The Board of Directors of Acquedotto Pugliese (AQP) has approved the tender, for approximately 100 million euros partly from Pnrr funds , which will equip Italy with the largest reverse osmosis desalination plant, the first continental plant for civil use of the country:
it will be built in the countryside of Taranto on the brackish springs of the Tara river and will be a strategic and integrated work with the adduction scheme serving Puglia . “This great Italian work is the result of the strategic vision of the Puglia Region and the industrial capabilities of Acquedotto Pugliese, reactive – underlines the President of the Puglia Regional Council, Michele Emiliano –in exploiting the opportunities of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (Pnrr), also thanks to the work carried out by the Apulian Water Authority (AIP). With its construction it will be possible to cope with the increase in summer requests and at the same time it will be possible to reduce the withdrawal of the resource from the wells, contributing to the improvement of the state of the underground aquifers. A way to give our water supply system greater resilience and ability to react to water crises, in a historical moment characterized by the signs of climate change”. The entry into service of the works is scheduled for mid-2026.
“It is a large desalination plant, the first plant of this size to be launched in Italy with a reverse osmosis process, capable of treating 1,000 liters per second, which will make it possible to produce – claims the president of AQP, Domenico Laforgia – with a potential of 55,400 m3/day of drinking water. It was designed to produce the equivalent of the daily water requirement of 385,000 people every day, almost a quarter of the population of the entire Salento peninsula. By taking the brackish waters of the Tara river, characterized by a relatively low degree of salinity instead of the much saltier marine water, the consumption of electricity and the impact of the work on the environment will be limited”.
“A historic day for AQP which, in line with the strategic plan to 2026 and the actions established to protect the water resource, has resolved to announce the tender – explains the General Manager of AQP, Francesca Portincasa – for the construction of the first water Apulian aqueduct. A strategic work that will integrate drinking water with excellent quality water. We can begin to reduce the input from the wells. The differentiation of sources is fundamental for us and this infrastructure, of extremely high strategic importance, is the first step towards the realization of a work that has been considered so strategic for the system as to be co-financed with the Pnrr. Funds that impose rigid times of use and that we are ready to respect”.The three priorities that guide AQP’s strategic plan to 2026 are:
protection of water resources with the aim of recovering 44 million cubic meters of water, implementation of a circular economy system with in-house management of 130,000 tonnes of sludge and acceleration of the energy transition, reaching the production of over 90 GWH of self-produced energy from renewable sources. Investments of 2,031 million euros are envisaged for the implementation of the business plan, most of which (over 85%) dedicated to improving the quality of service to customers and mitigating the environmental impact through the reduction of losses and the achievement of new technological frontiers in the purification system. In this regard, we report below the video links:
Speech by the President of Aqp, Laforgia :
Speech by the Director General of AQP, Francesca Portincasa :
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