Webuild working on ‘largest sustainable project of its kind’

Webuild has completed filling with water a sub-fluvial tunnel near Buenos Aires, Argentina – the tunnel is 10km in length and will help to clean Argentina’s Matanza-Riachuelo River Basin, one of the most polluted in the world.

The accompanying plant will treat up to 2.3 million cubic metres of water a day, improving lives of four million residents. The project is part of Lot 3 of the Riachuelo Environmental Restoration Project, a sustainable development initiative financed by the World Bank. 

At a length of 10.5m and a depth of 40m below the bed of the River Plate, the 4.3m diametre tunnel will receive wastewater from the basin that has been treated at a new plant and diffuse it into the river at an average rate of 27 cubic metres per second.

The innovative part of the tunnel is the series of 34 steel tubes (called risers) each at a diameter of a little less than one metre installed along the ceiling of the tunnel. The treated wastewater passes through the risers that reach up to the bed of the river.

Known as Lot 2 of the project, the plant and accompanying pumping stations are being built by Webuild’s subsidiary, Fisia Italimpianti, and partner Acciona with a 35% stake. The plant will be one of the biggest of its kind in the world.