IDE Americas wins Santa Barbara desalination deal

Water treatment firm, IDE Americas, has been awarded a design, build operate (DBO) deal to refurbish, operate and maintain the recommissioned Charles E Meyer reverse osmosis desalination plant in Santa Barbara, California.

The Santa Barbara plant will help to address California’s growing water demands with IDE’s reverse osmosis technology. It will produce potable water at 3,125 acre feet (3.85 million m³) a year to meet 26% of the city’s water needs. IDE has the option to expand the plant to 7,500 acre feet (9.25 million m³) and is scheduled to provide drinking water by October 2016.

IDE has chosen Kiewit as its civil and electromechanical work contractor for the Santa Barbara plant based on its strong partnership in Poseidon Water’s Carlsbad project in San Diego county.

Project manager for Santa Barbara’s public works department, Robert L Roebuck, said: “With IDE’s extensive experience designing and supplying equipment for over 400 desalination plants across the globe, including Carlsbad, we knew IDE would be the perfect partner to reactivate this plant.”