‘Ultimately, lives depend on it’ - the Bondalti Water project in Antarctica

‘This project was unforgettable for those who collaborated on it because of the context in which it was carried out, but at the same time extremely demanding from a technical and human point of view.’ For Jorge Taboada, Bondalti Water's project manager, who was on this mission accompanied by technician Carlos Mesquita, providing drinking water to a scientific station in Antarctica has a special place in his memory. A technical challenge, but one with enormous human significance: ‘The resilience and reliability of the system were crucial, because ultimately lives depended on it.’

The story of this memorable work begins in 2013. The Antarctica project consisted of developing and installing a water treatment system for human consumption, laboratory use and other uses at the ‘Comandante Ferraz Station’ scientific research centre, located on King George Island in the Antarctic Ice Ocean, 850 km from South America. On this small piece of land, with just over 1,000 square kilometres (about a third of Lisbon's metropolitan area), the average air temperature is -2.8oC, oscillating between 14oC and -28oC, accompanied by cyclonic winds.

Operating under the Brazilian Antarctic Programme (Proantar), the ‘Comandante Ferraz Station’, led by the Brazilian Navy, has the mission of studying the natural phenomena that occur in Antarctica as a result of climate change - the effects of which are evident in the composition of the glaciers - as well as their consequences in South America, including in the green heart that is the Amazon. Its activities also include geological research, environmental DNA collection and the development of biotechnologies.

Occupying an area of 4,000 square metres, the station houses 64 people permanently during the winter and can accommodate a total of around 100 people in the summer, including researchers from all over the world. It was therefore absolutely vital to guarantee the availability of sufficient drinking water all year round, under any circumstances.

Advanced technology and reliable systems ensure continuous supply

Bondalti Water's involvement in this project came after a violent fire in 2012 destroyed around 70 per cent of the station's facilities, 28 years after its inauguration in 1984, and led to a halt in activity for two years. The design phase for the new station began in 2013 and in 2016, after a competitive international tender, reconstruction began, under the responsibility of a Chinese company with which Bondalti Water signed a contract to supply the entire water treatment system.

Bondalti Water's project involves collecting water from two lakes close to the facilities (only for three months a year, due to freezing) and from the sea (all year round), at a minimum of 5oC. This water then goes through advanced treatment systems suited to the different characteristics of the water sources - fresh and salt - using desalination, reverse osmosis, multimedia filtration and ultraviolet disinfection technologies. In total, the system can produce up to 20m3/day of drinking water, which is then treated and discharged into the sea.

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As Jorge Taboada recalls, ‘the very low temperatures made it necessary to adapt the size and quantity of membranes in the filtration equipment, since they shrink in extreme cold’.

Another very important aspect was ensuring that, in the event of an anomaly, the resident population would not lose access to this vital resource. In the event of any equipment failure, alternative systems immediately come into operation, maintaining uninterrupted operation: ‘Taking into account the difficult and time-consuming access, as well as the adverse weather conditions of the location, all the critical components were installed in redundancy, i.e. in duplicate, in order to ensure high robustness.’

The equipment is maintained by the resident Brazilian military, with remote technical support from Bondalti Water.

Complex logistics

The entire system was designed, pre-assembled and tested at Bondalti Water's facilities in Portugal before embarking on a journey of around 44,000 kilometres.

In a complex international logistics operation, the equipment was shipped by sea in five containers from Portugal to Rotterdam (Netherlands), from there to Shanghai (China), and from Shanghai to the southern tip of Chile, in Punta Arenas, from where it finally made its way, on a ship chartered by the Brazilian navy, to King George Island. In between, we remember the always risky passage through the Drake Strait, known for having some of the most turbulent waters on the planet.

For the Bondalti Water team, the project meant a stay of almost two months in Antarctica to ensure the correct installation and commissioning of the system, and around 15 days at sea. After an initial 37-day stay, which began on 12 March 2019, another 14 days followed in Antarctica to complete the work and for the inauguration event, held on 15 January 2020, which was attended by Marcos Pontes, who at the time was Brazil's Minister of Science, Technology and Innovations and the first Portuguese-speaking astronaut, and the then Vice-President of Brazil, Hamilton Mourão.

For Bondalti Water, this project is a true showcase of its technological excellence and ability to respond to the most demanding challenges anywhere in the world - but it also represents a renewed commitment to the sustainability of the planet.

Scope
Water Collection and Treatment

Project
Antarctica

Theme/challenge
Supplying drinking water to the Comandante Ferraz Station

Location
King George Island, Antarctica

Duration
2013-2020