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DesalData Weekly - September 2nd, 2016

Posted 02 September, 2016 by Mandy

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A representation of the proposed desalination plant in Baja California   Credit: NSC Agua

Plans for Baja California’s Rosarito Beach desalination facility are moving forward with a contract for public-private partnership.  The plant will become the largest desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere.  At full capacity, it will produce 378,500 cubic metres of water per day—which is twice the capacity of the Carlsbad desalination plant.[1]  As reported in the San Diego Union Tribune, the contract stipulates that a private consortium will build the facility in two phases: the first phase will launch in 2019 or 2020, and it will produce 189,300 cubic metres of water per day; and by 2024, the second phase of the project will produce an 189,300 cubic metres of water per day.  A private consortium will build and operate the plant, and sell water to state water agencies.  After 37 years, the consortium will transfer the plant to the state.[2] 

 

Next steps entail the finalization of construction-related documents, and financing that will cover the $490 million project.  Once in operation, the plant will help ensure that the region of Tijuana-Rosarito Beach will have a steady water supply for 50 years.  It is possible that additional customers will be located across the border in California’s San Diego County, where officials have requested permission from the U.S. State Department to construct an international pipeline that could carry up to 50 million gallons of water per day from Mexico into San Diego’s Otay Water District.[3]

 

Since 2013, Sweden, South Africa, the Netherlands, and USAID have invested $34 million in promoting “science and technology solutions that enable the production of more food with less water.”[4]  As the initiative enters its fourth year, it will provide successful applicants with a total of $7.4 million of funding; and it is especially promoting applications from “women-owned or women-led enterprises, or for solutions that engage and enable women.”  As stated by Bjorn Lyrvfal, the Swedish ambassador to the U.S., the link between women, water, and agriculture is a vital one: in sub-Saharan Africa, for instance, women produce 80 percent of the agricultural produce.[5]

 

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Credit: Desalination.biz

 

PUB, Singapore’s national water agency, has recently announced that CH2M will serve as the consultant for its fifth desalination plan on Jurong Island.   The partnership is a long-developing one—PUB and CH2M have been working together on water and industrial facilities for 25 years.[6] 

Singapore has already invested heavily in desalination.  In the next four years, two desalination plants in Tuas and Marina East will be completed, providing a total of 227,100 cubic metres of water a day.[7]  It is expected that the nation’s daily water demand may double by 2060.[8]

The new Jurong Island plant may help reduce Singapore’s reliance on a vulnerable supply of imported water.  The nation receives more than half of its water from the Linggui Reservoir, in Malaysia.  This past spring, water levels in the reservoir were at an alarming low, at 36.9 percent of capacity.

 

 

 

[1] Sandra Dibble, “Rosarito Beach desalination project moves forward,” San Diego Tribune, August 25, 2016, <http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/aug/25/rosarito-desal-proposal-moves-ahead/> accessed August 29, 2016.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Securing Water for Food: A Grand Challenge for Development,” <http://securingwaterforfood.org/who-we-are> accessed August 31, 2016.

[5] “Call for innovations in water, women and agriculture,” Desalination.biz, August 16, 2016, <http://www.desalination.biz/news/0/Call-for-innovations-in-water-women-and-agriculture/8511/> August 25, 2016.

[6] “Singapore PUB Selects CH2M as Consultant to Develop Fifth Desalination Plant,” PR Newswire, August 31, 2016, < http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/singapore-pub-selects-ch2m-as-consultant-to-develop-fifth-desalination-plant-300320518.html> accessed August 31, 2016.

[7] Andreah Soh, “PUB to Study Feasibility of Desalination Plant on Jurong Island,” The Business Times, April 13, 2016, <http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/pub-to-study-feasibility-of-desalination-plant-on-jurong-island> accessed September 1, 2016.

[8] Carolyn Khew, “Water Levels in Linggiu Reservoir Hit New Low,” The Strait Times, April 13, 2016, <http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/environment/water-levels-in-linggiu-reservoir-hit-new-low> accessed September 1 2016.

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