A strategic partnership between Magna Imperio Systems® (MI Systems) and PERENfra is promising to make water available to more communities and industrial users in the drought-stricken US West and elsewhere, by combining leading water treatment technologies and infrastructure expertise.
The costs involved with transporting and treating water can require large capital outlays that are barriers for some end users, even with state and federal support. Compounding the problem is that many are running out of time to develop water sources and cannot afford to wait decades for public approval processes and solutions.
The partnership between MI Systems and PERENfra is designed to solve those issues, bringing private resources, operational expertise, and new technologies to a decades-old problem in a unique approach. The result will be privately funded engineering, infrastructure and water treatment that provides faster access to water. The model doesn’t have to impact water rights, and can allow for the infrastructure to revert to public ownership, without offsetting costs to citizens. “We recognize there are vast quantities of water throughout the country that are inaccessible,” said MI Systems CEO Eric Rosenfeldt. “Our goal is to ‘unlock’ those resources that are currently untapped and provide high-quality water to communities in need.”
PERENfra CEO Jeff Nelson adds, “One of the biggest challenges many municipalities and industrial users face is the large capital investment required to design and develop the infrastructure needed to access and transport water to support growth and ever-changing compliance requirements. Our partnership allows our clients to efficiently manage the water lifecycle in a sustainable manner, without placing a burden on citizens.
The team points to a pending water project in Butte County, California as an example of meeting a community need. The area was hard-hit by the Camp Wildfire in 2018 and water demands are high for municipalities and agriculture. Local governments and water districts have access to state and federal funds, but there isn’t enough money to meet the need in a timely manner. MI Systems and PERENfra have proposed a potential combination of infrastructure and treatment facilities to be funded, designed, and built by the partnership that would tap into surface water (Table A water) that isn’t being fully utilized. Those water resources exist behind dams built by the Bureau of Reclamation in the 1960s and are controlled by local water districts.
“Unlocking that water gives water districts options they don’t have now,” said Jim Stevens, a principal in the local engineering firm NorthStar. “When we start shipping treated surface water to downstream communities, that also helps to offset the groundwater deficit throughout the region, freeing water for agricultural uses in one of the largest food-producing areas of the country.”
MI Systems founder Grant Page adds that the pending project is a form of public-private partnership that solves an immediate need, “without placing a financial burden on citizens and rate-payers.” The infrastructure assets’ ownership will transfer to the water district in this example.
Of course water rights are a hot topic in California, as the team is quick to point out. “The local government agencies will continue to control the water rights and will be compensated for every gallon delivered through the system,” explains PERENfra’s Nelson. “Our role is to build, own and manage the infrastructure that treats and delivers their water.”
The potential Butte County project is the first in what the partnership hopes will be a series of creative solutions to water access and treatment problems for communities and industries. By building on PERENfra’s vast experience with water infrastructure, and MI Systems’ industry-leading water treatment and recovery technology, the partnership will provide an unmatched matrix of solution opportunities.
“We know there are others with similar challenges,” said Page. “This partnership can provide them access to the funding, engineering, construction, operation, maintenance and proprietary treatment necessary to make significant improvements to their water systems.”
About MI Systems
Magna Imperio Systems Corp. (MI Systems) is a Texas-based company working to solve the world’s water crisis through innovative solutions and technology. The company helps customers get the most out of every drop with the highest recovery, most energy-efficient water treatment systems in the world.
The core of MI Systems’ water treatment solutions is its patented END® process, which is establishing new benchmarks in terms of energy efficiency and recovery for desalination technology. END® offers up to 60% energy savings versus traditional treatment technologies, with clean water recoveries up to 98%, capitalizing on the far-reaching impacts of Maximum Recovery, Minimum Energy®.
About PERENfra
PERENfra LLC (“PERENfra”) is a United States-based infrastructure investment company focused on operational and development opportunities in the water sector across various geographies. PERENfra takes a long-term approach to owning and operating essential assets and our team has a reputation of providing efficiency and certainty for our clients and partners.
For more information, visit www.perenfra.com