The Galindo wastewater treatment plant embraces climate resilience with Veolia’
2025-04-11
The Galindo wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in Bilbao, Spain, takes a step forward in its commitment to innovation and sustainability by incorporating the Actiflo® Turbo technology for stormwater treatment.
This strategic upgrade is part of the Primary Treatment Renovation and Improvement Construction Project — a campaign promoted by the Bilbao-Bizkaia Water Consortium and Aguas de las Cuencas de España (ACUAES) — and demonstrates the municipality's commitment to building climate-adaptative infrastructure.
The Project requires a total investment estimated at 38 million euros, of which 80% will be co-financed by the Next Generation EU funds through the Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica y el Reto Demográfico (Ministry of Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge), within the framework of Spain's Plan de Recuperación, Transformación y Resiliencia (Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan).
The consortium will fund the remaining 20% during the construction phase, in accordance with the agreement signed on June 1, 2022, which governs the project's execution, financing and operation.
The new facility will be able to treat 21,600 cubic meters of stormwater per hour online. Its robust performance ensures over 82.5% suspended solids removal or values below 35 mg/l in treated water, significantly contributing to safeguarding local ecosystems.
The Veolia-developped Actiflo Turbo technology to be supplied by Veolia Water Technologies Ibérica, uses an accelerated coagulation-flocculation-decantation process through the addition of microsand, allowing for a compact, fast and effective treatment.
As cities worldwide grapple with the impacts of climate change, this resilient solution is becoming the preferred choice to complement conventional storm tank systems.
The technology’s adoption aligns perfectly with the new EU Directive 2024/3019 on Urban Wastewater Treatment which emphasizes the critical need to address stormwater and urban runoff pollution, especially in light of increasingly intense rainfall events.
In this context, Actiflo Turbo provides a stable and efficient solution. Its proven ability to treat large volumes of water with exceptional speed and performance in a compact footprint makes this technology a robust answer to both current and future challenges in climate-adaptive stormwater management.
