Sep 24, 2021   SOURCE: BusinessWire

City of Alice and Seven Seas Water Group Announce Contract to Build First P3 Brackish Water Desalination Plant in Texas

The City of Alice, Texas and Seven Seas Water Group, a multi-national provider of Water-as-a-Service® (“WaaS®”) solutions, today announced that they have successfully executed a contract for the construction of a Public-Private Partnership brackish water desalination plant to provide fresh drinking water to the residents of the City of Alice, Texas. This is the first Public-Private Partnership to construct a brackish water treatment plant in the state of Texas. Seven Seas Water Group will finance, design, build, operate and maintain a Brackish Water Reverse Osmosis (BWRO) plant on land owned by the city.

“We are elated to begin construction on this important project with the City of Alice,” said Henry Charrabé, CEO of Seven Seas Water Group. “Our Water-as-a-Service® solution will ensure a reliable and affordable source of water for the city. We are proud to provide a new source of fresh drinking water for the citizens that is effective and cost efficient. This model of a public-private partnership is the blueprint to help resolve the water and wastewater infrastructure challenges and backlog in the United States. We very much look forward to installing our first Texas BWRO plant.”

Alice City Manager Michael Esparza noted, “The Seven Seas Water Group WaaS® approach offers an all-inclusive service package with no upfront capital investment, removing the unnecessary burden on taxpayers. We are pleased with the final contract and the price and solution offered by Seven Seas Water Group to provide clean water for our community.”

“I’m honored to have worked with Seven Seas over the past several years,” stated Representative J.M. Lozano, HD 43. “Their innovative water solutions are critical for our present and future needs. We are truly blessed to have them in our community.”

“We are thrilled that the City of Alice has chosen us to be their long-term partner for this critical public water infrastructure,” said Richard Whiting, VP of Business Development for Seven Seas Water Group. “We sincerely hope that other municipalities will be able to look at this project delivery model as the template for how to marry public and private sector financing to deliver critical infrastructure in a timely and affordable manner.”

Quick Facts:

  • Initial production capacity of three million gallons per day (MGD) with expansion options;
  • Seven Seas Water Group is responsible for the financing, design, construction, operations and maintenance of the plant;
  • Seven Seas Water Group will deliver fresh drinking water in volumes and quality dictated by the city;
  • The plant will be located on land owned by the City of Alice;
  • At the end of the 16.5-year contract term, the city will assume ownership of the plant in a guaranteed state of condition;
  • It is anticipated that the plant will be fully operational in 18 months.

Less than one year ago, Seven Seas Water Group also announced its acquisition of a 20 MGD conventional water treatment plant system in Panama, serving a population of approximately 420,000 residents. The Seven Seas Water Group’s performance has proven to be strongly resilient, with no material impacts to operations or production of water despite the COVID 19 pandemic. Over the past year, revenues of the Seven Seas Water Group have increased significantly, as the company continues to be the partner of choice in delivering safe, reliable, and efficient water solutions to its customers.

About Seven Seas Water Group

Seven Seas Water Group (www.sevenseaswater.com) is a portfolio company owned by investment funds managed by Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners (“MSIP”). Seven Seas Water Group operates two businesses within the water infrastructure space. Seven Seas Water provides water treatment and desalination for governmental and industrial customers in Latin America and the Caribbean. AUC Group (www.aucgroup.net) provides decentralized wastewater treatment plants for industrial and municipal customers in the United States. Seven Seas Water delivers ~18 Bn gallons of clean water annually and operates 11 water treatment plants internationally. The company has more than 140 wastewater treatment plants under lease in the United States with property developers, municipal customers, and utility districts and consistently maintains a +97% plant availability for its customers.

About Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners

Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners (“MSIP”) is a leading global private infrastructure investment platform. Founded in 2006, MSIP has made over 30 investments across its three flagship, closed-ended funds. Since inception, MSIP has had more than $13 billion in commitments. For further information about Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners, please visit www.morganstanley.com/im/infrastructurepartners.