Aqualia completes its presence in Mexico with the acquisition of EMSA, the operator of the Waste Water Treatment Plant in Cuernavaca, capital of the Morelos State

Aqualia has completed the acquisition of the Mexican company EMSA (Ecosistemas de Morelos) in an operation that will provide the company with an estimated portfolio of 28 million euros over the next 10 years.

With this acquisition, the company completes its business portfolio in Mexico, where it manages all phases of the water cycle: the collection and treatment of inland water for purification in Querétaro and San Luis Potosí; the Guaymas desalination plant producing drinking water from seawater, in the Sonora State; and the purification and return of water to the environment, with the acquisition of the new contract for the Cuernavaca Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) in the Morelos State.

The city, one of the warmest and rainiest in the country, is located 85 kilometers from the capital, being one of its most popular residential areas. The plant serves a population of about 400,000 inhabitants of the urban area, although its metropolitan area exceeds 850,000 inhabitants, making it the fifteenth city in the country, but the seventh according to its human development index, according to the United Nations Program for Human Development. The WWTP has a purification capacity of 750 litres per second and is one of the most modern facilities in the country, in perfect working order, which carries out the primary to tertiary treatments, culminating in the last phase of sludge treatment. Aqualia is already operating the plant.

José Miguel Janices, manager of the Americas area, emphasizes that: “this operation confirms our commitment to development in Mexico and reinforces our growth strategy, both in the country and in the LATAM area in general”.

Latin American Presence

In Mexico, the company was selected to carry out the design, equipment, construction, start-up, operation and maintenance of the Guaymas desalination plant in the Mexican state of Sonora, for a total period of 20 years. The new facility, which is already being completed and will soon be operational, will serve nearly 100,000 inhabitants.

In the Aztec country, Aqualia has been participating since 2015 in the operation and maintenance of the complete system of the El Realito aqueduct for the conduction and purification of water from the El Realito dam (on the border of the States of Guanajuato and San Luis Potosí) to the metropolitan area of San Luis Potosí (capital of the state of the same name). The company is also part of the concessionaire of the Aqueduct System II, which supplies 700,000 people in Querétaro State.

In Colombia Aqualia is in the final phase of the project for the design, construction and assistance in the operation of the treatment plant of El Salitre, located in Bogota. The treatment plant, once completed, will treat a flow of more than 600,000 cubic meters of water per day (m3/day) and will serve 3 million people in the Colombian capital. Additionally, from this year, Aqualia is operating the end-to-end water cycle services in 13 Colombian municipalities, distributed in two departments and where it serves more than 450,000 inhabitants.

In addition, Ecuador recently inaugurated the Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) in Ambato, which serves more than 220,000 inhabitants. The project involves extending the city's wastewater treatment coverage, which until now was less than 5%. Consequently, the treatment plant will improve the health conditions of the population, as well as preserve the quality of water resources and enhance the economic and social development of the territory.

Aqualia currently serves a total of four countries in Latin America: Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Ecuador.

Aqualia is the water management company owned by the citizen services group FCC (51%) and by the Australian ethical fund IFM Investors (49%). The company is the fourth largest water company in Europe by population served and is among the top ten in the world, according to the latest Global Water Intelligence ranking (August 2019).

Currently serving over 25 million users in 17 countries: Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Spain, France, Italy, Mexico, Oman, Portugal, Qatar, Czech Republic, Romania and Tunisia. In the financial year 2019, the company had a turnover of 1,187 million euros and a business portfolio of 15,018 million euros.

Aqualia is part of the StepByWater Alliance (www.stepbywater.com), recently launched by the Spanish Government, companies from all sectors and public and private institutions, with the aim of contributing to better water management.