Kuwait’s Ministry of Public Works is building the largest reverse osmosis-based sewage treatment plant (STP) in the world, in the Sulaibiya area – which, once complete, will produce water for the irrigation of landscaped areas along highways, main roads, and public gardens.

Following the successful results of the use of Lowara’s vertical multistage pumps for driving Phase A of this irrigation scheme, the ministry has once again chosen Lowara’s vertical multistage, horizontal end suction, and submersible borehole pumps for phase B.
The Sulaibiya STP project is being developed on a BOT (build operate transfer) contract by the Utilities Development Company (UDC).
“Thanks to this scheme, the Public Authority for Agriculture and Fisheries (PAAF) will be able to expand its landscaped areas and broaden its selection of plant species,” says a spokesman for Lowara.
The scheme for the irrigation of highways and roads is to be completed in phases, the first of which (phase A) was completed seven years ago using water produced from traditional sewage treatment plants. Phase A has been running for several years with Lowara vertical multistage pumps and now two new phases of the scheme (B1 and B2) are under execution.
“B1 and B2, to be completed by the end of this year, will serve a large part of Kuwait city. For the ring roads and highways, every phase of the scheme consists of a main reservoir where water is delivered from the treatment plant. Transfer pumps then deliver water to smaller reservoirs along the highways every 15 or 20 km. In each of these reservoirs, two sets of Lowara pumps transfer water to the irrigation system.
“These projects are by far the largest application in Kuwait for vertical multistage pumps from Lowara,” says the spokesman. “The volumes and distances involved require pumps that are easy to maintain and offer high capacity and efficiency. Lowara pumps have been performing satisfactorily for the last seven years in Phase A and were accordingly easily accepted for Phase B.”
“As new manufacturing techniques open new possibilities, the ministry has chosen horizontal end suction pumps from the SHF range instead of the vertical multistage pumps for some of the larger applications. “These pumps were selected due to their high performance efficiency (resulting from the use of laser cutting and laser welding techniques recently adopted by Lowara) in addition to their high quality (316L stainless steel components for all parts in contact with water) and the ease of maintenance operations with standard tools,” says the spokesman.
“Thanks to major investments in laser welding and cutting machines, Lowara has been able to produce this range of pumps with much greater precision resulting in increases of efficiency up to 80 per cent,” says Salim Murtada, director of Greenfields Electromechanical Company – Lowara’s representative in Kuwait. Stages B3 and C of the project are now in the planning stage.