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USA, 2017: Dispute over the Taunton River desalination plant

Dispute over a desalination plant, Massachusetts

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In June 2017, Water. Desalination + reuse (Faversham House) reported, citing the local paper The Enterprise, that Brockton City Council in Massachusetts had dropped funding for water from the Taunton River desalination plant. Inima built the 19,000 m³/day plant through Aquaria Water; it had run since 2008 under a 20-year contract. Instead of the US$88 million agreed in 2014, a US$75 million purchase price was now under debate. The water commission backed buying, the council opposed. The fixed operating fee stood at US$6.6 million a year.

The case showed how a long-term supply contract could tie a city financially even while it took no water, and how contested the buyout of a privately built desalination plant could become.

Source: Water. Desalination + reuse (Faversham House)

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