ENSENADA.- Baja California Governor Francisco Vega de Lamadrid and David Korenfeld Federman, General Director of the National Water Commission (CONAGUA) performed a tour of the location where the desalinization plant in Ensenada will be constructed. This project will aid in satisfying the water demand of residents of the port.

As part of a tour of this municipality, the Governor reiterated that in coordination with the Federal Government they are getting to the bottom of a problem that Ensenada' residents have struggled with for many years-the scarcity of water in the region. A Master Water Supply Plan for Baja California is being developed to draw out the water works plan for the state, and will detail the specific infrastructure projects that will take place in order to ensure water supply for this entity for decades to come.

The State Executive states that in order to confront the water supply problem facing Ensenada, the municipality that covers 60% of Baja California's land, he began immediately upon coming into office to work in collaboration with the federation on important projects of great impact for the urban zone as well as residents of the municipality.

Governor Vega affirmed that this will also be an additional source to add to what has already been accomplished by the State Government, such as the perforation and installation of equipment at the wells located in Cañón de Doña Petra, and La Misión, as well as recently initiated construction work of the inverse flow aqueduct Tijuana-La Mision-Ensenada. This last investment at a cost of more that 130 million pesos were conducted in coordination with CONAGUA.

According to David Korenfeld, this region possesses approximately 35 wells that provide 608 liters per second (LPS) of water and that new infrastructure such as the planned projects will add 697 lps, and will guarantee sufficient water for the demand over the next coming years. CONAGUA will ensure that this project complies with all requirements in terms of environmental impact and will ensure that the desalinization of water is a process that enables sustainable development of Ensenada.

Both functionaries coincide that the Master Plan will form the base of the development and growth of this region, and that with the participation of various productive sectors of the municipality in conjunction with authorities of all three branches of the government, with active participation in each stage of the process in terms of supply, treatment, and supervision of the water they believe that this will elevate productivity in this region and the well-being of its residents.

David Korenfeld reiterated that CONAGUA will work in conjunction with the State Government to implement the Master Plan, which priorities are to supply water for human consumption and agricultural purposes.

Finally, he stated that projects need to develop according to each zones needs; which is why they are researching state-of-the-art technology such as desalinization which will allow them to use water directly from the sea or wells near the beach.

Ensenada's Desalinization Plant

The project consists in the construction of a sea-water desalinization plant, via inverse osmosis, with capacity to process 250 liters per second. It is anticipated that this will begin operation in about twenty months, and will benefit 96 thousand residents of Urban Ensenada.

This project will require an investment of 516 million pesos and will be the largest desalinization plant in the country.

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