El Salvador moves forward with Ilopango water treatment plant

El Salvador, with support from the Chinese government, is moving forward with the plan to build a water treatment plant in Ilopango lake. 

The project has now moved to the design stage and the budget is yet to be decided, said the president of the country’s aqueducts and sewage operator (ANDA), Rubén Alemán. 

“We’re assessing it, we’re about to receive the preliminary design with which we will decide the exact investment amount that the project will require…we want to do it in less than two or three years and we will speed it up,” local daily La Prensa Gráfica reported Alemán as saying. 

To kick off the project, an agreement was signed between ANDA and the Chinese ambassador in El Salvador, Ou Jianhong, according to the report. 

Works include the rehabilitation of eight wells that will add 300l/s to a network that serves the following municipalities: Soyapango, San Martín, Ilopango, San Marcos, Santo Tomás, Santiago Texacuangos, Olocuilta and San Francisco Chinameca. 

The plant was first announced in June 2019 as one of the most ambitious projects of President Nayib Bukele’s administration. It was then questioned after reports that Ilopango’s water contain boron and arsenic. In response, the government said it was a case of low levels that could be treated to make it safe for human consumption. 

In December of the same year, Bukele announced that China would support several infrastructure projects, including the treatment plant.