{"id":476009,"date":"2026-09-26T02:48:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T02:48:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/476009\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T02:48:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T02:48:22","slug":"mexico-breaks-ground-on-new-desalination-plant-in-rosarito-to-bolster-regions-water-supply-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/476009\/","title":{"rendered":"Mexico breaks ground on new desalination plant in Rosarito to bolster region\u2019s water supply \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mexico kicked off construction Friday on what officials are touting as the largest desalination plant in Latin America, <\/a>a $850 million project that aims to bolster the water supply for the cities of Tijuana, Rosarito and Ensenada.<\/p>\n

The desalination plant, being built in Rosarito and financed with public funds, will help reduce dependence on the Colorado River, the region\u2019s main water source<\/a>. Construction is expected to take about three years.<\/p>\n

\u201cBaja California couldn\u2019t rely solely on water from the Colorado River anymore,\u201d Baja California Gov. Marina del Pilar \u00c1vila said Friday during the groundbreaking ceremony in Rosarito. \u201cWe needed to open a new door.\u201d<\/p>\n

The\u00a0plant is one of 17 infrastructure projects included in Mexico\u2019s National Water Plan<\/a>. President Claudia Sheinbaum announced the beginning of construction during her visit to Tijuana<\/a> last week.<\/p>\n

The federal government will cover the cost of the desalination plant, while the state will pay for the pipeline network needed to transport and store desalinated water along the coastal area, Andr\u00e9s Pulido, Baja California\u2019s secretary of finance, said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Baja California has grappled with water-related challenges ranging from shortages to aging infrastructure, which have occasionally resulted in service interruptions \u2014 some that have lasted for days in certain neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe great thing about the desalination plant is that it will generally relieve the strain on our water system,\u201d said M\u00f3nica Vega, director of the Tijuana State Public Services Commission.<\/p>\n

Last month, the construction of the plant was awarded to the Spanish multinational company Cox \u2014 which, according to its website<\/a>, has developed desalination plants in 16 countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe plant will use reverse osmosis technology, an advanced treatment system that employs semi-permeable membranes to remove salts, minerals and impurities from seawater and convert it into drinking water,\u201d the company said last month in a news release<\/a>. \u201cThis technology is recognized for its high operational efficiency, the quality of the water produced and its lower energy intensity compared with other desalination solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Officials said the plant will initially have the capacity to treat 2,200 liters of desalinated water per second. The company said in its news release that the final production capacity of the plant would be 4,400 liters per second, \u201cequivalent to more than 380,000 m\u00b3 of drinking water per day, making it the largest facility of its kind in Latin America.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marisela Mart\u00ednez, professor and researcher at CETYS University School of Engineering in Tijuana, said the plant will help significantly, but it should be seen as an additional source and not an ultimate solution. \u201cThe water issue we\u2019re facing in Tijuana and along the coast is critical, as we all know,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She said that authorities should also consider additional water treatment and reuse projects, update the aging infrastructure and raise awareness about water conservation among the public and industrial sector.<\/p>\n

Previous Baja California state administrations had also planned to build a desalination plant in Rosarito, but through a public-private partnership. In 2020, then-Baja California Gov. Jaime Bonilla canceled<\/a> those contracts, arguing that it was not financially feasible, as reported by Mexican news site Proceso, leading to a dispute that was settled<\/a> four years later.<\/p>\n

Years ago, the Otay Water District explored building<\/a> a cross-border pipeline to purchase some of the water from the proposed Rosarito plant \u2014 and was granted a presidential permit<\/a> by the U.S. Department of State \u2014 when the project was being developed in Mexico as a public-private partnership.<\/p>\n

V\u00edctor Daniel Amador, Baja California\u2019s secretary of water management, sanitation and protection, said on Wednesday that the plan to export water to the U.S. is not being contemplated as part of the new project.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have not planned for a desalination plant to export water, nor do we have the infrastructure for it,\u201d he said. \u201cA special aqueduct would have to be built, and we are not currently planning anything like that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mexico kicked off construction Friday on what officials are touting as the largest desalination plant in Latin America,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476010,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[1697,8350,643,181,23,100,74,76,75,1696],"class_list":["post-476009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-baja-california","tag-border-baja-california","tag-environment","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-top-stories-sdut"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}