Webuild Group subsidiary Fisia Italimpianti, along with its consortium partners, has delivered Lot 2 of the Riachuelo System to client Agua y Saneamientos Argentinos in Buenos Aires, Argentina. 

In a press release, Webuild said this marks the completion of the largest and most advanced wastewater treatment plant in the region. 

The plant, which is already in operation, is part of a project supported by the World Bank to clean up the basin area of the Río de la Plata.

This plant is expected to enhance health safety for over four million residents in the Argentine capital.  

Serving 14 municipalities, the system can treat up to 2.3 million cubic metres of wastewater a day. It is also expanding the sewage system to reach 1.5 million residents. 

The Riachuelo System comprises three lots. The first collects wastewater; the second, which has just been delivered, pretreats it; and the third, also recently delivered by Webuild, disperses it into the river by means of a subfluvial tunnel 12km long and 40m below the riverbed. 

Lot 2, which is central to the system, comprises an inlet pumping station with a capacity of 36m³ per second, a pretreatment facility for 27m³ per second, and an outlet pumping station. 

The water flows down the tunnel with an internal diameter of 4.3m, then up through a diffuser system consisting of 34 vertical steel pipes along the ceiling of the tunnel that ensures uniform dispersion in the river. 

This engineering feat earned the project the ITA International Tunnelling Award in 2021. 

Recently, a consortium led by the Webuild Group secured a €1.6bn ($1.86bn) contract for the construction of the new high-speed/high-capacity railway line connecting Salerno and Reggio Calabria in Italy.   

The focus of this contract is on the Paola-Cosenza section, which will cover approximately 22.2km and will primarily be constructed underground.