A massive plan is under way to expand sewerage provision to residents of Argentina’s capital Buenos Aires and also to improve water quality in the Rio de la Plata, which fronts onto the city.
Halcrow is the engineering consultant for the project, working with Argentinian and Brasilian companies Esuco y Construcoes e Comercio and Camargo Correa as part of the design and build consortium that is delivering phase one of the scheme.
This phase consists of a new wastewater pre-treatment plant at Berazategui, in the southern area of Buenos Aires. The £95 million plant will treat wastewater from four million residents in the capital, with the flows coming from the Wilde sewage pumping station and gravity pipes from Quilmes, Florencio Varela and Berazategui. The plant will have a hydraulic capacity of 33.5m3/s and will mainly remove sand, grease and floating waste, taking out an estimated 22t of screenings, 52t of sand and grit and 95t of fat and grease every day.
Wastewater that currently discharges directly into the Rio de la Plata through a 2,500m long outfall will be redirected into the new plant. Once the flow arrives at the plant, it will be lifted using Archimides screws to the necessary level for treatment, which consists of passing the flow through grates, filters and desanders before returning it back to the river via the existing outfall.
Halcrow is responsible for developing all the detailed hydraulic, civil, mechanical, electrical, architectural and structural design for the works, as well as providing on site technical support during construction
The project is part of an environmental masterplan, which the Argentinian government is pursuing through its main water utility company AySA, to improve the water quality of the Rio de la Plata while at the same time providing capacity to allow expansion of the city’s sewerage networks. A planned £250 million second phase of construction will ultimately see the treated effluent directed to a new pumping station, and from there to a new 7,500m long outfall with diffusers.