A New York City-based company working with two Mexican partners has launched construction of an ocean water desalination plant in the agricultural region of San Quintin some 160 miles from the San Diego border.

Scheduled to open in the summer of 2017, the plant would provide 5.8 million gallons of water daily to more than 100,000 residents of the region. The cost of the project is about $32 million at current exchange rates. It is the first to be approved under Baja California’s new public-private partnership law.