BEFESA

Our water business activities focus on two important areas:

• Engineering and Construction (EPC): Befesa designs and constructs water infrastructures and facilities, especially desalination and water treatment plants, and water distribution and transport infrastructures.
• Concessions: Befesa manages and operates water infrastructures and facilities under concession agreements. These include desalination and water treatment plants, and water distribution and transport infrastructures.

Hereby in Befesa:

We create hydraulic infrastructures that:

• Generate water: by desalinating seawater, by reusing urban waste water and by modernizing irrigation to reduce consumption.
• Protect our rivers and coastlines: by purifying the urban and industrial waste water.
• Prevent emissions: with the renewable energy from our hydraulic units.
• Contribute to social development: by making water drinkable and enhancing the rural and agricultural medium with irrigation systems.

We manage water in a sustainable manner:

• By providing the water supply and handling the municipal sewerage system.
• By promoting and operating all kinds of hydraulic infrastructures.
• With information and control systems that help to make decisions on the integral water cycle.
• By maintaining and preserving the desalination plants.

In accordance with the foregoing, we are highly specialized in the following activities:

• • Generation of Resources
    • Desalination
    • Drinking water treatment
    • Recycling
  • Transport and Distribution
    • Regulation
    • Impulsion systems
    • Large pipelines
    • Distribution networks
  • Managing and Saving Water
    • Modernizing irrigation systems
    • Sustainable resource management
  • Drainage and Environmental Quality
    • Urban water treatment
    • Industrial water treatment
    • Sludge treatment
  • Clean Renewable Energies
    • Hydroelectric resources
  • Energy Efficiency

References:

• Desalination. Seawater and brackish water desalination. Befesa’s facilities around the world produce over 1,2 Mm³ of desalinated water every day.
• Water treatment. Water potabilization, treatment and reuse. The company’s facilities supply or treat water for over 8 M inhabitants.
• Industrial water. Treatment of process water, service water and waste water, sludge treatment and water reuse and recycling. Over 200 important projects.
• Hydraulic works. Supply, treatment, pressurized pipelines, modernization of irrigation systems, hydroelectric power plants. Over 500,000 ha irrigated and over 200 projects.
• Hydrological and hydraulic infrastructure management. SAIH (Automatic Hydrological Information System), SAICA (Automatic Water Quality Information System), dynamic regulation of canals, control of irrigation areas, water supply and treatment control systems.

Milestone projects carried out in 2009 include:

• • Award of the contract for the Arequipa (Peru) potable water treatment plant (PWTP).

    The mining company Cerro Verde awarded the Alto Cayma Consortium, which includes Befesa Agua, a 55 M€ contract to build the La Tomilla II PWTP in the city of Arequipa, Peru. The aim of the project is to extend and improve the drinking water system supplying the metropolitan area of Arequipa, Peru’s second most populace city behind Lima. The project will involve collecting raw water from the Chili River and piping it approximately 11 km to the potable water treatment plant, where it will undergo physicochemical treatment, followed by filtering, disinfection, pH adjustment and chlorination. The plant will have a production capacity of 130,000 m³ of water per day, enough to supply roughly 850,000 inhabitants. The contract also includes the operation and maintenance of the infrastructures for three years.

  • Completion of financing for the project to construct and operate the Quingdao (China) desalination plant.

    In 2009, the company closed the financing agreement to design, construct and operate the Qingdao (China) seawater desalination plant for 25 years. The plant, which will involve a total investment of 135 M€, will have a desalination capacity of 100,000 m³/day and will be capable of supplying drinking water to a population of 500,000. The desalination plant will use reverse osmosis technology with groundbreaking designs both at the pre-treatment stage (ultrafiltration membranes) and for the centralized pumping system, thus achieving greater energy efficiency. It is estimated that, over the 25-year operation period, the plant will generate revenues of over 552M€ from the sale of water and a further 25 M€ from the technical support required to operate it.

  • Ratnapura (Sri Lanka) construction and supply agreement.

    In October 2009, an agreement was concluded with the Sri Lankan government’s National Water Supply and Drainage Board to build the first phase of the project to supply the city of Ratnapura and its surrounding area with drinking water. The project, which consists of a water treatment plant in Muwagama with a 13,000 m³/day capacity, drinking water tanks, open-pit water collection points and transmission of water to the various tanks, will involve an investment of around 26 M€.

  • Start of the Skikda (Algeria) desalination plant’s operation and maintenance period.

    2009 marked the end of the construction and launch period for the desalination plant awarded to Befesa Agua in Skikda, north Algeria, which has now entered the water production stage. The desalination plant, whose construction and operation were awarded by the Algerian Energy Company (AEC) to the consortium formed by Befesa and Sadyt under a 25-year concession, will produce 100,000 m³/day of drinking water utilizing reverse osmosis technology. It will have sufficient capacity to supply a population of 500,000. It is estimated that the concessionaire will derive revenues of almost 483 M€ from water sales.

  • Completion of construction on the Chennai (India) desalination plant.

    2008 saw the end of the construction period for the Minjur seawater desalination plant in Minjur, Chennai, which has now entered the start-up and initial production stage. With this contract, the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) will meet the needs for drinking water to supply the city of Chennai, also known as Madras, in the southern Indian province of Tamil Nadul. Using reverse osmosis technology, the plant can desalinate 100,000 m³ of water day. The contract provides for the plant’s design, financing, construction, possession, operation and maintenance for an initial term of 25 years.

  • Execution of pilot seawater desalination plant projects in Texas (USA).

    During 2009, NRS Consulting Engineers, a North American subsidiary of Befesa Agua, carried out several projects to turn seawater into drinking water in the State of Texas, USA. The subsidiary is now a market leader in Texas in harnessing seawater and other limited natural resources. One of its many highlight projects is the development of the first pilot seawater desalination plant in Texas, carried out for the Brownsville Public Utility Board (BPUB), on the Brownsville Ship Channel. In addition, it is currently developing the second pilot seawater desalination plant for the Madre Laguna water district on South Padre Island (Texas). This desalination plant, which will be the first in Texas to take water directly from the Gulf of Mexico, will employ reverse osmosis to produce over 4,000 L/h.

  • Award of the project to improve the Guadalhorce (Málaga, Spain) irrigation channels.

    Egmasa awarded Befesa the project to enclose the Guadalhorce Valley irrigation channels and improve their transportation capacity under a contract worth over 8 M€. The aim of the agreement is to cover the main channel’s open-air sections. This will prevent the risk of accidents and toxic spillage, which could affect the area’s 550,000-plus inhabitants.

  • Award of the contract to modernize the Canal de Estremera (Guadalajara, Madrid and Toledo, Spain) irrigation systems.

    The state-owned company Aguas de la Cuenca del Tajo, attached to the Spanish Ministry of the Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs (Ministerio de Medio Ambiente, y Medio Rural y Marino), awarded Befesa a contract worth over 15 M€ to modernize the Estremera Canal Irrigation Community. This will allow this irrigation system to be replaced by a pressure system, using either drip or spray technology, thereby reducing water loss, providing greater control over water use in each separate plot of land and leading to greater diversity of crops and yields.

  • Award of the contract to reuse the Peñon del Cuervo treatment plant in Málaga (Spain).

    The state-owned company Aguas de las Cuencas Mediterráneas (Acuamed) awarded Befesa a 5.5 M€ contract to design and construct the Peñon del Cuervo waste water treatment plant tertiary treatment works in Málaga (Spain). The project will make it possible to reuse over 9,000 m³ of water per day, giving the treatment plant a new tertiary treatment system that will allow its effluent water to be used for irrigation of urban parks and green spaces instead of using new resources.

  • Award of the contract to extend the Santomera treatment plant in Murcia (Spain).

    The Murcia Regional Ministry of Agriculture and Water (Consejería de Agricultura y Agua) awarded Befesa the contract, worth over 1.3 M€, to extend the waste water treatment plant north of Santomera. The plant will have a treatment capacity of almost 6,000 m³ of water per day, benefiting a population of over 20,000.

  • Award of the contract to improve the Plaza de España square in Sevilla (Spain).

    Empresa Metropolitana de Abastecimiento y Saneamiento de Aguas de Sevilla (Emasesa), awarded Befesa a contract to install a water treatment system for the pond in Plaza de España square. The project produce water that can be used to turn the pond into a boating lake, with fish, freshwater tortoises and birds. The treatment will enable the Spanish city to use the water to irrigate the adjoining Maria Luisa park and to supply the city’s non-potable water network.

  • Award of the contract to modernize Canal del Viar in Sevilla (Spain).

    The Andalusian Regional Government’s Department of the Environment (Consejería de Medioambiente de la Junta de Andalucía), through the Andalusian Water Agency, awarded Befesa a contract worth over 13 M€ to modernize the Canal del Viar canal, so that it can be used both for irrigation and to supply the city of Sevilla. This will be achieved by using 30 km of the existing Canal del Viar, downstream from the reservoir, where Befesa will carry out works to repair, adapt, rebuild and improve its structure, as well as work on the aqueducts, tunnels, drainage systems, service paths, and bridges.

  • Award of the contract for the tertiary treatment system for the Blanca water treatment plant in Murcia (Spain).

    The Murcia Regional Ministry of Agriculture and Water awarded Befesa a contract, worth over 1.2 M€, to construct the Blanca waste water treatment plant’s tertiary treatment system. The aim of the contract is to treat the water from the treatment plant so that it can be subsequently used in agriculture. This treatment system, with a capacity of over 208 m³/h, consists of flocculation, open filtration and ultraviolet disinfection.

  • Award of the contract for the construction of a regulating tank in Kurkudi, Vizcaya (Spain).

    Consorcio de Aguas de Bilbao Bizkaia awarded Befesa Agua a contract worth over 4 M€ to construct a regulating tank in Kurkudi (Vizcaya). This will improve the supply of water to over 200,000 people in the region of Uribe-Kosta, which could be at risk in the event of ruptures upstream of Kurkudi and faults in the emergency pumping system.