MILAN, December 3, 2021 – Webuild has won a prestigious ITA Tunnelling Award 2021 for an innovative and environmentally sustainable project an important part of the efforts to clean up the Riachuelo River in Argentina. Recognised as the Technical Innovation of the Year, the Riser Concept is a diffuser system with a series of vertical risers installed along a hydraulic tunnel under the River Plate in Buenos Aires to facilitate the discharge of treated wastewater from the Matanza-Riachuelo Basin, one of the most polluted in the world.

The system, developed by the Group and under review for patent protection, was conceived for Outfall Projects potentially applicable to densely populated cities. The system foresees the excavation and construction of vertical shafts (from the bottom to the top) along the sub-fluvial tunnel. It reduces the time needed to compete projects of this kind, whilst minimizing risk and reducing environmental impact. 

The award was assigned by the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association (ITA-AITES), the largest non-government organisation in the sector which promotes the use of underground space for sustainable development. The final award followed the evaluation of an initial 60 projects in which Webuild’s project was one of the five finalists. 

The environmental restoration system of the Matanza Riachuelo basin forsees the construction of two water treatment plants and a hydraulic release system (Outfall) which includes a sub-fluvial tunnel four metres in diameter and 12 kilometres long, to clean up the Riachuelo River, one of the most polluted in the world. The aim is to improve the health and quality of life of those who live in the industrial district where the water has received all manner of discharges related to the production activity in Buenos Aires. 

The award recognises Webuild’s leadership in water, transport and tunnelling, especially in projects whose prominent feature is sustainability. The Group has a track record of approximately 2,400 kilometres of tunnels. Among the most challenging are the Snowy 2.0 hydropower project in Australia, the Isarco River Underpass of the Brenner Base Tunnel and the Terzo Valico dei Giovi-Nodo di Genova in Italy, the hydraulic tunnel under Lake Mead near Las Vegas, and the Northeast Boundary Tunnel Project in Washington, D.C.