“Aguas Marítimas” is a transformative initiative developed by CRAMSA in the Antofagasta Region of Chile, standing as the world’s first desalination project to simultaneously achieve a positive water balance and a negative carbon footprint. Its core is a state-of-the-art desalination plant with a processing capacity of 700,000 m³ per day, designed not only to generate water in an arid region but to catalyze a comprehensive set of complementary solutions that regenerate the hydrological and ecological environment.
The project adopts a collective and catalytic action model, with CRAMSA acting as a convener of partnerships among governments, companies, communities, and scientific organizations. The goal is to scale sustainable and permanent water solutions, maximizing benefits beyond the area of direct operation. A key strategic component is the advanced reuse of treated wastewater for industrial processes, regenerative agriculture, and aquifer recharge—an intervention that helps rebalance the hydrological cycle and reduces pressure on natural sources.
Furthermore, the project incorporates cutting-edge technologies to treat contaminated water and restore its quality before returning it to the environment, benefiting both communities and ecosystems. Parallel efforts address marine plastic pollution, including microplastics.
The integration of desalinated and treated water sources enables reforestation and soil regeneration processes that foster biodiversity, enhance soil health, and sequester carbon—offsetting operational emissions and positioning the project as climate-positive. Sponge city principles are also implemented to mitigate flood risk and strengthen urban resilience, while advanced leak detection technologies are used to reduce water losses of up to 30%.
CRAMSA further innovates in brine management, proposing its transformation into a carbon sink via interaction with the oceanic water column. “Aguas Marítimas” sets a new global benchmark for regenerative, collaborative, and scientifically robust water projects aligned with systemic challenges of climate change and water security. With its 700,000 m³/day desalination capacity and a robust hydrological and ecological regeneration approach, the project stands as a global reference for corporate water replenishment.
The Antofagasta Region faces a critical combination of water-related issues that explain the structural need for transformative projects like “Aguas Marítimas.” Foremost among these is structural scarcity resulting from the historical overexploitation of key aquifers, such as those in Calama and the Loa River system, whose natural recharge rates are insufficient to meet growing industrial demand driven by mining, rapid urbanization, and port activities. This has led to a deep and sustained hydrological imbalance.
This is compounded by a widespread contamination problem, including elevated salinity, heavy metals, organic matter, and untreated urban waste. These pollutants degrade the quality of both surface and groundwater, negatively affecting aquatic ecosystems and restricting water use for productive and human purposes.
Another critical dimension is the unequal access to water. Rural, peri-urban, and indigenous communities—particularly in remote or informal areas—struggle to obtain safe, continuous, and high-quality water supply. These disparities manifest in limited coverage, high supply costs, and reliance on unsafe sources.
Finally, the water distribution system is plagued by inefficiencies, with technical losses reaching up to 30% of total volume due to leaks, unauthorized connections, network degradation, and lack of modern detection and maintenance technologies. Collectively, these issues form a complex water crisis that requires systemic, innovative, and coordinated interventions like those proposed by CRAMSA.
SDG 1: Improved access to water through desalination and reforestation boosts agricultural productivity and creates jobs, reducing poverty by enhancing economic opportunities and improving community health.
SDG 2: Initiatives like hydroponics and water reuse ensure food security in arid regions, fostering resilient and sustainable agricultural systems amidst water scarcity.
SDG 3: The project decreases waterborne diseases by providing reliable access to purified water, enhancing overall community health and mitigating sanitary risks.
SDG 4: Education on water management and reduced time spent collecting water enable better school attendance, particularly benefiting girls and improving learning opportunities.
SDG 5: By easing the burden of water collection and involving women in decision-making, the project promotes gender equity and empowers women economically and socially.
SDG 6: Desalination, water reuse, and ecosystem restoration significantly increase access to clean and sustainable water, directly addressing the core aim of this goal.
SDG 7: The integration of renewable energy in desalination plants lowers the project’s carbon footprint, ensuring sustainable water production in the long term.
SDG 8: Job creation in reforestation, water management, and sustainable technologies supports resilient local economies and inclusive economic growth.
SDG 9: Technological innovations in desalination and water reuse strengthen sustainable infrastructure and promote environmentally friendly industrialization.
SDG 10: Equitable water access for marginalized communities reduces social and economic inequalities through inclusive and scalable solutions.
SDG 11: Implementing sponge cities and sustainable drainage systems increases urban resilience to climate disasters, integrating water solutions into urban development.
SDG 12: By advancing water reuse and efficient technologies, the project fosters responsible consumption and production, aligning sustainability with a circular economy.
SDG 13: Reforestation and sustainable water management methods support carbon capture and climate adaptation by reducing emissions and enhancing environmental resilience.
SDG 14: Responsible brine management in desalination protects marine ecosystems, improving ocean health and addressing acidification challenges.
SDG 15: Restoring degraded ecosystems and recharging aquifers supports biodiversity, prevents desertification, and strengthens soil health for sustainable land use.
SDG 16: Providing equitable and sustainable water resources prevents conflicts over access, fostering peace and institutional stability.
SDG 17: Strategic collaboration with companies and communities amplifies project outcomes, demonstrating how partnerships are essential to achieving global goals.
1.Phased Development: The implementation of the project follows a modular and sequential approach that allows for the gradual scaling of expected benefits. In the initial phase, the construction of the desalination plant is prioritized as the central infrastructure to ensure water production. Subsequent stages include the deployment of distribution systems, tertiary treatment facilities, artificial aquifer recharge structures, and ecological restoration components. This phased strategy enables impact validation, resource optimization, and the strengthening of local stakeholder engagement at each stage.
2.Applied Technologies: The project integrates high-efficiency, low-impact environmental solutions. Among them is reverse osmosis technology with energy recovery systems, which significantly reduces electricity consumption per cubic meter of water produced. Additional technologies include bioreactors for advanced wastewater treatment, subsurface recharge systems such as infiltration wells and percolation trenches, IoT-enabled sensors for real-time monitoring, and water quality stations to continuously track physicochemical and microbiological parameters.
3.Monitoring and Traceability: A comprehensive monitoring system is developed through digital platforms that collect, visualize, and analyze operational and hydrological data in real time. This information is supplemented with satellite imagery and field sensors and is validated through independent audits in accordance with recognized standards such as SCS Global, CDP Water, and the AWS Standard. This level of traceability ensures that the project’s volumetric, qualitative, and social benefits can be transparently verified and replicated.
4.Collaborative Governance: The implementation strategy envisions the establishment of public-private-community partnerships to share responsibilities, risks, and benefits. CRAMSA coordinates agreements with regional and municipal authorities, local communities, indigenous associations, universities, and national and international co-investors. This inclusive governance model enhances execution effectiveness, strengthens the project’s social legitimacy, and builds institutional capacities for long-term sustainability.
The “Aguas Marítimas” project transcends the traditional role of a desalination facility, presenting itself as a regenerative and systemic intervention that redefines the interface between industrial development, ecological integrity, and community resilience. Anchored in the production of desalinated water, the project builds an interconnected network of solutions that include wastewater reuse, aquifer recharge, ecosystem restoration, and inclusive governance. These components are not isolated interventions but form part of an integrated territorial strategy aimed at restoring the full hydrological cycle of the Loa River basin and surrounding systems.
Rather than viewing desalination as a linear supply technology, the project reframes it as the catalyst of a circular and regenerative process. Through the redistribution of high-quality water for industrial and municipal uses, pressure is alleviated from overexploited aquifers. Simultaneously, treated effluents are redirected into managed aquifer recharge schemes and productive landscapes, fostering water balance at both surface and sub-surface levels.
The project places strong emphasis on additionality—ensuring that all measurable water, quality, and access benefits represent net-positive outcomes compared to the without-project scenario. This is achieved through robust baseline studies, transparent monitoring systems, and alignment with VWBA 2.0 principles. Furthermore, resilience is embedded into the design, not only in terms of climate adaptation (e.g., flood control, drought mitigation), but also institutional durability, with long-term governance frameworks and social accountability mechanisms.
Ultimately, “Aguas Marítimas” serves as a blueprint for the next generation of climate-aligned water infrastructure—projects that move beyond offsetting impact to actively regenerate the biophysical and social systems on which they depend. Its design responds to the demands of science-based targets, international sustainability taxonomies, and the expectations of a water-positive economy in an era of global environmental urgency.
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