FlowWest International
FlowWest has specialty expertise and global experience to deliver complex projects wherever you are.
FlowWest’s staff have global experience delivering challenging projects - from a first-of-its-kind project in Lebanon to the largest constructed wetland in Europe.
Khirbet Kanafar Wetlands
USAID - Litani River Basin Management System, Lebanon
Delivering Lebanon’s first constructed wetland and riparian restoration project
Litani River basin - the lifeblood of lebanon
The Litani River Valley is Lebanon’s primary agricultural zone, but depleted water resources, industrial development, and lack of wastewater collection systems had brought the river valley to a breaking point from pollution and degradation. The Litani River Basin Management Support (LRBMS) Program was a USAID-funded effort to improve the sustainability of water resources throughout the valley. An important focus was on projects with low operations and maintenance requirements.
Wetlands as Natural Solutions
The LRBMS thought that wetlands could be one unique solution to pollution in the Litani River Basin - but they needed a partner who could figure out how to implement such a system in a country that had never tried such a solution. They turned to Paul Frank of FlowWest, whose experience implementing wetlands for water pollution control and habitat restoration in challenging environments suited the LRBMS perfectly.
successful future model
The Khirbet Kanafar Wetlands are Lebanon’s first constructed wetland and first habitat enhancement project. The success we achieved for the LRBMS stands as an example for upcoming projects to continue creating sustainable water resources management with Lebanon.
Progetto Integrato Fusina
Veneto Region, Italy
Venice Lagoon water quality concerns spur design of the largest constructed wetland in Europe
A Looming Environmental Catastophe
The Venice Lagoon is a unique environment where the balance between humans and nature is so apparent. Its shallow water and wetland ecosystems have been managed for centuries to balance the erosive force of the Adriatic Sea with the sedimentation from the rivers that feed it. Industrialization, agricultural pollution, and wastewater discharges had impacted its water quality to the point of frequent fish kills. Something had to change.
Groundbreaking solutions
The Progetto Integrato Fusina created a new pipeline to discharge wastewaters under the Lagoon, out to the Adriatic. But its most ambitious component was a constructed wetland to polish treated wastewater from the Porto Marghera area to meet strict new Lagoon discharge standards, creating restored freshwater wetland habitat at the same time. Designed by Paul Frank of FlowWest during 2006 - 2010, the wetland solved numerous challenges and constraints of the site: flat topography, sub-optimal inflow piping location, and poor soils.
creativity blending with nature
The creative double-loop hydraulic design maximized the surface area of the site for treatment while careful placement of shallow and open water zones helped avoid locations of poor soils and minimized wave-induced erosion due to the Lagoon’s prevailing winds. The diversity of locally-sourced vegetation species provides habitat for numerous birds, fish, amphibians, and other wildlife. Only a short boat ride away from the city of Venice, the wetlands were the largest constructed wetlands in Europe and a unique example of natural systems for water pollution control.
Singapore ABC
Alexandria Canal and Kallang River, Singpore
Sustainable Water Resources Management
in the heart of Singapore
FlowWest principals worked on two key projects for Singapore Public Utilities Board’s Active, Beautiful, Clean (ABC) Waters Programme, an ambitious effort to transform Singapore into a City of Gardens and Water.
Alexandria Channel Wetland Park
Wetlands built on top of a flood control channel? One of Singapore PUB’s most innovative projects involved construction of an artificial deck on top of the Alexandria Canal storm channel to make room for a treatment wetland park that filters polluted stormwater while creating a one-of-a-kind recreational and educational facility. Paul Frank from FlowWest collaborated with local engineers to design a diverse set of wetland cells that create different physical, chemical, and biological environments that trap and convert stormwater pollutants.
Kallang River at
Bishan Park Restoration
A centerpiece of the ABC programme was restoration of a concrete-lined channel into a sinuous river channel connected to its floodplain right in the center of Singapore. FlowWest principals Mark Tompkins, Anthony Falzone, and Paul Frank performed the hydraulic modeling, geomorphic analysis, and channel design work for the new Kallang River corridor. This project has won numerous international awards for its vision, sustainability, and creation of wildlife habitat in a major city center.
