Press Releases

• Concluded today the procedural process for renewal of the concession, which will expire in 2031
• Signing paves the way for construction of a second pipeline for the Peschiera aqueduct, main source of supply for the city of Rome

Rome, 10 July 2019 – Today in Rome, at the offices of the Roman multiutility operator, in the presence of ACEA’s Chairperson Michaela Castelli, the Mayor of Roma Capitale Virginia Raggi, the Chairman of the Lazio Region Nicola Zingaretti and the Chief Executive Officer of ACEA Stefano Donnarumma, the signing took place of the procedural guidelines confirming renewal of the diversion concession from the Peschiera-Le Capore springs, which supply the aqueduct of the same name, main infrastructure for the Capital’s water procurement system. The document was signed by Wanda D’Ercole, regional Public Works Director, single contracting Authority, Water Resources and Soil Protection, Roberto Botta, Deputy General Manager of Services for the territory of Roma Capitale and Claudio Cosentino, Chairman of Acea Ato 2.
With this signing, the Lazio Region guarantees the concession of large-scale diversion of the Peschiera-Le Capore springs in favour of Roma Capitale and, therefore, by reason of the existing management agreement, to Acea Ato 2 as contractor pro tempore for the integrated water service supply.
The Peschiera Aqueduct carries to the Capital around 14,000 litres of water per second (l/s), making a journey of about 90 km from the source to the taps of households in the Capital. This operation guarantees approximately 80% of the water requirement for 3 million residents in Rome and of many Municipalities in the areas of Rieti, Lower Sabina, the Metropolitan City of Rome up to the northern coast of Lazio, from Fiumicino to Civitavecchia. The concession being renewed today, due to expire in 2031, is preparatory to construction of the new Peschiera upper trunk, necessary to safeguard and enhance this very strategically important work, which ACEA Group management chose to include in the 2019-2022 Business Plan.
The intervention, aimed at enhancing the protection of the water procurement system for Rome and the supplied territories against risks caused by the obsolete nature of the existing aqueduct and also seismic risks pertaining to the territory involved, provides for the construction of a second infrastructure pipeline for which the agreement and collaboration procedure has already been initiated with all the Institutions concerned.
With the concession’s renewal, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport and the Institutions involved formally undertake to work together to identify and put in place all administrative and regulatory measures required to implement the agreement.
ACEA’s chairperson Michaela Castelli commented: “Today we have laid the bases for the implementation of a project, the construction of a second pipeline for the Peschiera aqueduct, which is immensely significant for Rome and for the Lazio region. This new initiative confirms our Company’s industrial vocation and, at the same time, its sense of responsibility towards its territories of operation, at all times observing the principle of sustainable growth”.
“By renewing the concession – declared the Mayor of Roma Capitale Virginia Raggi – we are writing a fundamental page for the future of Rome and the Metropolitan City, with a view to enhancing the safety of the town’s water procurement system, relaunching investments, giving substance to the Peschiera doubling project. We are laying the bases for a work that the town needs, in order to guarantee clean, safe, controlled, good quality water, for decades to come. Value for the citizens of Rome and future generations. Today we say it with pride. We are once again planning and investing in infrastructures, to the benefit of the Capital and the whole of Italy”.
“Today’s signing – stated the Chairman of the Lazio Region, Nicola Zingaretti – is the result of a virtuous collaboration, which from the start has seen the Region in the front line. The objective was to identify a consistent administrative path with a view to renewing the concession involving the Peschiera-Le Capore springs: an initiative of fundamental importance for the safety enhancement, after over twenty years, of Rome’s water supply on the one hand and the Rieti water system on the other. We have successfully achieved our objective, and this is a major victory, especially for users of the service and for all citizens”.
“The procedural guidelines signed today – said ACEA’s CEO Stefano Donnarumma – represent a fundamental step towards initiating a path that, already in 2020, will lead to our laying the first stone of a work which can rightfully be considered one of the most significant interventions in Italy on water infrastructures during recent years. Acea’s goal is to have the work project ready by the end of the year, thus making it possible, once the authorisation procedure has been completed, to launch the call for tenders and award the contracts. To guarantee and enhance the safety of the Capital’s water procurement system is one of our priorities - we even included it in our Business Plan - and we shall work with the Government, the Region and the Municipality, to ensure that the time plan is respected and we achieve the inauguration of the second Peschiera pipeline according to schedule”.