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Development in the Loreto Region has been rapidly accelerating and warrants increased planning
and coordination between government agencies, local municipalities, investors, and residents. As
with any growth, a major concern is providing the adequate resources to sustain the population and
protect public health. As the community looks to desalination to address the increased water
demand and parallel failing of the San Juan Bautista Londó Aquifer, caution is required to ensure
that supplemental water resources are developed in a sustainable and conscientious manner.
The practices presented below outline the prioritization of best practices for ensuring an adequate
water supply for Loreto as it grows. Desalination is listed as the last resort relative to other
actions. This is because the efforts to address other system inefficiencies will have lasting
benefits and limited negative impacts relative to desalination. By applying priority methods to
serve the growing population’s needs, desalination can be delayed to ensure that it is applied
correctly and to allow for desalination technologies to improve prior to introduction to the region
| 1) |
Water Conservation |
| |
a. |
Creation and implementation of a water management plan |
| |
b. |
Education |
| |
c. |
Financial incentives |
| |
d. |
Local enforcement |
| 2) |
Distribution System Repair and Maintenance |
| |
a. |
Creation and implementation of a water management plan |
| |
b. |
Potential replacement or repair of existing system |
| |
c. |
Increased maintenance |
| 3) |
Existing Resource Augmentation |
| |
a. |
Enhanced groundwater recharge |
| |
b. |
Water recycling |
| |
c. |
Remediation of contaminated wells |
| 4) |
Desalination[1] |
| |
a. |
Centralized - integrated desalination facilities |
| |
b. |
Compilation - baseline ecological data |
| |
c. |
Intake - subsurface providing brackish water |
| |
d. |
Pre-treatment – combination of subsurface intake and ultrafiltration |
| |
e. |
Reverse osmosis - using low pressure membrane and energy recovery systems |
| |
f. |
Brine disposal – reduction and conjunctive disposal using deep injection wells and
land disposal |
| |
g. |
Siting for Loreto – Detailed environmental impact assessment, hydrogeologic
investigations, hydrodynamic modeling of adjacent marine environment. |
The practices presented in this document provide methods and steps necessary to maximize
existing water resources in conjunction with evaluating methods for implementing desalination.
This does not infer the removal of environmental, economic, and social risks of augmenting
Loreto’s existing water supply by developing a desalination facility or other means of production.
More accurately, it provides alternatives prior to establishing the absolute need for desalination. It
offers guidance at the time desalination is deemed appropriate to properly site and integrate
desalination facilities, and ultimately reduce the negative effects that the desalination technologies
may bring. By maximizing existing resources, desalination may be avoided in the near-term, and
when finally necessary, its implementation can occur responsibly.
[1]Technologies presented in this list are condensed and represent best commercially available technologies
under ideal conditions. For example, subsurface disposal may not be an option if hydrogeologic conditions
are not suitable or the presence of a functioning fresh water aquifer nearby can be fouled. More in depth
descriptions of technology options are presented in Section 7 of this report. |
