City of Waterloo receives drinking water award in Québec

Paul Masse, the mayor of Waterloo (left), Michel Guimond, spokesperson, Ministère des Affaires Municipales et de la Métropole (centre), and André Léger, CEO, ONDEO Degrémont (right), at the awards ceremony.

The Québec Ministère des Affaires Municipales et de la Métropole (MAMM), presented the City of Waterloo with the Technological Innovation Award for Infrastructures, for the Ferazur-Mangazur system supplied by ONDEO Degrémont. The presentation took place November 27, 2001, during the official reception at INFRA 2001(week of urban infrastructures) in Montreal, in partnership with the Centre for Expertise and Research on Urban Infrastructures (CERIU). The award recognizes municipalities which take the initiative to adopt new technologies, as well as their corporate and scientific partners.

The Ferazur-Mangazur system removes iron and manganese from drinking water biologically. Residents in the Waterloo area had stained clothes because of iron, and home appliances were clogged up by manganese.

The innovation with the Ferazur-Mangazur system is in its biological approach: iron and manganese are transformed and removed by bacteria. Such a process is not only simple to use, it is environmentally friendly and as it does not require any chemicals, it does not release any dangerous effluent into the environment. "The City of Waterloo appreciated not only the ecological and innovative aspects of the system, but also the economic advantages of the solution. While capital costs were equivalent from one proposal to another, the annual operating costs of our new system were only 10% of a major competitor's," said Mayor Paul Masse.

The City was able to solve its inhabitants' problems in an efficient and ecological fashion, without additional taxes.

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