Metito, the international desalination, water, and waste water treatment company, has announced it has been awarded a distinction for a water reuse project at the Global Water Awards 2007 held in Barcelona.

The distinction recognises Metito’s engineering accomplishment for building the world’s first three-storey waste water treatment plant constructed 17 m below sea level at the trunk of the Palm Jumeirah in Dubai.
The project was signed with Nakheel to provide wastewater management services for Nakheel’s prestigious Palm Jumeirah. It utilises the benefits of submerged membrane bioreactor (SMBR) technology that caters to a flow of 18,000 cu m per day. The treated effluent quality of less than 3mg/l BOD (biochemical oxygen demand) and 1 mg/l for suspended solids means that it is safe enough to be used in applications such as irrigation and district cooling. Moreover the chemical-free operation completely eliminates the handling of hazardous chemicals enhancing the eco-friendly concept of the plant and the project as a whole.
Commenting on the occasion, Fady Juez, managing director of Metito, said, “Nakheel’s projects are challenging and require high engineering standards to meet all the requirements which meant there could be no odour, and noise emission and sludge production also had to be kept to a minimum.”
He added that his company over the past five years had become a world leader in the design and supply of wastewater treatment and water desalination systems.
Metito, founded in 1958, stresses it is a shining example of a Middle Eastern company that has grown to be a world leader in its field.  The company operates locally in 14 countries of the Arab and Islamic World, and supplies its plants internationally to locations as far apart as Argentina and Australia from its base in the UAE.  Some of the company’s notable achievements in 2006 were high-purity demineralised water supply for Jebel Ali and Umm Al Nar power projects in the UAE, drinking water supply to Kandahar in Afghanistan and high-quality water supply for the North Rumaylah project in Iraq.