Arizona officials voted to advance a $5.5-billion plan to build a water desalination plant in Mexico, as well as a 200-mile pipeline and associated infrastructure as part of a state effort to address its drought-driven water uncertainty. But growing controversy around the plan and the method of implementation threatens to derail the proposal.
A project team led by Israel-based desalination plant operator IDE Technologies is developing the plan, which calls for construction of water intakes and the plant on the Sea of Cortez in Puerto Peñasco, Mexico, plus a series of pumps and pipeline that would transport drinking water across the U.S. border to a reservoir west of Phoenix.