Spanish firm Abengoa is set to sign a water public private partnership (P3) to deliver 50,000 acre-feet per year of water to the city of San Antonio, in Texas, USA.

Abengoa and its team members BlueWater, Pape-Dawson Engineers, CP&Y, Garney Construction and R.W. Harden, under the Vista Ridge Consortium will deliver the project.

The San Antonio City Council voted on 30 Oct. to approve the Abengoa' contract with 0/11 in favor of the project, which will go online by 2020. The San Antonio Water System (SAWS) Board of Trustee voted unanimously for the project on September 29th. There are no further approvals required.

The project will be executed over a period of 30 years. The water will be delivered from the Carrizo and Simsboro Aquifers in Burleson and Milam Counties, located northeast of Austin. The Vista Ridge Consortium will design, build, finance, operate and maintain new production wells, pumping stations, raw water collection, storage tanks and a 228 - km (142 miles) pipeline to deliver the new water supply.

The project, which will deliver 168,970 m3/day, will support a growing demand of an additional 20,000 San Antonians every year. In addition, it will help protect spring flow habitat from the Edwards Aquifer, while allowing the City to further sustain a burgeoning population and an annual growth rate of 1.8 percent.

Over the past several months Abengoa has worked very closely with SAWS to develop a contract that is robust and reflective of public input.

Abengoa looks forward to building stronger ties and becoming a part of the San Antonio community for decades to come. Manuel Sanchez, CEO of Abengoa, commented:

"We are proud to have been part of a negotiation process that has been transparent and inclusive. Abengoa looks forward to strengthening its partnerships and delivering a project that will help keep San Antonio ahead of the curve."

Abengoa is expanding its capacity in the water sector and strengthening its commitment to the U.S. market, where it currently has a presence in 12 states. Abengoa supplies drinking water to more than 6 million residents around the world through water infrastructure projects.

The company has completed more than 50 pipeline projects. On the financing side, Abengoa has successfully completed more than 100 projects using project finance. Total investment in these projects exceeds US$20 billion.