Ayesa helps power resilience for Barcelona

Client: Aigües de Barcelona
Date: 2017-2026
Location: Barcelona (Spain)
Sector: Water and the environment
Subsector: Water treatment and desalination
Investment: EUR 37.3 million (excluding VAT)

Challenge
Our work
Added value

Challenge

The ongoing drought has significantly intensified the water shortage in Greater Barcelona.

In response, Aigües de Barcelona, the private company responsible for managing the region's water resources, has initiated the extraction and treatment of groundwater from wells to produce high-quality drinking water.

Our work

Ayesa has been involved in every phase of the La Estrella Water Treatment Plant project—from the initial concept and design development to the drafting of construction specifications—and is currently supervising its construction. The plant incorporates two advanced groundwater treatment methods: granular activated carbon filters, which treat 75% of the flow, and reverse osmosis for the remaining 25%. Once treated, both water streams are blended, remineralized in calcite beds, and disinfected using sodium hypochlorite. The final output is then pumped into the Aigües de Barcelona supply network at a steady rate of 1 m³/s.

With extensive expertise in water engineering, Ayesa is highly experienced in treatment processes, including granular activated carbon filtration, cartridge filtration, reverse osmosis of brackish water, calcite remineralization, and disinfection using sodium hypochlorite.

Added value

The new water treatment plant will generate an extra m3/s of drinking water for Greater Barcelona. The city’s resilience to severe and prolonged droughts will be significantly enhanced by combining the output of the new plant with water treated at the Sant Joan Despí and El Besòs facilities, along with those operated by Aigües Ter Llobregat.

Agües de Barcelona operates 6 treatment plants. Each one produces water of the highest quality, which is tested in a laboratory at each stage of the process. These are run from a remote-control centre, which oversees the automatic functioning of their treatment lines.

"This project has strengthened Ayesa's expertise in water treatment and desalination plants. Ayesa has been involved across all phases—from concept development and preliminary design to construction specifications and project management."

Ayesa

"The new water treatment plant is a major milestone for Greater Barcelona, helping help it overcome climate change and ever-increasing drought events".

Ayesa