GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands, April 25, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Consolidated Water Co. Ltd. (Nasdaq Global Select Market: CWCO), a leading developer and operator of seawater desalination plants, reported that the Congress of the State of Baja California, Mexico has renewed key authorizations required for the company's planned Rosarito Beach desalination plant.

The plant is expected to be the largest of its kind in the Western Hemisphere, designed to provide drinking water to the northwestern coastal region of Baja California for at least 37 years.

The project involves the construction of seawater reverse osmosis desalination plant with a capacity of 100 million gallons per day, and to be implemented in two phases of 50 million gallons each. The first phase includes the installation of a pipeline infrastructure to deliver potable water to Mexico's water system.

Consolidated Water has secured a minority ownership in the company that will own the facility. It will also own 50% of the company that will operate the plant and pipeline during the term provided in the public-private partnership agreement between Consolidated Water and certain State entities.

During the congressional session held at the end of March, the State congress passed Decreto #335, which renewed authorizations for various payment trusts, guaranties and bank credit lines to be established for the project by the State entities. The trusts, guaranties and credit lines are required under the public-private partnership agreement.

"This authorization renewal represents another key milestone toward the completion of this major freshwater project and confirms the importance of this project to the region," commented Consolidated Water CEO, Rick McTaggart. "We can now proceed to several important steps remaining before beginning the construction phase, including obtaining the remaining debt financing required for the project and acquiring the remaining aqueduct right-of-ways."

The company earlier reported that it had secured a bank credit facility for up to $200 million to be used for construction and project development. This represents a substantial portion of the financing required to complete the first phase, and the company expects the remaining to follow according to schedule.

The need for additional potable water has increased significantly over the past few years, with Baja California's rapidly growing coastal cities becoming heavily dependent on the overtaxed Colorado River. The aging aqueduct from the river to the coastal region crosses several earthquake zones. As has happened in the past, any failure along the hundreds of miles of canals and pipelines could interrupt fresh water supplies to an estimated two million inhabitants along the coast. The Rosarito Beach desalination plant will serve to diversify the region's water resources and enhance drinking water supplies in Baja California for decades to come.

About Consolidated Water Co.
Consolidated Water Co. Ltd. develops and operates seawater desalination plants and water distribution systems in areas of the world where there are scarce amounts of naturally occurring potable water. The company operates facilities in the Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, The Bahamas, and Indonesia. The company also manufactures and services a wide range of products and provides design, engineering, management, operating and other services applicable to commercial and municipal water production, supply and treatment, and industrial water and wastewater treatment in the United States. For more information, visit www.cwco.com.

Company Contact:
David Sasnett
Executive Vice President and CFO
Tel (954) 509-8200
[email protected] 

Consolidated Water Investor Relations Contact
Ron Both, CMA
Tel (949) 432-7566
[email protected] 

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes statements that may constitute "forward-looking" statements, usually containing the words "believe", "estimate", "project", "intend", "expect", "should", "will" or similar expressions. These statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. Factors that would cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, continued acceptance of the company's products and services in the marketplace, changes in its relationships with the governments of the jurisdictions in which it operates, the outcome of its negotiations with the Cayman government regarding a new retail license agreement, its ability to successfully secure contracts for new water projects, including the project under development in Baja California, Mexico, its ability to develop and operate such projects profitably, its ability to renew existing bulk water supply contracts, its ability to collect its delinquent accounts receivable in the Bahamas, and its ability to manage growth and other risks detailed in the company's periodic report filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as otherwise required by law, the company undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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SOURCE Consolidated Water Co. Ltd.