A mobile desalination facility to treat 4,000 acre-ft per year (af/y) (4.9 million m³/y) near Almogordo, New Mexico, moved closer to realisation when the City Commission approved an approach for a US$ 2.7 million loan/grant from the New Mexico Finance Authority on 1 November 2012.
The desalination plant would be part of the Snake Tank Project, which would pump brackish groundwater to the plant from wellfields 8 miles (13 km) north of Tularosa. The project would provide approximately 3,200 af/y (3.95 million m³/y) of the city’s identified water resources shortfall by 2045 of 3,398 af/y (4.2 million m³/y).
The Bureau of Land Management approved the environmental impact statement for the project in August 2012.