U.S. technology company Amazon is funding a water efficiency project in Mexico City, investing US $2.45 million to upgrade water infrastructure in the capital.
The initiative, funded by the cloud computing subsidiary Amazon Web Services (AWS), is a “strategic multinational partnership” between Amazon and the Mexico City Ministry for Comprehensive Water Management (Segiagua), according to the ministry.
Segiagua explained in a statement that the “pioneering water efficiency project” consists of two stages.
The first stage, which has already been completed, involved modernizing the San Antonio subsystem of the Mexico City water system.
The second stage of the project will entail the automation of the Santa Lucía branch of the water supply system.
At an event to officially launch the project on Wednesday, Mexico City Water Minister José Mario Esparza said that Amazon’s investment amounted to a direct donation, explaining that the company doesn’t have a financial stake in the capital’s water infrastructure.
Amazon, via AWS, “is investing but everything belongs to the Mexico City government: the infrastructure, the operation, the responsibility. It’s not a public-private partnership or private operation,” he said.
Esparza also said that companies such as Amazon are “very careful with their resources” and therefore “don’t invest in any [old] project.”
“They analyzed the proposal we presented as a ministry and concluded that it’s a good project,” he said.
Mexico City’s water supply system is currently at its highest level in five years thanks to a wetter-than-normal rainy season. However, long-term water availability that is sufficient to meet the needs of more than 20 million people in the capital’s greater metropolitan area is not guaranteed.
Any initiative that can make the Mexico City water system more efficient and thus save precious drops — and more importantly megaliters — of the essential resource is therefore very welcome.
The first stage of the project
- US $450,000 investment in the San Antonio subsystem, located in the Benito Juárez borough of Mexico City.
Segiagua said that part of Amazon’s funds were used to install “cutting-edge technology” for the San Antonio subsystem, which is supplied by the Santa Lucía 1 tank.
The ministry said that pressure regulating valves, next-generation controllers and insertion meters, and a SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) monitoring system had been installed.
The SCADA system enables “telemetry and [water] control in real time,” Segiagua said.
It said that the installation of the advanced technology allows savings of approximately “25% in the use of water (70 liters per second), which benefits more than 97,000 residents in the central area of the capital.”
The second stage
- US $2 million investment to automate the Santa Lucía branch of the Mexico City water system.
Segiagua said that the focus of the second stage of the Amazon-funded water project is the automation of the Santa Lucía branch in order to make it more efficient.
The ministry said that the automation of the branch is expected to save 300 liters of water per second. That amount, it added, is “enough to supply [water] to more than 200,000 people.”
“… Segiagua’s aim is for the recovered flow to increase water availability by 500 liters per second, which will ensure a more equitable and reliable supply for thousands of families,” the ministry said.
Esparza said that the automation of the Santa Lucía branch will allow water to be directed to eastern Mexico City, which he described as “an area historically affected by shortages.”
Segiagua: Alliance with Amazon supports efforts to detect and repair leaks in CDMX water system
In its statement, the Mexico City Ministry for Comprehensive Water Management said that its alliance with Amazon “supports concrete actions to detect and repair leaks” in the Mexico City water system.
Leakage from water system pipes is a major problem in Mexico.
In Mexico City, however, the use of specialized software, artificial intelligence and other technology will allow the “smart” management of water, alleviating that problem and others according to Amazon and Segiagua. The companies Xylem, a U.S.-based water technology provider, and Aquestia, another water tech firm, are collaborating on the water efficiency project in the capital.
Segiagua said that “efficiency, technological innovation and collaboration” with the private sector “is the path to guarantee the human right to water and make progress toward a more equitable and sustainable city in accordance with the instructions of Mayor Clara Brugada.
Amazon is also investing in water management in Monterrey and Querétaro
Amazon also has plans to invest in the modernization of the water systems in Monterrey, the capital of Nuevo León, and Querétaro. AWS is investing US $5 billion to develop a digital “region” in the state of Querétaro, where it already operates data centers.
It is not currently clear how much Amazon will invest in water infrastructure in Monterrey and Querétaro. The news website Bloomberg Línea didn’t receive an immediate response to its inquiry to Amazon about the size of its investment in those locations.
According to the El Economista newspaper, the aim of the Amazon-funded water efficiency projects in Mexico City, Monterrey and Querétaro is to save 2.5 billion liters of water per year.
AWS is committed to becoming water positive by 2030, meaning that it aims to return more water to communities and the environment than it uses in its data center operations.
“In 2024, AWS was 53% of the way towards water positive, up from 41% in 2023,” according to Amazon.
With reports from El Economista and Bloomberg Línea
