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Water is one of the most appreciated ele-
ments, if not the most. Investing in infras-
tructures for its maintenance and in measu-
res for its protection is the same as investing
in ourselves.
We use water at home for many purposes.
When it enters the pipes, it travels through
the sewerage network that take the domes-
tic and industrial wastewater to the treatment
plants where the hydrologic cycle begins, an
essential water recycling process.
One of these plants is the Waste Water
Treatment Plant (WWTP) in Ávila which was
built in 1990 and has been in operations sin-
ce 1991. The plant is situated at a site at
an altitude of more than 1,100 metres, in a
promontory on the right side of the banks of
the Adaja River, the second most important
tributary of the Duero River after the Tormes
River.
The objective of this installation is to treat
wastewater and return it in optimal condi-
tions to the river after removing contaminants
such as solid particles in suspension. At that
time, it was designed based on 1987 and
1988 figures, and its management capacity
was 13,500 m
3
/day, equivalent to the water
consumed by 45,000 inhabitants. The city
grew, however, to its current population of
almost 60,000 inhabitants and the treatment
plant required upgrading to provide better
services to Avila’s residents.
Growing with the city
As the city of Ávila grew, the wastewater
treatment plant required improvements in
order to be able to provide an efficient servi-
ce. In 2002, it was necessary to enlarge the
plant and to perform some upgrading work
since the ventilation and treatment system
became somewhat obsolete.
The last refurbishment of the plan was in
2014 when is treatment capacity was in-
creased to 30,000 m³/day, equivalent to a
population of 125,000 inhabitants, and is
prepared to reach a total of 37,500 m³/day.
In annual terms these figures increase to
11 million m³, equivalent to 350,000 inhabi-
tants. The plant is currently one of the largest
in Spain in respect to its treatment capacity.
It is also one of the first wastewater treatment
plants that purifies 100% of water with ho-
llow fibre membranes (MBR), an advanced
technology system installed in the last refur-
bishment to ensure the highest water quality.
As explained by Jaime Lobato, the manager
of the Ávila plant, the ultrafiltration technolo-
gy with membranes is a physical treatment
One of the
largest plants, with
a treatment capacity
of 30,000 m
3
/day,
equivalent to a population
of 125,000 inhabitants