• Savener has carried out the detailed design of the necessary installations for the recovery and use of rainwater from the roofs of the Airbus Illescas factory

Water is a fundamental element for human life and a strategic element for both sustainable development and socio-economic aspects of society. This resource is becoming increasingly scarce naturally, so today we are looking for ways to reduce its consumption and make its cycle more efficient. One key strategy is reuse.

Rainwater collected, filtered and stored in an appropriate manner represents an alternative source of good quality water that can replace drinking water for consumption in certain applications and, in this way, contribute to saving this resource.

The system, designed by a team of specialised professionals from Savener, aims to collect rainwater from the roofs by means of an evacuation system that works by siphon effect from the roof to the siphon break point, connecting to a new collection chamber. Subsequently, it will be taken to a 1,200 m3 storage tank and used to irrigate the green areas of the East Floor of the Factory, which covers an area of 25,000 m2.

Although the initial proposal for this rainwater recovery project was to use the stored water for irrigation, due to the difference in rainfall in the different seasons of the year and the fact that the irrigation system is only used in summer, a solution was chosen to use the water both for irrigation in summer and for industrial use in the rest of the seasons. This allows all the water that can be collected and stored to be used, reducing the cost of the storage system.

In the case of using rainwater for industrial use, pre-treatment is required to eliminate suspended solids and chlorination to eliminate microorganisms. The treatment is designed in two key stages, consisting mainly of bed filtration and the addition of chemical agents to chlorinate and adjust the pH of the water to appropriate water quality values.

With this project, Savener, true to its philosophy of favouring the sustainability of the planet, provides the optimal solution for the management of collected rainwater in an economically viable design that provides innumerable benefits to the environment.