ACCIONA will build and operate Costa Rica’s biggest Wastewater Treatment Plant

The project is worth 45 million dollars (more than 35 million euros) and will service more than one million people in the metropolitan region of the capital, San José.

The contract includes the design and construction of the waste water treatment plant, commissioning, technology transfer and assistance with operation and maintenance.

ACCIONA Agua has signed a contract with the Government of Costa Rica to Design & Build the "Los Tajos", a Waste Water Treatment Plant in the capital, San José. The contract was awarded by the Government of Costa Rica, through the Costa Rican Institute of Aqueducts and Sewage Systems, and is worth 45 million dollars -more than 35 million euros-. The contract includes the facility's commissioning, technology transfer and assistance with operation and maintenance.

Construction is expected to take 30 months while the technology transfer and assistance with operation and maintenance will continue for a further 18 months.

"Los Tajos" will be Costa Rica's biggest WWTP and ACCIONA Agua's first project in the country. The design is for a primary WWTP with full sludge capacity for an average daily flow of 2.81 m3 / second and a maximum daily flow of 3.45m3/second in its first phase. The plant will service 65% of the metropolitan area of San José, home to more than 1.6 million people.

The "Los Tajos" WWTP is the cornerstone of Phase I of the San José Environmental Improvement Project, a program aimed at the refurbishment and extension of the more than 360-kilometre network of collectors and secondary sewer networks. The government will invest 290 million dollars to reduce the amount of untreated wastewater from the current 20% to 0.1%.

In Phase II, the Plan will clean up the Tárcoles River basin, reducing public health risks and pollution levels in the region's aquifers. It will also prepare the capital for its expansion over the next few years.

ACCIONA Agua was chosen in an international tender marked by strict economic, technical and environmental requirements, given that the San José Environmental Improvement Project is backed by an international cooperation loan from the Japanese Bank for International Cooperation.

This new contract continues to strengthen the ACCIONA Agua's presence in Latin America, where it is engaged in desalination and water treatment activities. In the past four years, ACCIONA Agua has come away with a number of major contracts, such as Venezuela's first Reverse Osmosis desalination plant; a technical support and maintenance contract for the Arrudas WWTP in Brazil; and the construction of the Peravia drinking water plant in the Dominican Republic.

ACCIONA Agua is also building the world's largest water treatment plant in Atotonilco, in Mexico, with a second water treatment plant in Mexico City. More recently, ACCIONA Agua was awarded the design, build, operation and maintenance contract for the Bello Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) in Medellin, Colombia; a desalination plant in Chile's Atacama Valley and two Water Treatment Plants in Peru.