The 5-year public service delegation contract will start on 1 January 2016.
SMAEL produces 20 million m3 of drinking water per year that meets the needs of the Lille conurbation, the Lens-Liévin conurbation and seven localities in the Pas de Calais department in northern France.
The drinking water production facility in Aire sur la Lys is capable producing 100,000 m3 per day.
The purification process will be optimized with the help of two predictive tools depending on the available quantity and the quality of the water resources.
The SMAEL will deploy a polar organic chemical integrative sampler system to identify the presence of pollutants in the waters pumped from the Lys River. It will monitor the quality of the water produced on its territory.
Suez environnement managing director of Eau France Philippe Maillard said: "We can feel proud of the confidence that the elected members of the SMAEL have placed in us, and we are looking forward to operating the plant in the future, introducing innovations and improving its performance, together with the SMAEL’s engineers."
Image: Water intake on the Lys. Photo: courtesy of Sébastien Jarry.
