The contract includes refurbishment of the distribution and sewage networks and incorporation of the latest technology in end-to-end water management, as already implemented in Spain and other countries where the company operates. Aqualia recently developed a pilot project using automatic metre reading (AMR) technology in the Portuguese city of Elvas, where the company is responsible for water supply and sanitation.
 
Six of the eight water management tenders in Portugal in the last five years have been awarded to Aqualia, making the company a leader in this segment.
 
Aqualia now serves more than 130,000 Portuguese: it already operates in Campo Maior and Elvas, where it provides water supply and sanitation services and customer management, and in Abrantes, where it provides wastewater treatment services. The company recently obtained a water management contract in Cartaxo worth 277 million euro. Aqualia continues to increase its foothold in Portugal, a key country in its internationalisation strategy.
 
Aqualia heads the water division of FCC, one of Europe's leading citizen services companies. Serving more than 1,100 municipalities and over 27 million people, Aqualia is the third-largest water services company in the world.
 
Backlog
 
 Aqualia has a backlog of 12.2 billion euro, 30% of which comes from activities outside Spain. It currently operates in 14 countries, including the Czech Republic, Italy, Algeria, China, and Mexico. Aqualia responds to the needs of all parties, private and public, at all stages of the water cycle, providing water for human, industrial, and agricultural uses. In 2007, Global Water Intelligence magazine named Aqualia "Water Company of the Year" and in 2010 it named the financial closure of a wastewater treatment plant in New Cairo, Egypt, which added 360 million euro to the company's backlog, as "Water Deal of the Year".