By rosebell
As largest in Latin America, Argentina’s Riachuelo wastewater treatment system has been completed.
While this system has been developed in three main lots, construction of two of them was up to Webuild Group and the system in Buenos Aires is now operational with the launching of Lot 2 by Webuild’s subsidiary, Fisia Italimpianti.
Including an inlet pumping station with a capacity of 36m3 per second, a pretreatment facility for 27m3 per second, as well as an outlet pumping station, the scheduled date for delivery of Lot 2 to client Aysa is the end of July.
Additionally Webuild delivered Lot 3, which included construction of a 12km subfluvial tunnel 40m beneath the bed of the Rio de la Plata. Transfering the treated water to an advanced diffuser system consisting of 34 vertical risers that ensure uniform and safe dispersion of the water along the river bottom, thsi tunnel has a 4.3m diameter.
The riser concept was developed for the project and won the Technical Innovation of the Year Award in the 2021 ITA Tunnelling Awards.
Through jacking pipe segments from inside the tunnel upward to the riverbed and through soil formations, the vertical risers were installed.
With the aim of supporting the environmental recovery of the Río de la Plata, the Riachuelo System is due to improve sanitation services for over 4.3 million people in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area.
The advantages of this project following being fully operational will be treating up to 2.3 million m3 of wastewater a day and expanding sewer access to 1.5 million additional residents across 14 municipalities.
