Desalination plant in Ensenada, Baja California, to be funded by the North American Development Bank
GS Inima Environment, S.A. was awarded with a 20-year contract for the building and operation of the plant, which will ensure sustainable and reliable drinking water service for currently and future growing demands in the City of Ensenada.
The construction of the desalination facility, with a total cost of US$48 million, includes a direct seawater intake, pretreatment facilities, pump stations, water lines, a reverse osmosis seawater treatment plant, post treatment facilities, as well as a conveyance system for discharging concentrate into the ocean. The project was certified by the Border Environment Cooperation Commission (BECC) in December 2012.
“NADB is pleased to provide its first financing for a desalination plant” stated Geronimo Gutiérrez, NADB Managing Director, and added “As groundwater resources become increasingly strained, collaborating with federal, state and local governments in finding the necessary solutions to provide safe water for human consumption is a priority for the Bank.”
The local utility, Comisión Estatal de Servicios Públicos (CESPE) obtains most of its water supply from four aquifers by extracting a total of 15.8 mgd. Several studies conducted by the Baja California state water utility, Comisión Estatal del Agua (CEA) and the Mexican federal water agency, CONAGUA, indicated that, given the region’s dry climate and the rapid depletion of groundwater in the area, a desalination plant using seawater was the necessary solution, from both a technical and economic standpoint.