Aguas Pacífico is driving the Aconcagua Project as a structural solution to secure water supply for both human consumption and industrial use. While Phase I, a desalination plant with a capacity of 1,000 l/s, is under development, the company is planning Phase II to add an additional 1,000 l/s of production, doubling the system’s total capacity. This expansion phase aims to strengthen the region’s water resilience by extending the existing infrastructure through an integrated and efficient design, aligned with sustainability criteria, operational continuity, and the use of proven desalination technologies.

The project involved an archaeological recovery program at the historic San Juan de Dios Hospital site in Chillán, carried out as part of the development of the new Ñuble Regional Hospital. The initiative aimed to recover, document and preserve heritage elements associated with the historical use of the site prior to the commencement of construction works. The program covered an area of more than 40,000 m², identifying architectural remains and artefacts linked to different stages of the hospital’s historical development. The work ensured compliance with heritage regulations while enabling the site to be prepared for new infrastructure development.

According to the Chilean Meteorological Service, over the past 10 years, the impact of climate change in our country has resulted in an average precipitation deficit of 20 to 30%, affecting the north in particular, which is facing a severe water shortage for both industrial use and human consumption.

In the Atacama Region, this depletion has led to the deterioration of the Copiapó River aquifers, resulting in a water crisis that affects the towns of Copiapó, Caldera, Chañaral, and Tierra Amarilla and their more than 210,000 residents.

The Proposal

Develop detailed engineering for the 85,000 m² desalination plant using BIM methodology, enabling the development and integration of the client’s modeling and providing access to information and visualization for all project participants. This approach offers the benefit of identifying conflicts and reducing errors in the construction of the desalination plant, while maintaining the flexibility and adaptability to client needs that characterizes P&A.

Results

The Sanitation Services Concession Company (ECONSSA) put out a bid for the execution of the project “Seawater Desalination Plant for the Atacama Region, Provinces of Copiapó and Chañaral,” located in Punta Zorro (Caldera), under an EPC contract, with the contract awarded to the INIMA-CVV Consortium. In January 2018, work began on the engineering phase of the project, which involved 9 months of design and construction (P&A) under a fast-track approach—that is, construction proceeded concurrently with engineering—ensuring a supply of drinking water for over 210,000 people in the Atacama Region.

With an estimated investment of US$140 million in the first phase, the project was designed to produce 1,200 l/s of drinking water through three construction phases: Phase 1: production capacity of 450 l/s of drinking water; Phase 2: total production capacity of 900 l/s of drinking water; Phase 3: production capacity of 1,200 l/s of drinking water, through the extraction of seawater and its desalination via the reverse osmosis process (obtaining fresh water from salt water). From there, the water—now desalinated and treated with the necessary chemicals to make it potable—will be transported via aqueducts to the population. According to the Econssa website, the plant is already operational.

After the earthquake of February 27, 2010, SVTI required a survey of the damage caused by the earthquake. PA Engineering developed the studies and basic engineering to address these improvements. Then it executed the detailed engineering for the new berthing site No. 4, which was planned to be built next to site No. 3, a development framed in the general repair project of the Port.

Along with the projection of the esplanade to a new site, the designs of the slabs, crane support beams, earthworks and pile specification were contemplated.

Subsequently, PA Engineering developed the basic engineering for the standardization of the terminal’s fire protection system, and the construction support engineering for the rehabilitation of sites No. 2 and No. 3, the esplanade and container yard, repair of the Water Pond and revision of the fire protection system.

In 2005, the construction of the Spence Mining Company began and two years later it started production, consolidating itself over time as a relevant deposit in BHP’s investment portfolio.

In August 2017, BHP approved the Spence Growth Option (SGO) project, with an estimated investment of US$2.46 million, which was aligned with the mining company’s corporate strategy of having large, long-lived and low-cost operations.

With this, the site took a big step thanks to the construction of the SGO project, which allows Spence to project itself in the long term through the treatment of hypogene minerals through a concentrator plant, which operates in conjunction with the current FullSal mixed mineral leaching process.

Overall, the project comprised a new 95,000 tpd concentrator plant, extending the life of the Spence mine by more than 50 years, and the commissioning of the desalination plant.

The desalination plant, which considers the use of seawater for 100% of the mining process, uses reverse osmosis technology and has an approximate capacity of 1,000 l/s of water and required 154 km of water piping from the plant to the mine operation.

Pares&Alvarez developed basic and detailed engineering in instrumentation and control, electrical, civil-structural, mechanical and piping, among others, architectural design, 3D technology, procurement and on-site engineering.

Empresa Portuaria San Antonio (EPSA) hired the services of PA Engineering to develop the urbanization of the areas acquired during 2009, located south of the Port of San Antonio, which are oriented to the development of logistics activities.

This area, of approximately 65 hectares, is used for activities such as: cargo warehouses, truck parking spaces and service distribution centres. This allowed an organic and sustained growth of the Port.

The engineering included the development of soil mechanics, civil development of earthworks, road design, design of electrical system for lighting, possibility of installing reefer containers and sanitary design, among others.

Additionally, the architecture of the service building was developed at the pre-design level.