SPAIN – Council members of the Vera municipality in the province of Almeria unanimously supported The Hydrological Resources Sustainability Strategic Plan for 2021 to 2027. Among the main projects included in the plan are the construction of a new drinking water treatment plant and a new seawater desalination plant. The sustainable water resources scheme aims to promote lower water consumption, implementing technology to increase saving and efficiency and increasing public awareness about rational water use. (EuroWeekly News)
MEXICO – The Baja California Sur state congress approved plans for financing and construction of two water projects worth $237 million. The projects were on the brink of cancellation, however at the last minute legislators greenlighted a public-private partnership contract for the $177.75 million desalination plant in Los Cabos municipality and a $59.25 million improvement project of the water distribution system in Cabo San Lucas city. Originally the plant was estimated to cost $50 million, but authorities revised the costs to $178 million. The plant will have a production capacity of 21,600 m3/d and the government is planning to receive bids for a tender in the third quarter of 2020. (BNamericas)
Los Cabos, Mexico. Credit: TripAdvisor
INDIA – An international consortium of scientists, including researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M), University of Hawaii and Uppsala University, won the first two phases of the ‘Waves to Water Prize’. The $3.3 million competition, organized by the US Department of Energy, was to design a wave energy-based desalination system to provide post-disaster drinking water supply to coastal areas. The international team is working on a rapidly deployable, small-scale wave-powered desalination system. (Deccan Herald)
CAPE VERDE – UNIHA Wasser Technologie has signed a contract worth 5.45 million euros ($6.45 million) for the design, supply & construction of the second expansion stage of the 10,000 m3/d desalination plant in the city of Praia. Construction work is expected to commence in early 2021 and commercial operation is planned for the second half of 2021. (Construction Review Online)
SAUDI ARABIA – Saudi Water Partnership Company (SWPC) has invited companies to bid on the contract to build a SWRO desalination plant in Ras Mohaisen. The plant will have a production capacity of 300,000 m3/d and is expected to be commissioned in 2022. The deadline for companies to submit bids is November 5. (Power Technology)