Inauguration of the Los Cabos desalination plant. Seen here: President Calderon, the governor of Baja California Sur, and the mayor.

Los Cabos has a new desalination plant, possibly the first of many to come

Gone may be the days of water wars in Baja California. In this arid peninsula on the Pacific side of Mexico where drinking water is a most precious resource, OHL and its local partners Balsa, VISA and Libra have built the first ever desalination plant in Mexico run as a public concession by a private firm. The project has been backed by the local authorities, the municipal water board, the governor and the republic's President, and has been largely subsidized by BANOBRAS, Mexico's state-owned development bank. Total investment in the project has reached $30 million. OHL Mexico's CEO, José Andrés de Oteyza, stated that though the amount may seem small, nothing could be further from the truth as "what could be more important than exploiting the ocean in order to turn a renewable resource into drinking water for the people?"

OHL's subsidiary, INIMA, has been specializing in water desalination for over forty years. The plant in Los Cabos uses sand filters and reverse osmosis processes to separate the salt from the water before re-mineralizing it and making it safe for human consumption. The latest energy efficient technology enables the plant to produce 200 liters per second, thus providing for 85,000 people. With an average of eight inches of rainfall a year, Baja California is currently unable to meet the demand from the number of residents, which has been rising mainly due to immigration and top-end tourism. The new Los Cabos plant is due to greatly ease the burden while at the same time helping to guarantee public health and protect the environment. Nevertheless, the National Water Commission insists that further measures must be taken to use water responsibly and efficiently for future generations.

With the inauguration of the new plant last year, Mexico entered the elite group of countries that uses the latest technologies to solve problems stemming from lack of water.