Aqualia has just been awarded with the final design and construction of the Punta Yeguas underwater emissary, part of the works of the second stage of the urban sanitation plan of Montevideo, the Uruguayan capital. The award is valued at 37 million euros.

The objective of the outfall`s implementation is to give a proper disposal of the Rio de la Plata effluents to the west of the City (estuary`s left bank ) and the recovery of the Bay of Montevideo. The start of the pipeline will be located on the peninsula of Punta Yeguas, and will venture more than 2 km in the river due south.

To conveniently channel 5,350 liters per second of maximum flow anticipated, the project`s based solution provides that the outfall is formed by a steel pipe inside diameter of 1,500 millimeters (mm.) with a coated concrete of 2,105 meters length. This pipe has more than 2,800 kilos per linear meter weight. Thirty-six diffusers of 200 mm. nozzle diameter will be installed in the diffuser section.

A technical solution that solves the fact that the implementing area has a shallow outfall is being studied, since it is being formed by muddy and unstable soils and bathed by waters of high turbidity, with suspended solids at the mouth of the Rio de la Plata. The solution adopted is dredging the trench and soil stabilization by stone columns, 80 inches in diameter and of varying depth .

This basic solution is being revised, validated and optimized by Aqualia infrastructuras, an Aqualia´s company specialized in design and construction of large water infrastructures as part of the contract along with the execution of the related works .

Presence in Latin America
With this new contract in Uruguay, Aqualia will be present in a new country inside a strategic geographical area such Latin America is, and where the company is developing water projects worth 1,500 million euros.

The company is currently building some of the most important México infrastructures: the II acueduct system, Realito`s water supply system, Cutzamala`s potable water system, Salamanca`s treatment plant and Caracol`s pumping station. Besides, Aqualia currently works in two desalination plants for the Chilean minery industry. One is at Copiapó (Atacama`s province) with 45.000 m3/day of capacity and it is already under transient operation. The other plant, actually under its execution plan, has a 9.000 m3/day of capacity and it is located in the region of Antofagasta.

In the development of this area, considered of strategic interest, Aqualia has submitted bids in Colombia, Peru, Dominican Republic, and it is also studying investment possibilities in Brazil.

FCC is one of the leading European groups of Citizen Services, whose business revolves around three main areas: infrastructure, services and water. Aqualia, the FCC´s water management company, is working in more than 1,100 municipalities and operating more than 200 stations of drinking water treatment plants, and more than 300 wastewater treatment plants in 17 countries: Spain, Italy, Portugal, Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Montenegro, Bosnia, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Algeria, Egypt, UAE, Saudi Arabia, China and Uruguay.