Above: the new plant

By the Caribbean Journal staff

A new desalination plant has completed construction in Trinidad.

The project, located at the Petrotrin Marine Terminal Facility in Point Fortin, was officially commissioned last week. It was built by US-based Seven Seas.

The plant is slated to deliver 4.6 million gallons of water to the Water and Sewage Authority transmission system every day. It is the largest desalination project in Trinidad in more than a decade.

“The injection of this 4.6 million gallons into WASA’s transmission system means that water from Caroni, Chatham and Techier treatment plants which previously supplied the communities before the operation of the Seven Seas Plant will now be directed to the communities of Erin, Bennett Village and Environs, Quarry, Palo Seco, Techier, Santa Flora, Siparia and Fyzabad – thereby improving their water supply,” said Environment and Water Resources Minister Ganga Singh. “You can turn on the tap night and day and there will be water.”

Seven Seas built the plant under a Build Own Operate Transfer arrangement.

“Trinidad and Tobago is an excellent destination for doing business,” Singh said. “This Seven Seas plant is another successful example of private sector/public sector partnership in order to provide goods and services to improve the quality of life of our people.”

The plant comes to an area that has traditionally experienced frequent water woes, Sing said.

Seven Seas recently commissioned a new desalination plant in St Thomas, USVI.