Global water technology supplier Xylem Water Solutions is expanding its dewatering pumps rental and service capabilities across Latin America with the opening of three new hubs in the region this year.

In August, the company opened its newest dewatering pumps rental facility in Barranquilla, Colombia, following the opening of new rental hubs in Chiclayo, Peru, and Pará, in Brazil, in January and April respectively. These new hubs are in addition to the dewatering pumps rental hubs that have already been established by the company in Latin America over the past six years as part of a multimillion-dollar investment in the region.

“We continue to experience increased rental demand in Latin America as more and more customers recognise the value of our rental capabilities – a quick and cost- effective way to tackle water removal challenges supported by Xylem’s deep-water transfer expertise. This significant investment will expand our footprint to 17 dewatering rental locations across the region, enabling us to better meet local customers’ needs with timely, turnkey solutions from a single source,” says Xylem dewatering president David Flinton.

Xylem’s new hub in Barranquilla is already catering to rental customers, having recently won a significant contract to deliver 14 HL260M Godwin high-head diesel dewatering pumps to a mine in northern Colombia. The pumps will be used at the mine in anticipation of significantly increased rainfall in Colombia from August this year until spring 2017, owing to the La Niña weather pattern. The pumps will be interspersed throughout the mine at 250 m elevations, continuously pumping to keep the mine water-free and in operation.

“Xylem’s expanded rental hub network across Latin America will allow us to quickly address our customers’ water challenges, moving large, powerful rental pumps and equipment to wherever they are needed across the region. “Customers also have access to our global fleet of pumps and technology. We offer a powerful service model by combining a strong local presence with global capabilities. “One recent example of this in action is our support of the Panama Canal expansion programme – a significant water transfer project that we catered to seamlessly, with our US and Latin America teams working together,” adds Xylem Latin America MD Osvaldo Greco.

The expansion also supports Xylem’s aim of helping to build resilient communities that are more prepared to manage the impact of extreme weather events. In December, vast areas in Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil were hit by the worst flooding in 50 years. Days of heavy rains, brought on by the El Niño weather phenomenon, caused three major rivers to swell, forcing the evacuation of more than 150 000 people. With these new locations, Xylem’s pumps and dewatering expertise will be able to serve customer demand for temporary and long-term rental solutions, as well as emergency response to flooding and weather-related catastrophes.

In March, Mining Weekly reported that Xylem had announced an expansion of its pumps rental and service portfolio across Europe and South Africa through a multimillion-euro investment. The company stated that it believed this expansion would enable it to better meet the market demand from construction, industry, municipal and mining customers across both regions. In South Africa, Xylem has branches serving customers in Gauteng, the Western Cape, Limpopo, the Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga.