Desalination & Reuse Handbook - Flipbook - Page 60
IDA
WATER SECURITY
HANDBOOK
CHAPULTEPEC, MEXICO
The reuse project is set just beyond Chapultepec Park
The Chapultepec water reuse project was contracted to alleviate
pressure on water resources around Mexico City, where around
15 million people depend on groundwater. The project involved
the construction of a 14,688 m3/d membrane bioreactor (MBR)
plant, and an advanced polishing plant using ultrafiltration, reverse
osmosis and ultraviolet treatment steps to prepare treated effluent
for aquifer recharge.
The initial stage uses biological treatment to eliminate carbon,
nitrogen and phosphorus, before MBR treatment and transfer to an
environmental buffer in the form of lakes in the Chapultepec forest.
This WWTP was the first MBR installation to be commissioned in
Mexico. During the rainy season, water from the lakes is treated
in the polishing plant to remove dissolved solids and disinfect the
water for direct injection into the subsoil via infiltration wells at a
depth of 300 m.
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In addition to augmenting Mexico City’s water supplies, the facility
increased sanitation coverage in the city, and use of local lakes as a
buffer stage meant that the project also contributed to enhancement
of the local environmental by irrigating green spaces. Sludge from
the WWTP is used as fertiliser.
