Earth Tech Awarded UK's Ministry of Defense Aquatrine Contract

Earth Tech, as part of a joint venture known as BREY Utilities, has been awarded the Aquatrine Project A contract by the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defense (MoD). The 25-year contract is valued at more than $1.5 billion.

Project Aquatrine is the name given to the MoD's Public/Private Finance Initiative Project, which transfers water and wastewater services to the private sector. It is being undertaken to provide strategic management of water and wastewater across the MOD by an operator whose core business is water and wastewater, to enable needed infrastructure upgrades to meet current environmental standards and to transfer the environmental liability risks.

Project Aquatrine is one of the leading Public/Private Partnership projects in the MoD and will transfer responsibility for the maintenance and operation of all the department's water and wastewater assets and infrastructure in the U.K. to Earth Tech. This first package, Project A, covers work in England's Midlands, Wales and Southwest England.

"Earth Tech is pleased to be able to contribute to water and sewer management solutions for the MoD so that the Ministry can focus on its core missions," said Diane C. Creel, president of Earth Tech. "Project Aquatrine will now provide the MoD greater investment opportunities in its core activities: defense infrastructure. We are pleased at the opportunity to be a key participant in this high priority program supporting the Ministry of Defense."

Project Aquatrine includes the provision of:

• Water for drinking and process use

• Water for fire fighting systems

• Surface water drainage

• Sewage removal

• Payment of water bills

• Billing/administration of water and wastewater services currently supplied to non-MoD customers.

Project Aquatrine comprises three regional packages: Project A, Project B (Scotland) and Project C (north and east England). The MoD is one of the largest landowners in the U.K., running more than 4,500 sites, with more than 300 sites having significant above ground assets. At present, most MoD water and sewerage services are operated by civilian staff who are responsible for a number of other maintenance and engineering activities.

Founded in 1970, Earth Tech (www.earthtech.com) is an international provider of global water management and transportation, engineering and environmental services. Earth Tech has its headquarters in Long Beach, Calif., and employs more than 8,000 people in nearly 200 offices worldwide.

Source: Earth Tech