Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans Renews Environmental Partnership with Veolia; Increases Participation Levels by Economically Disadvantaged Companies

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Jun 18, 2015, 12:30 ET

BOSTON, June 18, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

Partnership Renewal Highlights

Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans Renews Environmental Partnership with Veolia; Increases Participation Levels by Economically Disadvantaged Companies

10-year agreement
$122 million over contract term
30% of spending invested in economically-disadvantaged businesses
$35 million savings since 1992

Ten-year renewal for operation, maintenance and management of city's wastewater treatment plants also supports investment in local businesses and continues cost savings and compliance measures

The Sewerage & Water Board of New Orleans (S&WB) has renewed its partnership with Veolia, the world's leading provider of environmental solutions, to continue operating, maintaining and managing the city's two wastewater treatment plants. The 10-year agreement is valued at $122 million over the contract term and covers a combined treatment capacity of nearly 150 million gallons per day (MGD), in addition to support for capital improvements, hurricane recovery, septage receiving and biosolids disposal.

Veolia North America has provided services to the S&WB since 1992, and the public-private partnership remains one of the largest in the United States. The S&WB and Veolia have been consistently recognized for their outstanding compliance record with State and EPA regulations and recently won a Gold award from the National Association of Clean Water Agencies for perfect environmental compliance. Veolia has worked with the S&WB to generate more than $35 million in overall savings for residents.

As part of a competitive renewal process, the S&WB increased its target level for supporting Economically Disadvantaged Businesses from 20 percent to 30 percent. In the renewed partnership, 30 percent of revenues through the partnership will be conducted by Veolia's local economically disadvantaged business partners. Veolia has successfully exceeded the agency's past requirements. In meeting the new requirements, Veolia has committed to support from more than 10 qualified companies. Organized through the New Orleans Office of Supplier Diversity, this gender- and race-neutral program was created to mitigate the effects of social and economic disadvantage and discrimination.

"Our relationship has produced a stellar record for clean water quality while saving tens of millions of dollars for ratepayers," said Executive Director Cedric S. Grant. "Veolia has done much to make the Sewerage and Water Board a strong environmental partner to the residents of New Orleans and produce meaningful results for our community. We look forward to building on our record of success while working together to provide additional opportunities to the region's economically disadvantaged communities."

"We see the Board's new goals as an opportunity to strengthen our relationship with our client and continue to make significant impact within the New Orleans community," said William J. DiCroce, president and COO of Veolia North America's Municipal & Commercial Business. "Forward-thinking agreements such as this one have the ability to set and achieve economic, social and environmental goals that go beyond the technical aspects of effectively managing public assets. We're excited to be entrusted with continuing to serve this great city."

The S&WB and Veolia have recently undertaken several environmental projects to build on our business relationship. Most recently, a wetlands assimilation project, developed in conjunction with Tulane University, is leveraging our expertise to restore urban, degraded wetlands into a lavish cypress forest. In another project, ash from incineration will be used to help improve the natural landscape of New Orleans while eliminating the amount of ash sent to landfill.

Veolia was selected following a competitive procurement process. The 10-year agreement includes the option for 10 one-year renewal opportunities.

The Sewerage and Water Board has served residents and protected the environment since 1899. Originally formed to combat disease by providing safe drinking water and eliminating the health hazards of open sewer ditches, today the S&WB continues its mission using 21^st-century technology. The Board's mission is to provide safe drinking water to everyone in New Orleans; to remove wastewater for safe return to the environment; to drain away stormwater; to provide water for fire protection; to provide information about products and services; and to do all of this continuously at a reasonable cost to the community. www.swbno.org

Veolia group is the global leader in optimized resource management. With over 179,000 employees* worldwide, the Group designs and provides water, waste and energy management solutions that contribute to the sustainable development of communities and industries. Through its three complementary business activities, Veolia helps to develop access to resources, preserve available resources, and to replenish them. In 2014, the Veolia group supplied 96 million people with drinking water and 60 million people with wastewater service, produced 52 million megawatt hours of energy and converted 31 million metric tons of waste into new materials and energy. Veolia Environnement (listed on Paris Euronext: VIE) recorded consolidated revenue of $29.6 billion* in 2014. www.veolia.com

(*) 2014 pro-forma figures, including Dalkia International (100%) and excluding Dalkia France.

More information about our partnership
Case study
A look inside the East Bank Treatment Plant
New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board Receives National Honor

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150618/224149

SOURCE Veolia North America