Construction of a municipal desalination plant will form part of urgent measures to address water shortages in the region around the Chilean city of Copiapó.
The minister of public works, Lawrence Golbourne, announced the plant on 29 March 2013 as part of a three-phase plan including new wells and a transfer of water rights to existing wells from the mining company Candelaria.
The government will bring the first stage of the plant online in 2017 and a second stage by 2024, Magaly Espinosa, the country’s superintendent of water services was quoted by Bloomberg as telling the Water Week Latin America conference in Vina Del Mar on 20 March 2013.
Acciona Agua is currently building a 17,000 m³/d desalination plant in the Copiapó Valley for Grupo CAP, which is now due for completion in mid-2014. Its capacity could eventually rise to 52,000 m³/d.