By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO – The plant that will produce approximately 6.8 acre feet (8,400 cubic meters) of recycled water a day from Tijuana sewage is about 35 percent constructed, and the 70-mile (113-kilometer) pipeline that will carry the water to the wine-growing region of Valle de Guadalupe in Baja California is scheduled to begin construction this coming January.
So reported Fabian Yanez, the Mexico and Latin America director of ODIS Asversa, a subsidiary of the Israeli company ODIS, which is headquartered in Petach Tikvah, a city close to Tel Aviv.
Completion of the total project, “I think will be in summer 2023,” Yanez told San Diego Jewish World.
At least three countries are expected to benefit from the project. Israel from the revenue a home-based company earns from the project; Mexico from the reduction of sewage outflow in Tijuana and the delivery of reclaimed water for irrigation to Mexican vineyards; and the United States, which has seen beaches in Imperial Beach fowled by sewage from the Tijuana River which crosses over the border from Mexico.
The new wastewater treatment plant is being built near an older one at San Antonio de Los Buenos, about 17 kilometers (10.5 miles) southwest of Tijuana’s city center.
While contracts were signed in September 2018 between the Israeli subsidiary and the Baja California government, the time since has been occupied mostly with environmental impact reports and other government-required procedures, according to Yanez. Now, however, approvals have been issued.
The pipeline will run along the left side of the Tijuana to Ensenada Toll Road before jutting east to the Valle de Guadalupe.
‘Israel provides the high technology to test water quality that will accord with all international regulations,” said Yanez from his office in Mexico City. Engineers from Israel travel back and forth between the two countries.
While the project is not expected to eliminate all the sewage flowing into the Tijuana River and thence to the Imperial Beach waterfront, along with projects to be financed with a $300 million authorization by the U.S. government, it is expected to make a dent into a persistent problem that has fouled American beaches and jeopardized the health of officials who patrol the river and serve as lifeguards in the Pacific Ocean. Imperial Beach Mayor Serge Dedina has been a strong advocate of the Mexican project.
Yanez said there will be three pumping stations along the 70-mile route of the pipeline.
Recycled water has been a staple for irrigation in many wine-growing countries. For example, it is utilized in California’s famed Napa-Sonoma wine growing region and in vineyards throughout the state.
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Donald H. Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harison@sdjewishworld.com