Algerian President Bouteflika inaugurates major water desalination plant in Algiers
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Algerian president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika inaugurated Sunday February 24, the new $250 million-worth Hamma water desalination plant located on the seafront of the capital Algiers.
The plant, equipped with massive sand filters, chemically treated membranes, high-pressure pumps, and electric turbines run by recycled brine, is financed by $200 million from the U.S.-backed Overseas Private Investment Co.
The General Manager of General Electric Water & Process Technologies in charge of the mega project Jeff Garwood, now in Algiers, said the plant could purify up to 53 million gallons a day – enough to irrigate two million Algiers homes in the city’s crowded suburbs, where water service has been intermittent.
He said cleaner membranes and better pumps enabled the plant to burn a lot less energy than pioneer models developed in the 1970s.
Two years ago, Algeria ordered five desalination plants from five contractors. GE Hamma is the first to go online. Garwood wants to ring the world’s oceans with similar plants – and technology from the US Trevose Company.
