Innovative water technologies in Baja California
By Adina Moloman
Sources: SEDECO, Renewable Energies
Baja California Governor, Osuna Millan, concluded a tour in Israel, to see the latest innovative irrigation systems and other innovative water technologies.
Israel is well known as a global leader in innovative water technology, especially for agricultural use.
This innovative water technologies consists is drip irrigation, water recycling, reclamation, wastewater reuse and desalination.
The governor visited the world’s largest desalination plant, in Israel, the Hadera plant, which started operations in 2009 and can generate 127 million cubic meters of water a year.
Israel was willing to transfer water technology to Baja California for use in the agriculture sector, especially in Valle de Mexico.
There was two signed agreements, the first one with NETAFIM and the second with MEKOROT representatives.
Israeli Company NETAFIM is leader on irrigation technology worldwide, and invented drip irrigation. The agreement with this company is to provide irrigation technology on a hundred hectares surface in Valle de Mexicali. The company is well known for its research in order to identify innovative water technologies and bringing them to the use in countries including Africa, Latin America, India and Eastern Europe.
The Mekorot National Water Company is a leader company when it comes to desalination. After this visit there is a possibility that Mekarot is going to build a wastewater reuse plant in Tijuana Border town. This might increase the number on Tijuana Manufacturing jobs.
Over the last years there was another attempt to build a desalination plant in Baja California by the Spanish company that won contract to build Ensenada desalination plant, which has been sold to South Korean corporation and is expected to start the project in 2013. The contract consisted in design, build and operate a reverse-osmosis desalination plant in the port of Ensenada that could produce 250 liters of water a second (0.25 cubic meters).
