Diageo USVI has awarded a contract to Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies to design and build the washwater treatment plant that will support its planned Captain Morgan rum distillery on St. Croix.

The washwater treatment plant will be located in the western half of the 25-acre building site at the St. Croix Renaissance Industrial Park.

In March, Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies completed the preliminary engineering phase of the washwater plant. In the construction phase VWS, through its U.S. businesses of Biothane and N.A. Water Systems, will build the treatment plant, expected to process about 150 million gallons of washwater annually, according to a news release.

The VWS washwater treatment process will take byproducts from the distillation process and turn them into clean water and biogas for green energy. This process will enable Diageo to recycle water, provide a clean source of energy to its distillery and create a fertilizer. Diageo is already in talks with groups interested in using the fertilizer.

The Diageo USVI rum distillery will be built with Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) principles, including a closed-loop water system that will eliminate the need for any washwater disposal into the Caribbean. The company is also incorporating organic solids reclamation and storm water best management practices into its construction plans and its daily operation.

The Diageo USVI distillery project is part of a public-private initiative with the USVI government for the construction and operation of a high-capacity distillery.