The fishing industries of the Rawson´s city, Chubut, in compliance with Provincial Decree No. 1540/16 of the Ministry of Environment and Control of Sustainable Development, have resolved the environmental situation regarding their industrial effluents, through the construction of a collection system, pumping and treatment of liquids generated in ponds with forced aeration.

Grouped together the firms Cabo Vírgenes SRL, Iberpesca SA, Pesquera Veraz SA y Food Partners Patagonia SA, create the company RAWSON AMBIENTAL S.A. and acquire a 50-hectare property, where the liquids will be purified, 3.5 km from the city of Rawson and 5 km from the port of the same name and Playa Unión.

The projected solution contemplates the primary adequacy of the effluents in each establishment and the transport of them to pumping stations to drive all the industrial liquids to a single treatment and final disposal system by pumping them through an 8.5 km aqueduct.

As a form of secondary biological treatment, an anaerobic pond is designed followed by two partially mixed aerobic ponds using mechanical surface aerators. These basins, which occupy an area of 2 ha, are waterproofed using a 1500-micron geotextile and geomembrane. In order to carry out the aforementioned treatment, a 4km medium voltage branch was built, with a 100 kVA transformer substation.

Once the organic matter is mineralized, the effluents enter a regulated evaporation and infiltration reservoir, from where the liquid will also be used for the experimental cultivation of microalgae and salicornia.

The proposed system, in addition to reducing fixed operating costs, increases the reliability margin of the system and, above all, does not affect the Río Chubut water resource, nor the Playa Unión seacoast, since the liquids will be transported to several kilometers from the populated centers preserving the quality of the waters of our river above all things.