rhizostoma pulmo and the cy, diet food or supplement.” |28
BILFINGER
MAGAZINE
01.2014
COMPLEMENTARY 29
Ulf Beyer
Bilfinger Ahr ensures immaculate hygienic conditions at 230 clinics and healthcare facilities in
Germany. One important requirement: sterile mops and washcloths. “In the past, we had to boil the
textiles used for cleaning in order to disinfect them,” explains Ulf Beyer, Product Manager at
Bilfinger Ahr. “Today we use a low-temperature detergent that kills all germs already at 60 degrees
Celsius.” Bilfinger Ahr helped develop the computer-controlled washing program. It shortens wash
times from 90 to 67 minutes. This means that more than two kilowatt hours are saved for each
machine load – a significant amount with over 900 washloads every day. “As a result of the lower
temperatures, we have reduced CO2 emissions by 360 tons each year.”
Anna Horenkohl
Over the last four years, Anna Horenkohl has
made sure that the ecosystem on Dupenau
Creek in the northern part of Hamburg
remains intact. There, Bilfinger Construction
built large sections of the approximately six-
kilometer-long tunnel system for the new XFEL
x-ray flash facility from which scientists
expect to achieve a deeper understanding of
particle physics in the future. Bilfinger treated
the construction and groundwater before it
reached the Dupenau. From June 2009 until
June 2013, 5,000 cubic meters of water flowed
through the purification system at the con-
struction site each week. Suspended solids
were separated, pollutants and heavy metals
were removed from the water with the help of
active carbon filters and ion exchangers. It
was not only constant chemical analyses
which showed the Quality Manager that the
water in the Dupenau remained clean. The
grey herons she saw each morning as she
rode her bike to the construction site through
the Dupenau floodplains were also evidence
of an intact ecosystem.31
WHEN WATER RAGES BILFINGER
MAGAZINE
01.2014
Mexico City is blighted by water shortages and floods.
The megacity’s future hinges on investment in infrastructure –
and on a new approach to the issue of water.
Text MATH IAS BECKER | Photos M IGU EL FERRAZ
In residential areas like this one on the southern fringe of
Mexico City, there are no water pipes. Residents rely on
tank trucks. But these vehicles are also a common sight in
many more central districts.32
BILFINGER
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01.2014 33
There are days when Iztapalapa is bone- the metropolitan area are 400 meters deep. are funneled back into the center. Giant
Water shortages and dry one moment and almost drowning in Fossil groundwater will soon be extracted pumping stations force the wastewater long
flooding are not new water the next. In the morning a rusty-
brown liquid drips out of the faucets in the
from 2,000 meters.
Overexploitation has already led to prob-
distances through the sewers until it flows
into the lower-lying surroundings under its
phenomena in the Valley neighborhood, and the local residents are on lem number two. The city is built on swampy own momentum. Yet the technology cannot
the lookout for the white tankers that slowly subsoil, which is sinking as the groundwater cope with torrential downpours. Parts of the
of Mexico. But both have wind their way through the narrow streets, is being removed – a phenomenon that is all city end up flooding.
grown along with the city. filling the cisterns from thick hoses. It only too apparent: bumps are appearing in roads,
takes a cloudburst to turn the streets into rail tracks are buckling, many houses are AZTEC DAM
rivers in no time, leaving the very same peo- scarred by deep cracks. The historic center is Neither water shortages nor floods are new
ple stranded in their living rooms with mud nine meters lower than 100 years ago. The phenomena in Mexico’s valley. Where today
up to their knees. Then Luis Monreal’s cell 450-year-old cathedral is only still standing the infinite sea of buildings stretches out in
phone sounds its storm warning. The wiry because it was propped up extensively. At the capital, there used to be an extended
51-year old man works full-time for the city’s certain points the ground has given way up lake district. The Aztecs once built their capi-
civil protection agency. He documents the to 40 centimeters – per year. tal Tenochtitlan on several islands. Even this
damage and organizes aid. He says: “I can Added to the visible signs of damage are premodern Venice had to be supplied with
only pick up the pieces and wait for the next the problems hidden away from sight, and fresh water via an aqueduct; flooding was
catastrophe.” hence problem number three: the water no also a regular blight on the region. Finally
longer drains off by itself. Mexico City sits in Aztec ruler Moctezuma had a long protective
HIGHEST CONSUMPTION a high valley, which has been drained for barrier built to hold back the water. But it
Iztapalapa in the south-west of Mexico City centuries by a growing sewer system. Yet as was another force that would break it short-
“We want to get
has become synonymous with the mega - the height has fallen, so the flow rate of the ly afterwards: when the Spaniards con- people to appreciate
city’s water problems. Around 1.8 million sewers has been reduced. In some places the quered Tenochtitlan, they wasted no time
people live in the district with no reliable flow direction has even reversed: the masses eliminating any remnants of the old Empire. the natural cycles.”
water supply. The water trickling out of the of water no longer run out of the city, but They tore down dams and drained the lake. LU IS MON REAL
pipes causes skin rashes for many of the lo-
cals. Sometimes the city switches off the
system for several days in a bid to save wa-
ter. Those who have filled up their tanks can
count themselves lucky. To make their sup-
plies last longer, people then collect the wa-
ter from the shower, use it for cleaning and
water their plants with it. They purchase
drinking water that is used for cooking or to
bathe infants in bottles and canisters from
the supermarket, consuming 500 liters of
bottled drinking water per person per year –
the highest consumption anywhere in the
world.
The struggle for water is particularly strik-
ing in Iztapalapa – a problem that has dogged
the entire city and surroundings for many
years, which with its 22 million inhabitants
is the world’s third-largest conurbation.
THE CITY IS SINKING
Problem number one is daily water con-
sumption which is more than twice as high
as in Germany. 62,000 liters gush through
the city’s pipes every second. Three-quarters
of which is groundwater whose level is con- Pipes break as the ground sinks.
stantly sinking. Some of the 3,000 wells in The city can hardly keep up with repairs.34
BILFINGER
MAGAZINE
01.2014 35
In its place they created a city based along are therefore promoting the idea of increas-
European lines. They built its cathedral in ing the price of water. “That’s the only way
the exact same spot where the Aztecs had you have serious incentives to save.” To date
worshipped their gods. the price has been subsidized, with huge
quantities of water ending up on the gar-
ONE-THIRD TRICKLES AWAY dens and in the pools of the affluent uptown
The efforts that went into water supply and neighborhoods.
disposal, however, also formed part of the Of course, this regulating mechanism has
Spanish conquistadors’ inheritance. Prob- its limits. People still need to be able to afford
lems that have grown with the city and ne- their water. “To solve the problem, we also
cessitate the never-ending search for new have to think outside the box,” says Professor
technical solutions. Two hours by car to the Peter Cornel. The Head of the IWAR Institute
west, in the green rolling hills, lies the “Los at the Technical University of Darmstadt sup-
Berros” waterworks. In its extensive pool ports the idea of reusing water: “What comes
system 19 cubic meters of water can be out of the shower or washing machine can,
treated a second. The water comes from an when it is pretreated, still be used to flush the
extensive network of storage reservoirs, the toilet.” Electricity and heat must then be gen-
“Sistema Cutzamala.” It is pumped at great erated from the wastewater in the local treat-
expense over a difference in altitude of up to ment and biogas plants. In Hanoi in Vietnam,
1,100 meters up to this point before it – fil- Qingdao in China and Outapi in Namibia, Cor-
tered and disinfected – rushes in large pipes nel has accompanied construction of the first
another 130 kilometers toward the capital. plants of this kind. Particularly in Mexico
Together with the smaller “Sistema Lerma,” City, all of that sounds like a distant vision:
Residents of Mexico City need the “Sistema Cutzamala” provides more than here most of the wastewater flows from the
30 percent of Mexico City’s water. Water that sewers untreated into rivers and ends up in
500 liters of bottled drinking water is scarce at times in the surrounding area. the sea.
per person per year – the highest One-third of this precious water is lost
though. Dripping and trickling faucets in NEW INFRASTRUCTURE
consumption anywhere in the world. homes account for part of the loss, yet the In the north of the megacity at least there is
major share leaks from poor pipes into the some prospect of improvement. Here they
ground before it ever gets to a bathroom or a are building the world’s largest sewer tunnel
kitchen. The city’s sinking subsoil continual- and sewage works. With a diameter of six
ly causes the pipes to crack and leaves the meters, the “Túnel Emisor Oriente” is almost
National Water Commission “Conagua” as big as the Gotthard Tunnel. But at 62 kilo-
struggling to keep up with repairs. Construc- meters it is six kilometers longer. The tunnel
tion crews are digging up the sidewalks and can channel up to 150 cubic meters of water
roads the length and breadth of the city in per second from the city. When it presum-
order to plug the leaks. Enormous invest- ably comes on stream in 2018, the flooding
ments would be needed to stop the hemor- in the city could be little more than a dis-
rhaging of water. tant memory. And the “Planta de Atotonil-
In future, about 60 percent of the city’s wastewater will co,” which is being built an hour’s drive by
be purified at the Atotonilco wastewater treatment plant. INCENTIVE TO SAVE car north of the city center at the end of the
“It is even more important to tackle the tunnel, should convert around 60 percent of
problem from another side, too – consump- the black water from Mexico City into grey
tion,” says Fernando González, director of water. At a rate of 50 cubic meters a second,
the think tank at the Autonomous Universi- enough to irrigate 80,000 hectares of land
ty of Mexico (UNAM), who is looking for so- in the region. The sewage sludge ends up in
lutions to the complex problem. Thanks to a biogas plant, which will provide around 60
savings campaigns and a ban on washing percent of the energy that the sewage plant
cars in the street, private consumption may needs: for many years the city has simply
well have been reduced by ten percent over put off dealing with the problems; the only
the past few years, but that is still not solution now is a massive infrastructure up-
A pipe as big as a rail tunnel: Mexico is building enough. González and many other experts grade.
the longest sewer tunnel in the world.36
BILFINGER
MAGAZINE
01.2014 37
ues to sink due to the volume of groundwater
that is extracted. As a result, the incline of the
wastewater pipes is declining and in some cas-
es even reversed so that giant pipes have to be SERVICES FOR LOCAL
used. This problem is aggravated during the GOVERNMENT AND INDUSTRY
rainy season when the sewers have to manage
torrential downpours. Many city districts are BILFINGER WATER
then regularly flooded. TECHNOLOGIES
To date, ten kilometers of the Emisor Oriente
have been completed and are now operational. With its brands Passavant, Johnson
Enormous pumping stations connect the system Screens, Geiger, Airvac, Diemme,
to the old sewers. Giant automated screens from Roediger, Noggerath and Roevac,
Bilfinger Water Technologies provide protection Bilfinger Water Technologies ranks
for the pumps. among the world’s largest suppliers
The screens are installed in 30- to 50-meter- of plant, components and services
deep shafts in the aggressive wastewater of the in the water and wastewater tech-
Emisor Oriente. They comprise rows of four- to nology sector. Its expertise covers
six-meter-long stainless steel bars. The bars water and waste treatment, the
form a barrier which prevents the bottles, shoes, separation of solids from liquids
clothes, sofa upholstery, timber, car tires and bi- and gases, and vacuum technology.
cycles, which the underground stream carries The company has been operating
along with it, from ending up in the pumps and on all continents for decades. The
potentially destroying them. range of services also includes
The debris deposited on the screen can quick- water extraction systems for water-
ly block the flow of water, much like a beaver works, power stations and seawa-
dam on a river. Sensors are therefore installed to ter desalination plants as well as
measure the water level behind and in front of high-pressure filter presses that
the screens and, when necessary, activate a claw can be used to dehydrate mud pro-
which runs down the shaft on a monorail track. duced in sectors such as mining.
Once it reaches the screen bars, the claw buck- WWW.WATER.BILFINGER.COM
Planting seeds – and an idea: an association in Itztapalapa et opens and removes the debris. Engineers
collects rainwater and grows its own vegetables. sometimes adopt rather poetic language: “bar
deposits” is their term for the accumulated rub-
bish which the claw bucket then brings to the
SCREENS FROM surface where it falls into containers via a con-
veyor belt. This year the largest of these fully au-
BILFINGER tomated systems built to date was delivered to
the El Caracol pumping station with its 50-meter-
deep shaft. “And we expect orders at other sta- in Mexico and installed with the aid of heavy-lift
The solution will also take a radical shift in want to get people to appreciate the natu- Automated screen systems scoop debris from tions,” says Philippe Anstotz, Business Unit cranes.
attitudes, as is evident from the gathering ral cycles,” says Luis Monreal. The project is the sewer system. Manager at Bilfinger Water Technologies. Bilfinger also delivers wastewater treatment
of locals one evening in a shack between bearing fruit: a few years ago they built the Bilfinger is also supporting the extension of plants in Greater Mexico City that inject oxygen
vegetable plots in Iztapalapa. It is here that district’s first rainwater system. Many resi- It is one of the world’s largest infrastructure the sewer system with so-called cut-off valves. into the sedimentation tank, so-called brush aer-
an allotment cooperative meets which also dents copied it. The biggest system to date projects: once completed the “Túnel Emisor Ori- These large gates are used to close off parts of ators: “We recommend our mammoth rotor,”
includes civil protection officer Luis Mon - channels the water from the market roof ente” (TEO) will lead to a sprawling wastewater the Emisor Oriente or secondary sewers in order says Dr. Bernd Pfaff from Bilfinger Water Tech-
real. Stallholder Doña Luz has also brought into a cistern, which is used to water the treatment plant in Hidalgo province 62 kilome- to regulate water distribution or to carry out nologies. The nine-meter-long aerating elements
along a bowl of pickled cauliflower. Home- neighborhood soccer pitch. ters from Mexico City. When heavy rains come, maintenance work in the dry. “We are also in- turn at a rate of 72 rpm and add atmospheric
grown, everyone can try. “Even better than “Maybe there’s only a certain amount the Emisor Oriente can handle 150 cubic meters stalling these kinds of gate valves in European oxygen to the sedimentation tanks with their
the last time,” the others extol its virtues. we can do,” says Luis Monreal, whose job of water per second – equivalent to around cities; there they measure between one and four paddles. “The gearboxes were developed in-
For a few years the men and women have shows him clearly how water shortages 1,000 full bathtubs. The task of the new sewage square meters,” says Philippe Anstotz. “But in house; the equipment is low-maintenance, ro-
been farming a plot of land, half as big as a and floods make life difficult for people. tunnel is to take the strain off and supplement Mexico City we have 98-ton monsters with a bust and extremely durable,” says Bernd Pfaff:
soccer field. They also offer tours and work- “But we can’t afford to sit back and do the existing sewers in the Mexican capital. The surface area of nearly 50 square meters.” The “In Germany, they have been running for
shops devoted to organic farming. “We nothing.” | old systems struggle to cope as the city contin- gates are manufactured in Germany, assembled decades.” Text BERN D HAUSERYou can also read
