Almar Water Solutions solidifies its position as a service provider in the water industry

• In recent years, the services business area has acquired several water treatment companies, continuing its growth strategy and consolidating its position in the market.
• It currently has more than 70 contracts for desalination and wastewater treatment plants, in both Latin America and North Africa.

The services business area (Almar Water Services), which began operating in 2016 and expanded its activity in November 2019 with the acquisition of the Chilean water treatment company Osmoflo SpA, has been consolidating its activity by providing services to both private and industrial clients, as well as to its own assets. It currently has more than 70 contracts for desalination and wastewater treatment plants, in both Latin America and North Africa.

After the initial moves to start up the services area, in October 2020 Almar Water Solutions acquired a services company in Egypt, together with its local partner Hassan Alam Utilities. Ridgewood Egypt is a company that designs and builds its own plants, mainly serving clients in industry and tourism. With this new operation, Almar Water Solutions consolidated its strategy of global growth by winning contracts for new projects and purchasing assets, while at the same time strengthening its services area, which would be in charge of the operation and maintenance of the 58 desalination plants owned by the company at that time.

Since then, and with the strengthened structure in Egypt, Almar Water Solutions has signed 17 new contracts in North Africa, mainly reverse osmosis desalination plants. Most of the clients in the region are private customers in the industrial and services sectors with large water demands to carry out their activities. The capacity is expected to increase by 25% by 2022.

Later, in 2021, Almar Water Solutions increased its focus on Latin America by acquiring 50% of Aguas y Riles S.A., a company that offers customized water treatment and transport solutions for mining and industry, among other sectors. It also provides plant operation and maintenance services, design and construction (BOT) of treatment systems for drinking water, wastewater and liquid industrial waste. It is currently carrying out a project that will enable it to offer its clients a complete cycle of environmental services through the creation of a new division that will manage solid industrial waste.

Almar Water Solutions Services now has two major regions, Latin America and North Africa. However, in its ongoing efforts to offer comprehensive water solutions, Almar Water Solutions is working to open new regions in areas with high water needs and to assist companies and industries in those areas with their water supply and treatment. It is currently working in other areas such as Asia, the United States and Europe.

In addition, to address specific, urgent or short-term needs, Almar Water Solutions has a fleet of mobile plants with a range of brackish water and seawater systems, with pre-treatment, post-treatment and demineralization options to provide water that is fit for use. It also provides a range of wastewater treatment solutions including MBR systems, and a highly trained technical team specialized in finding solutions to complex water problems.

The operation and optimization of water treatment plants, as well as other associated services, undoubtedly has a significant impact on fixed and variable costs of industries, which makes the possibility of outsourcing the operation to specialized companies an attractive option in many regions.

Gonzalo Gómez-Rodulfo, Services Director of Almar Water Solutions, knows both areas very well and has extensive experience leading service and operation and maintenance projects in different countries, with a large number of municipal and industrial clients, and with all types of plants: from desalination and brackish water plants, to water and wastewater treatment, reuse and drinking water treatment plants. After years of hard work to consolidate the services area of Almar Water Solutions, Gonzalo points out that “Although the construction of large-scale projects in the sector requires significant investment, the water needs for these projects are never a minor issue, in terms of both the amount of investment and their critical importance for the industry to function properly, and they represent a very significant cost. The solutions that Almar Water Services offers to its clients not only ensure the operation of their activities, but also reduce the costs associated with water, guaranteeing fixed costs and eliminating potential deviations”.

With a multidisciplinary team of more than 700 people, Gonzalo Gómez-Rodulfo is committed to a transparent, efficient and sustainable business model, improving the technological and economic performance of the plants and extending the lifespans of the assets. In regard to the environment, Almar Water Solutions defines environmental plans and actions to preserve and improve the areas in which it operates, adding value to the contracts and clients with whom it works.

The introduction of new technologies in the water sector has made it necessary to adapt services continuously in order to continue offering the expected reliability with the lowest possible operating costs, guaranteeing the quantity, quality and continuity of the water supply in accordance with the productivity plans. These procedures are: operational plan, maintenance, quality management, environmental management and health and safety management. Predictive, preventive, corrective, legal, energy, environmental and proactive maintenance work is also defined.

In order to guarantee the quality of the water produced by the water infrastructure, controls must be carried out in all stages to ensure compliance with the requirements, to replace equipment when necessary and ensure proper operation of plants. Almar Water Solutions prepares short, medium and long-term action plans so that all of these actions are carried out and that clients have a reliable and constant source of water.

For all of these reasons, Almar Water Solutions has become an effective partner, not only for the development of large-scale water projects, but also for the management, operation and maintenance of water treatment plants, as well as for water transport and logistics projects. Water is necessary for large populations and for small and medium-sized industries, economic sectors and activities that are fundamental for the supply of goods and services and the work of millions of people around the world.