Dudick had the pleasure of providing chemical containment solutions this year to a desalination facility that will be the biggest in the Americas and one of the largest in the world. Located in the Atacama Desert, the driest place on Earth, Black & Veatch, Bechtel and BHP Billiton teamed up to construct the Escondida Water Supply project (EWS).

The new desalination plant will provide water to the Escondida mine site in the Andes by linking two 112 mile long pipelines between the two. When completed, EWS will provide 2,500 liters of water per second to the Escondida mine, 57 million gallons of water per day.

Dudick was asked to provide material as well as technical services for this project which they gladly accepted. Over a five month period Dudick field technicians, Byron Jacobs and Tom Dudick II, traveled to Antofagasta Chile to train the crews and supervise the implementation of four different Protecto-Flex Systems (100XT, 310, 800 and 805) as well as Dudick’s Caulk 149.

Dudick’s Protecto-Flex systems use a moisture tolerant primer and a fiberglass reinforced, silica filled epoxy to protect concrete substrates. The added flexibility adds strength to bridge small surface cracks and increase resistance to thermal shock. Dudick’s Caulk 149 is a two-component, 100% solids, and polysulfide polymer-based joint sealant.