Under a new contract, Xylem will provide an advanced treatment solution for Ho Chi Minh City that will benefit 1.5 million people. The solution, for the Saigon Water Corporation’s Tan Hiep Water Treatment Plant 2, will include the first ozone treatment application in Vietnam.

The solution involves designing, installing and commissioning an expansion of the existing treatment plant. The upgrade will increase the plant’s productivity, enabling it to produce 300,000 cubic meters of drinking water per day, benefitting 1.5 million Ho Chi Minh City inhabitants, or 15 percent of the city’s population.

Ho Chi Minh City relies largely on rivers for its public water supply. Raw water is taken from the Dong Nai and Saigon rivers, both of which are polluted by discharges from residential areas, hospitals, factories, waterway transport vessels, farms and even garbage dumps*.

“The Tan Hiep Water Treatment Plant 2 has a key role to play in ensuring the residents of Ho Chi Minh City have access to a clean water supply,” says Truong Khac Hoanh, CEO of Saigon Water Corporation. “Xylem’s sustainable treatment technologies will enable us to future-proof the water supply.”

Clean water without chlorinated by-products

Xylem’s Leopold Type S Underdrain and Wedeco SMOevo ozone system will be used to increase the capacity of the Tan Hiep Water Treatment Plant 2. The solution will use oxidation to directly destroy colored substances, odors and microorganisms, without creating harmful chlorinated by-products or significant residues.

“Xylem has a longstanding relationship with the Saigon Water Corporation,” says Patrick Baker, general manager at Xylem Hong Kong. “Leopold Underdrain technology is already in use in Thu Duc BOO Water Treatment Plant. Xylem’s ozone solution with Effizon evo 2g electrode technology was chosen as a reliable, cost-effective, and sustainable treatment method. It will reduce the reliance of the Tan Hiep Water Treatment Plant 2 on chlorine technology.”

Construction on the Tan Hiep Treatment Plant 2 upgrade began in Q4 2015, and the plant is expected to be operational by April 2016.

*According to a study by HCMC-based Institute for Environment and Resources, released November 2013