The state commercial company Aguas de las Cuencas de España (ACUAES) and the Concello de Illa de Arousa (Pontevedra) have today signed the agreement for the execution, financing and exploitation of the purification actions that ACUAES is going to execute in the Concello, in which 8.5 million euros (VAT included) are going to be invested.
The agreement was signed today in the Concello de A Illa de Arousa by the executive president of ACUAES, Mª Rosa Cobo, and the mayor, Luís Arosa, in the presence of the Government delegate in Galicia, Pedro Blanco, and the Government subdelegate in Pontevedra, Abel Losada.
The government delegate in Galicia, Pedro Blanco, acknowledged that there was “an urgent need” to develop these infrastructures to which the government is now responding. “We complied with Illa, with the Salnés region and with Galia through an intervention that contributes in a decisive way to preserve the Arousa estuary, to protect its coastal environment, its seafood banks and the bateeira activity,” said Blanco.
In response to the need for the works to be started as soon as possible to meet the deadlines of the Next Generation funds, the president of ACUAES has announced the tender, tomorrow, of the works, once the agreement has been signed and the project has been approved by the General Directorate of Water of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, in a resolution sent today to ACUAES.
The current treatment plant, built more than twenty years ago, responds to a typology of physicochemical treatment that has significant deficiencies, both in capacity and in treatment, so that the purified effluent does not meet the requirements of nutrient discharge, which has special incidence due to the requirements of the microbiological quality required of the waters of the receiving medium, qualified as areas for the breeding of molluscs.
Consequently, the action that ACUAES is going to carry out aims to improve the purification of the wastewater generated in the Concello, making possible facilities that guarantee proper functioning according to current regulations.
The new treatment plant is designed for 10,000 equivalent inhabitants and has the capacity to treat an average flow rate of 2,059 m3/day.
The treatment process chosen is that of prolonged aeration in the oxidation channel, with final disinfection of the effluent by means of ultraviolet ray channel and dehydration of sludge by means of dehydrating screw. The project includes the deodorization of all elements and areas likely to generate odour problems.
The installation includes a photovoltaic solar power generation system with an installed power of 95 kW that will allow the reduction of the energy cost of the plant, in addition to contributing to the reduction of its carbon footprint.
The project is completed with the connection of the new EDAR with the ground section of the current emissary, an electrical connection and the improvement and adaptation of existing collectors to the treatment plant.
The works will have a term of 24 months: 18 for the execution of the works and 6 months for the start-up of the new treatment plant.
Once the works have been completed and their corresponding start up, the Concello will assume the management of their exploitation, consisting of the tasks of operation, conservation and maintenance.
The action will be co-financed by 80 percent with Next Generation EU funds, within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, while the remaining 20 percent will be financed by the Council.