We are FCC - Nº18

With the “Water for all” public wells project in Villa del Rosario, Aqualia seeks a provisional solution for the provision of water supply services in illegal settlements and areas of complex access to which the servi- ce coverage does not reach. In this way, it seeks to provide social and technical support to the communi- zuela, has around 150,000 inhabi- tants (106,000 registered), with an aqueduct built for 50,000 people. A year ago, Aqualia took the reins to optimize the service and made com- mitments to improve and invest for the next 10 years. Water is fundamental for develop- ment and can be a driver of chan- ge to promote a fairer society, the main challenge of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of making an effort to achieve both SDG6 and SDG17. Facilitating and regularizing access to drinking water for the inhabitants of these areas will substantially im- prove their quality of life. Guaranteeing the human right of access to water Villa del Rosario (Colombia) Aqualia has been awarded “Best Company of 2020” by the readers and followers of iAgua magazine, the leading media in the sector in Spain and Latin America. The award recognizes the company’s work to achieve the overall objec- tives of the water sector, ahead of other companies, such as Acciona, Schneider Electric, Ídrica and Hi- droconta. This is the fourth occa- sion (2015, 2017, 2019 and, now, 2020) in which Aqualia receives this recognition as the most repre- sentative entity in the sector. Santiago Lafuente, Aqualia’s Di- rector for Spain, was in charge of collecting the award virtually. In his speech, he stressed the need to “work well and communicate well” in order to be able to transmit the enor- mous value that the sector provides to the general public. The iAgua Awards were presented at the Investagua event, which brou- ght together the main players in the urban water cycle in Spain and La- tAm, and where Aqualia participa- ted actively in the session on Puri- fication and Sanitation, in the forum on Reuse and in the ‘Top Executive Roundtable’, with Santiago Lafuen- te, director of Spain. Aqualia, Award for the Best Company in the sector in the year of the pandemic ties so that, through self-construc- tion and with the advice of the com- pany’s technical professionals, they can carry out the necessary installa- tion for the normal operation of the public water supply. The project, already designed, star- ted with a pilot project in the Espe- ranza neighborhood, which will ser- ve 128 families, and will later benefit more than 5,000 inhabitants of the irregular highlands. The presentation ceremony, held recently, was attended by the main actors involved in the program: Mayor Eugenio Rangel Manrique, Aqualia’s representatives from the neighboring communities, the me- dia and various municipal techni- cians. The municipality of Villa de Rosario, a border area with Vene- R E S P O N S I B I L I T Y 36 R E S P O N S I B I L I T Y