Aguas submits EIA application for Chilean desalination plant

Chilean water utility Aguas de Antofagasta has submitted an environmental impact assessment (EIA) application to the environment ministry for the construction of a desalination plant in Antofagasta, Chile.

On receipt of the EIA approval, the utility will tender the project in February 2012, with construction to begin by July 2012, reports bnamericas.com.

The desalination plant will require an investment of $120m and will include an intake building and a processing facility.

A 5.7m-high intake pipe, which is located 23m below sea level, will capture the seawater and transfer it to the intake building through a 934m pipeline.

Water from the building will be transferred through a 1.2km pipeline to the reverse osmosis plant, which will produce 1,000l of water per second.

The treated water will then be transferred to the utility’s storage tanks in Amarillas through a 2.4km pipeline, where the utility will distribute the water through existing networks.