Frontera NorteSur April-May 2003

A newly completed water master plan for the Tijuana-Rosarito area will cost US$1.245 billion to complete over the next twenty years. In order to guarantee the supply of drinking water to the cities, and to ensure appropriate waste-water treatment, the region will see the construction of a desalinization plant and a waste-water treatment facility. An already existing waste-water treatment plant will be expanded. 

The water master plan was created for the Comisión Estatal de Servicios Públicos de Tijuana (State Commission of Tijuana Public Services, Cespt) by the consulting firm Camp Dresser McKee and was funded by a grant of US$1.7 million from the US EPA. 

The study estimated the population of the Tijuana-Rosarito area to be 1.435 million. By 2013, the region's population will be an estimated 1.923 million people and by 2023 it should be at 2.463 million residents--approximately one million more inhabitants than there are now in the area. 

Currently, the Tijuana-Rosarito region consumes 3,658 liters of water per second, according to an official with the Cespt. By 2015, this figure could rise to 5,582 liters of water per second. By the end of the master-plan construction program, the water utility will be able to provide 8,202 liters of water per second. 

The US$1.245 billion master plan was one of many considered and was selected not only on economic merit but also because of the attention it pays to water conservation and water quality issues. Other aspects of the program include the construction of new pump stations and sewers. 

Source: Frontera (Tijuana), March 18, 2003. Article by Luis Adolfo San Isan.