Desalination Plant Proposal Wins Baja Governor’s Backing

The governor of Baja California on Wednesday endorsed a proposal by utility agencies to build a massive desalination plant on the coast of Tijuana, saying the project would benefit Mexico by providing needed drinking water, electricity and natural gas.

Gov. Ernesto Ruffo Appel said Mexico will join utility firms now studying building of the proposed plant, which would convert seawater into 100 million gallons of drinking water a day. That is enough water to meet the daily needs of about 228,000 households.

As envisioned, the plant would be one of the world’s largest desalting facilities, costing between $1 billion and $2 billion and providing water to users on both sides of the border. It would include a 500-megawatt electrical generating plant powered with natural gas piped to Mexico from the United States.

Appel, who spoke at a news conference in Los Angeles with utility representatives and Mayor Tom Bradley, said Baja California is suffering the same effects of the five-year drought as California. The Mexican state of 1.7 million residents gets its water from the Colorado River, he said.

“We have about the same conditions, and maybe it is a little bit tougher down there for us,” Appel said.

The proposed plant--which would take between three and four years to build--will not solve the water shortage, utility officials said. They said it would, however, provide a small but steady supplement for Southern California, where many residents now face mandatory water cutbacks.

The proposal for the desalination plant is being studied by the Metropolitan Water District, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Southern California Edison and the San Diego County Water Authority.

The agencies are interested in finding out whether the current drought will make it worthwhile to build a desalting plant that produces more expensive water.

The costs of desalinated water would be spread among all Southern California water users if the plant is built, even though the water would probably only be used by people living close to the U.S. border, utility company representatives said.

Support of the Mexican government is necessary for the plant to receive construction and operating permits. Tijuana was selected because coastal land and labor are cheaper there than in the United States.

Utility officials said they hope offers to share water and electricity are enough to persuade Mexican officials to support the project. Appel said he is especially interested in new jobs and permission to tap into a proposed natural gas pipeline that would feed the project’s electric plant.

Mexico, which is rich in petroleum, has few natural gas reserves in Baja California.

“Besides water and power, construction of the gas pipeline could help other sites of industry in Baja California,” Appel said. “If built, this would really prove that both countries can do much together.”

The utilities agreed last month to spend $600,000 on a six-month study of the project. It will be conducted by two private firms--the Bechtel Corp., a San Francisco-based engineering firm that has built and operated similar facilities worldwide, and the Coastal Corp., a Houston-based gas and oil company.

Desalination plants generally convert seawater to fresh water by heating it and then collecting the condensed moisture, which is free from saltwater and other impurities. Another method is to squeeze the seawater through a porous membrane that acts as a filter.