Panama’s Ministry of Health has chosen Aqualia's proposal for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of the Wastewater Treatment Plant in East Arraiján. The project, valued at around 85 million euros, involves the company’s entry in the Central American country, where it will serve 130,000 inhabitants of the Arraiján district, in Panama’s central-west zone, improving their living conditions.

The contract includes the design of the first stage of the wastewater treatment plant with a projection for 2050 and capacity to treat 86,400 m3/day (1 m3/s) in five treatment modules for activated sludge and anaerobic digestion. Aqualia will undertake construction, operation and maintenance of the first stage with three treatment modules with a capacity of 53,568 m3/ day (0.62 m3/s) for a period of 10 years.

Additionally, the company will carry out the design, construction of the Trunk System and its interconnections with existing networks, as well as the operation and maintenance for 10 years of the Burunga and Arraiján Cabecera Trunk System and sewage network.

The action is part of the Ministry of Health’s plan to improve the sanitation of the Burunga and Arraijan Sector, an area that has a low level of sewerage and sewage treatment.

The momentum in the development of this type of projects in Latin America is growing. In this sense, Aqualia, which operates more than 700 wastewater treatment plants throughout the world, is currently carrying out the design, construction, expansion equipment and implementation of secondary treatment at the El Salitre plant, in Bogotá, Colombia, which includes the construction of a 31-hectare water park as a protection and recreational conservation area in the area.

In 2015, the United Nations adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Water management (SDG No. 6 - Clean water and sanitation) is proposed as one of the key factors for improving citizens’ lives and, at the same time, protecting the environment. The challenge linked to sanitation and purification of wastewater is particularly important, since 2,400 million people live without access to quality sanitation services (World Health Organization (WHO) 2015). In addition, diarrhoea caused by poor sanitation and unhealthy water kills 315,000 children each year (WASHwatch 2016).

A world leader

Aqualia is the water management company of FCC, one of the leading citizen services groups in Europe. The company is the fourth private water company in Europe by population served, and is among the top ten in the world, according to the latest ranking of the specialized publication Global Water Intelligence (GWI. Nov2017).

It currently serves 22.5 million users in 1,100 municipalities in 22 countries: Spain, Italy, Portugal, Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Montenegro, Bosnia, Mexico, Chile, Uruguay, Algeria, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Tunisia, Qatar, Oman, Colombia, Ecuador and Panama.

In 2016, the company billed 1,010 million euros and attained a business portfolio of close to 15,000 million euros.