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Hope springs eternal
While pumping water and waste around the world’s largest cities, Xylem also helps bring fresh drinking water to remote villages around the globe Written by Adam Turner Produced by Josef Smith
“In Australia,
both state and federal governments need to improve their approach to water management and I think the lack of
a well-articulated, consistent water policy is holding us back as a country”
– Jim Athanas, Managing Director - Oceania
O
perating in more than 150 countries, Xylem is one of the world’s largest water pumping and monitoring solutions providers. While primarily targeting mining, municipal and large corporate customers, Xylem’s mission statement also involves giving back to the community by providing safe water resources for villages in need around the world, as well as educating people about water and sanitation issues. Xylem’s charitable arm Watermark works with a range of not-for profit global organisations including Planet Water, Earth Echo, Mercy Corps, Water for People, Fundación AVINA and China Women’s Development Fund – reaching throughout Asia and Oceania as well as Central and South America. Along
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with supplying equipment and expertise, Xylem also encourages its staff to donate their time and money – matching their financial contributions dollar for dollar. Access to safe drinking water is something most people take for granted, but Xylem is determined
to ensure it extends to every corner of the globe, says Xylem’s Oceania managing director Jim Athanas. “This kind of work is central to our core values as a company, as without water there is no life,” says Athanas, whose team covers 16 locations across Australia, New Zealand and
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the Pacific Islands. “Our Oceanic Territory’s government-owned leadership team recently donated a utility provider Power and Water. borehole in Fiji, going down 10 metres, Xylem’s bread and butter is but it’s much more than digging large-scale water and wastewater holes – we also provide infrastructure transportation solutions, born out of such as pumps, power and water a background in pumping expertise. tanks to ensure the entire village can A publicly listed company on the New enjoy access to a safe and reliable York Stock Exchange, Xylem was water source. formed in 2011 “Xylem does when US-based this on a global ITT Corporation scale, so we will span off its Water do things in the & Wastewater, Philippines, Laos, Residential & Vietnam, India, Commercial Bangladesh Water, Analytics and some and Flow South American Control business countries. Giving segments into back to the – Jim Athanas, a new entity. community is a Managing Director - Oceania The name is key part of our drawn from greater purpose.” the company’s Xylem has supported 777 local prime objectives – xylem is a water projects in 25 countries, botanical term referring to the touching the lives of 2.8 million tissues which help transport water people around the world, including and nutrients from a plant’s roots to Australia where it has been its leaves in order to nourish life. working with remote Aboriginal Major water authority government communities via the Northern bodies such as Sydney Water are
“This kind of work is central to our core values as a company,
as without water there is no life”
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Smart water infracstructure
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some of Xylem’s largest customers, along with mining giants including BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals Group. It also operates in the food and beverage sector, serving the likes of Coca-Cola Amatil, plus it is a significant player in the building services area working through large plumbing companies and building contractors. Xylem’s pumping expertise comes via its Flygt brand, a pioneer in the mining and construction pumping sector. Flygt’s offerings include the N-impeller pump with anti-clogging technology, utilising blades with backswept leading edges to sweep solids from the centre to the perimeter of an inlet. The pump minimises call-out costs, along with reducing regular service and maintenance expenses for sewage pump stations, but it can benefit all pumping operations. Meanwhile Flygt’s Concertor intelligent pump, with an integrated variable speed drive, is designed to save businesses the expense of owning different sized pumps, as well as lower operating costs.
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Other Xylem brands include Lowara and Godwin for pumping, WTW for monitor control, Sanitaire and Leopold for filtration and Wedeco for disinfection. This spread of expertise lets Xylem offer monitoring sensors along with a range of water treatment processes including solid/liquid separation, filtration and non-chemical disinfection using ultraviolet light and ozone. The business has five growth centres – transport, treatment, dewatering, analytics and applied water systems, which are interconnected to cover every stage of the water cycle. With the tag line “Let’s Evolve Water”, Xylem devotes its technology, time and talent to advancing the smarter use of water, Athanas says. Interconnectivity and smart networks present significant opportunities to improve water management around the world, with Xylem wellpositioned to lead the way. “A lot of customers are interested in the Internet of Things – the ability for devices and networks to be interconnected,” Athanas says. “It lets us build smarts into our
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products to put more information at our customers’ fingertips, helping them make better decisions. “We recently acquired a company called Sensus to help us move up the technology curve and our aim is to allow our customers to acquire strategic real-time information around their systems, so they can optimise their efficiency as well as
improve global water management.” While technology is helping Xylem realise its ambitions to improve coordinated water management in the face of growing ecological challenges, Athanas is frustrated at Australia’s fragmented approach to water management. “In Australia, both state and federal governments need to improve their
Flygt Concertor
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approach to water management and I think the lack of a well-articulated, consistent water policy is holding us back as a country,” he says. “We talk about carbon trading and we talk about greenhouse gases but we don’t talk enough about water and without water there is no life. Yet in this country we still do not have a standardised water policy at the state and federal level, which is quite disappointing and frustrating.” Australia’s lack of a coordinated water policies not only hampers water management efforts, it also creates uncertainty which makes it more difficult for the private sector to invest in the future. “Just look at what’s happening with the Murray-Darling Basin – you’ve got three governments fighting over the rights to access that water and you’ve companies who are in three different states uncertain of the future regarding access to that water,” Athanas says. “When you consider how crucial water management is to the future prosperity of this continent, Australia needs to make more of an effort to manage its water wisely.”
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“When you consider how crucial water management is to the future prosperity of this continent, Australia needs
to make more of an effort
to manage its water wisely” – Jim Athanas, Managing Director - Oceania
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Unit 2, 2 Capicure Drive Eastern Creek, New South Wales, Australia, 2766 Tel. 02 9832 6200 Fax. 02 9832 6480 www2.xylem.com/en-au