Plans to build a desalinization plant in Tijuana appear to be finally underway

Robert Novoski

The northern Mexican state of Baja California is betting on desalinization to address drinking water shortages in the Tijuana region, and after five years of planned projects stalled, efforts to build a desalinization plant in Rosarito are finally resuming, according to state officials.

After two years of legal wrangling between the state government and Consolidated Water – the company was fired from the original project to build the plant – the two sides reached a resolution this summer that saw the Mexican government purchase the 201,000-square-meter plot of land. in Rosarito. The package, worth more than 596 million pesos (US$30.06 million), is now owned by Mexico’s National Infrastructure Fund (Fonadin).

Aqueduct over water in Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico
Morelos Dam in the Mexicali Valley, where water from the Colorado River must be transported to supply Tijuana. (Tercero Diaz/Cuartoscuro)

The dispute first emerged in 2019, after the state government unilaterally canceled its contract with Consolidated Water. The company sued the state to recover $51 million, and because Consolidated Water owns a parcel of land at the plant site, the project has stalled as legal disputes continue.

The lawsuit was finally settled in international arbitration this summer, and the country is now in the process of seeking bidders for the project, which will be essentially the same as specified in the initial contract. Baja California Finance Secretary Antonio Moreno Mexía said.

The state now plans to invest Moreno said it was worth US$690 million to build the desalinization plant with the new bidder, adding that increasing water availability is expected to address water scarcity issues for more than 2.1 million people in Tijuana, Rosarito and areas south to the city of Tecate for about a decade.

Tijuana and the surrounding area have rapidly urbanized over the past 40 years, exacerbating water scarcity. Tijuana it currently gets most of its water from the Colorado River, which is also drawn from cities on the United States border, and its water supply is dwindling.

Additionally, the system requires significant energy to transport water about 100 kilometers (about 62 miles). That The Baja California State Water Commission estimates the desalinization plant will reduce electricity needs associated with water distribution by up to 36%. The new system will eliminate the need to treat Colorado River water to make it drinkable, state authorities said.

The plant will be fed 8.8 cubic meters per seconds of seawater and is expected to produce 4.4 cubic meters of drinking water per second. The remaining salt water will be returned to the sea.

While addressing the region’s water scarcity at first glance may seem unproblematic, the project has received many critics, who say that the desalinization plant should be a last resort, citing negative impacts on the environment and construction costs.

Alfonso Cortez Lara, Director of the Mexicali Unit at College of the Northern Border, recommended that the state government should invest in improving water distribution infrastructure.

About 30% of Tijuana’s water is lost due to leaks in the system, he said.

With reports from Forbes, Zeta And Tijuana Sun

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