A key component of the Revivamos el Río Santiago (Let’s Revive the Santiago River) initiative has been the expansion of the El Ahogado wastewater treatment plant, located in the southern suburbs of the Guadalajara metropolitan area, across the Chapala highway from the city’s airport in the municipality of Tlajomulco.
Although the plant opened 12 years ago, it suffered from chronic under investment, leaving it incapable of processing the massive volumes of sewage generated by the hundreds of thousands of residents in southern metro Guadalajara. Consequently, much of the untreated sewage, along with industrial waste from the nearby El Salto industrial corridor, flowed directly into the Santiago River.
Last week, after an investment of approximately two billion pesos ($US99 million), Jalisco Governor Enrique Alfaro inaugurated the expanded facility. He announced that 75 percent of the wastewater treated at the upgraded plant can be redirected to the Santiago River, and that the facility has the capacity to treat 2,600 liters of water per second.
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