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Desalination: A national perspective; U.S. National Research Council April 24, 2008; pdf download
Desalination: option or distraction for a thirsty world; WWF June 2007 report pdf
2006 Pacific Institute California desalination report and overview
Qatar and Texas A&M to test innovative desalination project
Qatar Science & Technology Park and Texas A&M University at Qatar will launch next month a $400,000 project to overcome a major environmental impact of water desalination, it was announced yesterday. Known as ‘Zero Liquid Discharge’, the technology promises to replace the salty brine that normally remains from desalination plants with easily-disposable solids. The ZLD technology could solve both problems of increasing groundwater salinity and brine disposal. The current method of dealing with brine is to evaporate it in ponds or with petroleum-fired vaporisers. This typically accounts for 70% of the system cost and consumes either land or fuel. Instead of evaporating the brine, TAMUQ’s innovation would remove the salt chemically via a lime-aluminium process. Gulf Times_ 6/30/08
Making the Negev Desert bloom once seemed like a good idea, but it's killing the Dead Sea
Water has long been a deeply political issue in the Levant; wars are waged over it. Aquifers and other sources of water tend to straddle political boundaries. Levi Eshkol, Israel's prime minister during the Six Day War, was a water-company executive who spent long hours poring over maps of potential sources. According to "The Iron Wall," a history by Avi Shlaim, Eshkol believed that "without control over the sources of water the Zionist dream could not be realized." In 1964 Israel completed the National Water Carrier, designed to pipe drinking water from the Sea of Galilee, in Israel's north, to the Negev in the south. Syria and other Arab states then moved to divert the headwaters of the Jordan, igniting fierce clashes that included Syrian-sponsored Palestinian guerrilla attacks. The water wars were one of the key factors in the establishment of the PLO in 1964. Diverting water from the Galilee has contributed to another devastating environmental consequence: the drying of the Dead Sea. The Negev is the laboratory for new technologies Israelis hope may solve their water troubles. Experts, though, wonder how far technology can boost supply. Drip irrigation and desalination can only do so much. Making the desert bloom was a good idea "in its time," says David Brooks, a Canadian water expert and environmentalistbut now "the very idea of developing the Negev is wrong." The day to rethink Israel's romance with desert farming may be here. Newsweek_ 6/28/08
Rising energy prices cause Veolia's desalination costs to triple
Veolia Environnement SA, the world's biggest water company, said the cost of purifying seawater has tripled because of higher energy prices, squeezing profit margins. The cost of producing water from desalination plants may have risen to as much as $1.60 per cubic meter from as low as 50 cents ``in the last few years,'' Jean-Michel Herrewyn, chief executive officer of Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies, said in an interview in Singapore yesterday. Power is the largest cost at a desalination plant, which filters millions of gallons of seawater into drinking water by straining out salt, bacteria and minerals. Industry margins at desalination plants, typically between 10 and 15 percent, are shrinking as fuel costs increase. Bloomberg_ 6/26/08
Water Corporation's Desalination ads misleading
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has found that the Water Corporation misled the public in its desalination advertising campaigns and online publishing. The Corporation published claims that its Perth Desalination Plant was carbon neutral, and its total energy requirements were sourced from the Emu Downs Wind Farm near Cervantes, north of Perth. The ACCC says the statements were misleading and has told the Water Corporation not to make similar claims in the future. ABC News_6/26/08
Cost to offset carbon footprint at Australian desalination plant hits A$42 million
Offsetting the Victorian desalination plant's contribution to climate change will add $42 million a year to its electricity bill, a new analysis shows. The report by Environment Victoria, the state's peak conservation lobby, says the size of the bill reflects the massive energy demands of the plant, to be built near Wonthaggi in west Gippsland. According to Environment Victoria's analysis, the plant would require the equivalent of five new wind farms to be "carbon neutral". Environment Victoria campaigns director Mark Wakeham said the most transparent way to ensure the plant operators offset its greenhouse gas emissions in full would be to make them buy 100% green power. The Age_ 6/16/08
"Man-made" water has different chemistry
“Water that’s been desalted through reverse osmosis contains a unique composition which will induce changes in the chemistry and ecology of aquifers and natural water systems it enters,” says Avner Vengosh, associate professor of earth and ocean sciences at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment. A new study by Vengosh and colleagues in France and Israel provides tools to identify and trace this man-made water as it mixes with natural water supplies and, over time, replaces natural waters in areas entirely dependent on desalination. The study, published this month in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Science and Technology, details for the first time the isotope geochemistry – or chemical fingerprints – of the elements boron, lithium, strontium, oxygen and hydrogen found in reverse osmosis-desalted seawater and brackish groundwater. Identifying these unique geochemical and isotopic fingerprints gives scientists and water-quality managers a new array of tools for tracing the presence and distribution of man-made fresh water in a region’s soils, surface waters and ground waters, Vengosh says. Being able to trace water back to a desalinated source through its isotopic and geochemical fingerprints will allow local governments and water utilities to zero in on the problem of valuable water loss and correct it more quickly and efficiently. Moreover, because desalted wastewater can be recycled through the environment and reused as a drinking water source – a process already being used in southern California – the new tools would enable water authorities to trace the relative contribution of desalted water in their system, and to test the effectiveness of their water treatment processes. Duke University_ 6/9/08
Ottawa, Canada student may hold secret to Water For All
Mohammed Rasool Qtaisha knows what it's like to be thirsty. The 29-year-old chemical engineering PhD student at the University Ottawa grew up in Jordan, where water shortages were a way of life. And his experience is shared by millions of others around the world. Inspired by his circumstances, Mr. Qtaishat founded Water For All with the aim of developing a new water technology to turn seawater into clean, drinking water on a large scale. Current desalination technology is slow and very energy intensive. In 2004, Mr. Qtaishat approached the Middle East Desalination Research Centre in Oman and presented his method for developing a far more efficient way of turning seawater into drinking water. The centre was so impressed, they offered him a scholarship to come to Canada and develop his technology. Although Mr. Qtaishat's solution is top secret while the patent is still pending, he says refining the process is all about the type of material used in the membrane. With this new material, his prototype is able to run on solar panels and produce 50 kilograms of water per metre square of the membrane per hour. That is 600 to 700 per cent more efficient than current technology, which produces about seven to eight kilograms per metre per hour. But Mr. Qtaishat is up against stiff competition. General Electric has a large water purification division looking into similar technology and the U.S.-based National Science Foundation recently announced a $2.5-million grant to the University of Michigan to assemble a crack team of experts to study the same thing. Globe and Mail_ 6/5/08
Desalination no 'silver bullet' in Mideast
Desalination has long been considered the technological holy grail in the Holy Land's water shortage crisis, but regional experts say relying on this solution is not quite so clean-cut. Energy-intensive desalination plants, which turn salt water into fresh water, could create more problems for Israel, experts warn. A diverse, long-term water treatment and management plan is the only way to guard against dwindling supplies and increasing tensions, said Israeli and Palestinian analysts at a recent water conference in Amman, Jordan. More than ten million Israelis and Palestinians live side-by-side in one of the most densely populated areas of the planet. And their water is running out, due to pollution and drought. Just two main aquifers and one river system provide for Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza Strip. The Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee)-Jordan River system is also tapped by Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. With five large state-of-the-art facilities already built or in the works, and 31 smaller facilities in the country's south, desalination will soon form the backbone of Israel's water system. Some experts believe half of Israel's potable water supply will eventually come from desalination. But Israeli and Palestinian engineers, economists, and political scientists at the Water Wisdom conference, convened in April by professors Alon Tal of Israel's Ben-Gurion University and Alfred Abed-Rabbo of the West Bank's Bethlehem University, raised serious questions about the potential environmental, geopolitical, and social impacts of desalination.
National Geographic 5/22/08
Desalination, for a world short of water
The desalination market is dominated by a few large industrial conglomerates that either build desalination plants, manufacture the filter membranes that remove impurities from the water, or both. General Electric (GE) vaulted into the top tier of desalination suppliers in 2004 when it paid $1.1 billion to acquire Ionics, which builds desalination plants and makes filter membranes. Paris-based Veolia Environnement (VE) is a major desalination plant builder and membrane supplier, as well as a water utility operator, getting about 34% of its revenue from water-related businesses. The Hydranautics division of Japanese chemical company Nitto Denko (6988.T) was the world's largest membrane supplier as of the end of 2005, according to Wangnick Consultants, followed by Dow Chemical (DOW), DuPont (DD), and GE. Among plant builders, Italian construction firm Impreglio (IPGOF) and South Korea's Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction (DOHIF) rank as some of the largest. Suez (SZEZY), Siemens (SI), and Spanish construction companies Acciona (ACXIF) and Abengoa (ABGOF) all have desalination businesses. BusinessWeek_ 5/21/08
Israel's IDE to build desalination plants in Asia
Israel Desalination Enterprises Technologies (IDE) won a tender to build three desalination plants in Asia worth of a total of about $80 million, IDE said on Tuesday. IDE, jointly owned by Israel Chemicals and the Delek Group, did not say where in Asia the plants will be built, but the statement said the projects should be completed by the end of 2009. In the past year, IDE has won tenders to build desalination plants in China and Australia. Reuters_ 5/21/08
The city of Carlsbad faces a challenge in trying to persuade NRG Energy to move a proposed new power station away from the coast. The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to oppose NRG Energy's application to build a new gas-powered plant on its ocean-view property west of Interstate 5, on the south shore of Agua Hedionda Lagoon. Council members say the coastal land is too valuable to remain an industrial site and should be developed for some other purpose. The new plant would be built just east of the Encina Power Station, which NRG owns. The California Energy Commission, not the city, has authority over a new plant, so Carlsbad can only offer its input. Council members say there's no longer a reason to put a power plant on the coast, because unlike Encina, a new plant won't use ocean water to cool its generators. NRG's proposed 540-megawatt plant would be air-cooled. But several factors, including the council's approval two years ago of an ocean-water desalination plant on NRG's property, may work against Carlsbad's effort to move the plant. The city was a catalyst in getting NRG to lease 4 of its 95 acres to privately held Poseidon Resources Inc., which has proposed a 50 million-gallons-a-day desalination plant. The city also kept the desalination project alive after a hoped-for marriage between Poseidon and the San Diego County Water Authority never got beyond holding hands. San Diego Union-Tribune_ 5/17/08
Massachusetts desalination plants nearly a reality
There are hundreds of desalination plants in the world today, but the idea is still fairly new in New England and across the United States. But nobody told the members of Aquaria Water LLC or the Swansea Water District. Both have spent more than a decade combined working to bring the trend to New England. The privately owned Aquaria Plant in Dighton is within weeks of filtering its first round of desalination water for Brockton, and the Swansea facility is expected to be up and running sometime in late 2009. Aquaria’s parent company, Inima, has built dozens of desalination plants in Europe, Australia and other continents. Alfredo Andres, general manager of Aquaria, said it took more than four years to secure the necessary permits for the plant because the state's environmental agencies were unfamiliar with the concept. For Aquaria, the cost to produce the water is $1.23 per thousand gallons. Aquaria charges Brockton $5 per thousand gallons, using the rest to cover capital costs for the building. Swansea estimates it will pay a similar price for desalinated water when its plant goes online. Water District Superintendent Robert Marquis said residents are paying roughly the same rate now and won’t see any huge increasewhen the plant begins operating. Herald News_ 5/17/08
Utility provider Imdad puts UAE desalination plant on hold
The $545m desalination plant planned for the emirate of Umm al-Qaiwain has been put on hold, raising new questions about the viability of major real estate projects in the northern emirates. Sources close to the project say there are unresolved issues between Saudi-based Al-Rajhi Investment Group and the government of Umm al-Qaiwain, the two shareholders in Imdad, the utility provider that is carrying out the project. It is uncertain whether an award will ever be made. Bids for the 16 million-gallon-a-day desalination plant were submitted in 2007 by South Korea's Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction, France's Veolia Environnement, the US' GE Energy, Dubai-based AES Oasis, the UK's Acwa, Spain's Acciona, US-based Aquatech and India's Ion Exchange. MEED_ 5/16/08
Desalination plant in Australia's Victoria state gets green light
Work on Victoria's proposed $3.1 billion desalination plant has been given the go-ahead after a court dismissed a claim from a community group to stop it from being built. A bid by Your Water Your Say (YWYS) to stop work beginning on the project's pilot plant failed, with Federal Court judge Peter Heerey ruling there was no evidence it would cause environmental damage. Victorian Water Minister Tim Holding said work on the pilot plant would now continue as planned near Wonthaggi in the state's south-east. The West Australian_ 5/16/08
Elran completes sale of desalination plant stake
Elran Investments Ltd. subsidiary Elran (DD) Infrastructures Ltd. has completed the sale of its 25% stake in VID Desalination Company Ltd. and its 10% stake in Adom (Desalination Ashkelon) Ltd., which own and operate the Ashkelon desalination facility, to Veolia Water SA for NIS 94.1 million. Elran Investments owns 45.4% of Elran Infrastructures. The Ashkelon desalination facility is one of the largest facilities of its kind in the world, and the first in Israel. Globes_ 5/15/08
Wind farm to power Australian desalination plant
The State Government has signed a 20-year contract to create the largest wind farm in New South Wales to power its desalination plant. This is part of its commitment that the plant would use renewable energy, even though it will be a big electricity user. The 63-turbine Capital Wind Farm in Bungendore, near Queanbeyan - funded by Babcock & Brown Wind Partners and Babcock & Brown Power - will provide all the electricity needs of the desalination plant, the Premier, Morris Iemma, said yesterday. The controversial Kurnell desalination plant, announced when the dam levels in Sydney were falling to 30 per cent in the recent drought, will be operating by the summer of 2009-10 and will be run continuously for the first two years after it is built, said the CEO of Sydney Water, Kerry Schott. Costs for the plant and pipelines are expected to be almost $1.9 billion and will add about $100 a year to each household's water bill, Dr Schott said. As of last week, NSW dam levels were at 65.7 per cent, according to the Sydney Catchment Authority. Sydney Morning Herald_ 5/14/08
Israel council approves desalination plant for Palestinians
A plan to build a large desalination plant for the Palestinians got the green light yesterday from the national planning and construction council, which also paved the way for a significant increase in the amount of sea water that will be desalinated by 2040. The desalination plant for the Palestinians will be located in the Hadera industrial zone and is capable of producing some 150 million cubic meters a year. In addition to allocating land for the facility, Israel will also allow a pipeline on its soil, but donor nations are slated to actually build and operate the facility. The planning council also decided that additional desalination plants can be added as needed, depending on Israel's water needs by 2040. The master plan for desalination plants allows for the construction of eight such facilities. Two have been built, and a third is under construction. Haaretz_ 5/14/08
Australia to spend A$2.3 billion over five years to finance water replacement as climate changes
''The effects of climate change mean most of Australia's cities and towns have less water, and we can no longer on rainfall to supply all our drinking water,'' Minister for Climate Change and Water Penny Wong said, in a statement accompanying the Federal Budget. The National Urban Water and Desalination Plan will get $1 billion, offering cities of more than 50,000 people access to funds to develop new water supplies. Private companies, utilities and local and state governments will be able to apply for grants and tax offsets to support desalinations, recycling and stormwater harvesting. Projects in Adelaide and Geelong will get funding totaling $50 million for two recycling projects. All up, some $12.9 billion will be spent over the long-term on the government's Water for the Future plans. Access to those funds, including the $1 billion announced today, are conditional on state and territory governments meeting agreed water reforms. The Age_ 5/13/08
Drought-stricken Barcelona, Spain forced to ship in drinking water until desalination plant online
Spain's worst drought in decades forced the proud city of Barcelona to start shipping in drinking water today, an unprecedented step that business leaders bemoan as a public relations nightmare for one of Europe's top tourist destinations. A Panamanian-flagged tanker loaded with water docked in Spain's second-largest city, launching a mission by an emergency, six-vessel flotilla scheduled to operate for at least three months. Barcelona has been among the regions hardest hit by Spain's worst springtime drought since record-keeping began 60 years ago. The ships will provide the 5.5 million people of greater Barcelona with 6 percent of their usual monthly water consumption. The ship solution and a planned $277 million pipeline to bring in water from the Ebro River to the west are designed to help the region hang on until a desalination plant is completed in May of next year. That facility, which would be one of the biggest of its kind in Europe, is supposed to resolve many of Catalonia's water woes. AP/Baltimore sun_ 5/13/08
London's new mayor drops challenge to desalination plant
London's mayor has withdrawn a legal challenge to a desalination plant in a deal with Thames Water that aims to keep traffic moving in the city. The planned £200m facility in Beckton, north-east London, will make supplies from the Thames estuary drinkable. The plant would be used mainly during droughts. Previous mayor Ken Livingstone launched the challenge against the plant on environmental grounds despite the government giving it the go-ahead. Mayor Boris Johnson said the deal would cut the impact of roadworks on traffic. Mr Johnson said the company had also agreed to new environmental measures. These include helping to capture and reuse the waste energy generated by the proposed Barking Power Station to help provide heating and hot water for up to 90,000 homes and save up to 90,000 tonnes of CO2 a year. BBC News_ 5/12/08
French desalination giant Degremont to bid for Melbourne, Australia's seawater treatment plant
In an interview with the Herald Sun, Degremont chief executive Thierry Mallet has sought to allay fears about the A$3 billion plant, scheduled to be operating by 2011, and even suggests it may be a plus for the area. Degremont joins two other companies in the race to build and run the plant. Mr Mallet said that the plant could be built with minimal impact on the environment. Degremont has built more than 250 desalination plants over more than 20 years. The Government is expected to award the contract next year. Herald-Sun_ 5/12/08
San Leandro, California desalination company Energy Recovery Inc. plans IPO
Looking to capitalize on the world's ever-increasing thirst for fresh water, desalination equipment supplier Energy Recovery Inc. last month filed to raise as much as $175 million in an initial public offering to expand its business in a fast-growing segment of the global water desalination industry. "This is definitely a time of growth for the water sector and desalination in particular," said Richard Stover, chief technology officer and head of sales. There are two main types of desalination: thermal, which uses heat in the conversion process, and reverse osmosis, which uses very high pressure to push water through a filtering membrane. ERI focuses on the seawater reverse osmosis, or SWRO, segment. That method is growing faster than the overall desalination market in part because of better membranes and in part because desalination facilities are using energy recovery devices that increase efficiency. Desalination is an energy-intensive process; the recovery devices help lower costs. ERI says its PX Pressure Exchanger, or PX, which captures and recycles energy in the desalination process, reduces energy consumption by 60 percent compared with the traditional thermal desalination method. East Bay Business Times_ 5/2/08
Desalination: Part of the answer to California water problems
The Marina Coast Water District. near Monterey has been sucking water from the ocean and making it drinkable since 1997. The small plant can provide water for nearly a thousand homes. It is one of several around the state that is being used to study the feasibility of desalination plants. The water district is now hoping to build that bigger plant near a garbage dump, using the methane gas expelled by the site to power the water plant. That plant could potentially provide enough water for 10,000 homes each year.The State Department of Water Resources says desalination plants are being tested or proposed all over the state. They won't solve the problem, but might make a dent. "It is expected that desalination would play not major role, maybe less than 10 percent," said Fehti Ben Jamaa from the California Department of Water Resources. KGOABC7_ 5/2/08
April, 2008
In California's Monterey Bay area, Water Standard Co. proposes off-shore desalination
Amanda Brock, CEO of the Water Standard Company, proposed placing a ship carrying a desalination plant a few miles out to sea over the deep waters of the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary. The ship would drop large pipes deep down below most of the precious fish and other sea life protected by the sanctuary. The ship would then suck up the ocean water, use some special filters designed by the Water Standard Company and turn the salt water into drinking water. Company officials said the desalination ship could meet the daily demands of three-quarters of a million people. The Monterey Peninsula Water Management Agency is moving toward a land-based desalination solution based in Sand City, but Water Standard Company officials said they are continuing to pitch the ship solution to Central Coast water districts. KSBW_ 4/30/08
Israel's IDE Technologies takes its desalination expertise worldwide
No radio or TV news broadcast during the winter months in Israel would be complete without a mention of the water level in the Sea of Galilee. The lake that played such a prominent role in Biblical times today provides about 40% of Israel's fresh water supply. Annual winter rains are crucial for replenishing the inland lake and ensuring its ability to quench the thirst of Israel's 7 million inhabitants, but after four straight years of drought, dwindling water resources have forced the Jewish state increasingly to turn to desalination as a long-term solution. Israel's dire straits, along with shortages in dozens of other countries, have proven a blessing for IDE Technologies, a 40-year-old private company based in Kadima that is fast becoming a global leader in an industry forecasted to grow at double-digit rates for the foreseeable future. Businessweek_ 4/28/08
Recent advances in technology have made removing salt from seawater and groundwater a realistic option for increasing water supplies in some parts of the U.S., and desalination will likely have a niche in meeting the nation's future water needs, says a new report from the National Research Council. However, a coordinated research effort with steady funding is required to better understand and minimize desalination's environmental impacts -- and find ways to further lower its costs and energy use. Over 97 percent of the Earth's water -- seawater and brackish groundwater -- is too salty to use for drinking water or agriculture. Though desalination still generates less than 0.4 percent of the water used in the U.S., the nation's capacity to desalinate water grew by around 40 percent between 2000 and 2005, and plants now exist in every state. Most use a method called reverse osmosis, which pushes water through a membrane to separate out most of the salts. The report recommends that federal R&D on desalination be planned and coordinated by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and funded at the level of existing desalination R&D programs -- approximately $25 million a year. Currently there is no overall strategic direction to federal research on desalination, which is conducted by many agencies with varying goals. It also depends heavily on earmarks, which are unsteady sources of funding; from 2006 to 2007, federal funds declined by nearly 60 percent. Meanwhile, the private sector appears to fund the majority of the nation's desalination research. The study was sponsored by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. News Release_ 4/24/08
download pdf of the full report Desalination: A national perspective
Cheap energy in United Arab Emirates is over
The amount of energy the UAE consumes is set to treble by 2020 - a reflection of a very energy-intensive lifestyle. Until recently, the assumption was that demand growth would be met by creating additional generation capacity, fed by limitless gas resources. However, a significant shift occurred in the past year. Although gas, the principal fuel for power generation and desalination, is abundant in the region, the assumption that it would flow as a cheap resource to underpin the UAE's growth no longer makes sense. Gulf News_ 4/19/08
New technique adds magnesium to desalinated water in Israel
A new technique that cheaply introduces healthful magnesium ions to desalinated water has been developed by the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. All desalinated water in Israel is produced by reverse osmosis, in which salt water from the sea is passed through membranes that separate the salts out. This produces water lacking calcium, magnesium and other minerals vital to health. To deal with this problem, calcium and other chemicals are added to Israeli desalinated water. But magnesium is not added because of the high cost. In the cheaper new technique, the Technion researchers take magnesium ions from the sea and "charge" them into desalinated water at concentrations recommended by the World Health Organization. Researchers in the institute's civil and environmental engineering faculty filed a patent for this process, which is more environmentally friendly than the conventional system. Jerusalem Post_ 4/12/08
Desalination plant in California's San Diego County gets conditional OK to move to next level
The San Diego region of the State Water Resources Control Board conditionally approved a plan by developer Poseidon Resources to compensate for the number of fish and marine organisms that would be killed in the desalination process. The board issued a permit for the Carlsbad plant in August 2006, but that permit allows Poseidon to desalinate ocean water in conjunction with the Encina Power Station, at the foot of Cannon Road in Carlsbad. The issue before the board yesterday was how Poseidon would minimize the death of marine life when it operates independently of the power station and draws water from the lagoon. The board voted 5-2 yesterday to approve Poseidon's first draft of its proposed plan but required it to return in six months with more detail on the number of fish killed, its method to minimize those deaths and how it plans to make up for them. Those conditions are similar to ones required by the California Coastal Commission's permit, issued in November. San Diego Union-Tribune_ 4/10/08
UK's Biwater-led consortium wins $115 million Algeria desalination plant order
A consortium led by UK group Biwater has won an order to build a $115 mln desalination plant in western Algeria, Algerian Energy Co (AEC) said in a statement. The plant near Oued Sept is designed to have a capacity of 100,000 cubic metres a day, and be set up within 24 months from the start planned for August. Biwater will lead the project with the participation of Toray based in the United States and Algeria's Arcofina. Thomson Financial/Forbes_ 4/7/08
Florida utilities complain about legal limbo of St. Johns River water plans
Several utilities proposing projects to remove water from the St. Johns River expressed concern March 28 about getting permits now that Seminole County's request for permitting is under review by an administrative law judge. At the meeting, utilities gave updates on the proposed Seminole County, State Road 45, DeLand and Lower Ocklawaha River surface water withdrawal plants as well as the Coquina Coast seawater desalination project. The desalination project is expected to cost at least $389 million more to build than the Lower Ocklawaha surface water withdrawal facility, according to a presentation made by Ron Wycoff of Water Supply Solutions Inc., a Gainesville-based engineering firm. Producing 1,000 gallons through desalinization costs about $6.50 per gallon, with the customer paying for about $6.25 of the cost. The cost of producing 1,000 gallons through a surface water plant is about $3.19 per gallon. Not only is desalination more expensive than removing water from the ground, but there are also limits to production, because only so much removed salt can be put back in the ocean without hurting the environment. Orlando Business Journal_ 3/31/08
Singapore's Hyflux to build $468 million water desalination plant in Algeria
Singaporean company Hyflux Ltd. will build a water desalination plant for an investment of $468 million in the Oran region, western Algeria, within the next 36 months with a capacity of 500,000 cubic metres per day, APS press agency reported. A joint venture company, MTM Spa, will be set up to ensure all the phases of the project are carried out. It will be 51 percent owned by Hyflux and 49 percent owned by Algerian Energy Company. Algeria has launched the construction of 13 desalination plants which are to be built between now and 2010 to provide drinking water for urban centres. Thomson Financial/Hemscott_ 3/30/08
San Antonio, Texas, Water System (SAWS) agrees to share regional scientific data for groundwater desalination plant
San Antonio Water System (SAWS) formed a new regional science advisory committee with officials from Bexar and Atascosa counties to jointly examine data related to SAWS' planned brackish groundwater desalination project. Following a meeting between San Antonio Mayor Phil Hardberger, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff and Atascosa County Judge Diane Bautista, elected officials and water purveyors agreed to review scientific findings together. The elected officials want to work with SAWS to ensure that the project does not adversely affect local water supplies in the Carrizo Aquifer or the much deeper Wilcox Aquifer from which the brackish water will be drawn. Brackish water has too high a salt content to be drunk. By removing the high salt content, SAWS believes that it may be able to tap into a new source of potable drinking water for the region. The committee's goal is to ensure that Atascosa County residents have their questions answered adequately and openly regarding the project. The proposed plant has an estimated price tag of $299 million. SAWS provides water and waste water services to more than 1 million residents in the San Antonio area. San Antonio Business Journal_ 3/25/08
Japan's Mitsui & Co. to join 400 billion yen energy, water desalination project in Qatar - report
Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co will participate in 400 billion yen power and water desalination project in Qatar through a local joint venture, the Nikkei reported on Tuesday, without citing sources. The trading company will sign a business agreement in Qatar's capital city of Doha as early as this week, the business daily said. Operations are to begin in 2011, it said. Mitsui and a Belgian unit of French conglomerate Suez will each take 20 percent stakes in the joint venture, with the state-run Qatar Petroleum and others holding the remaining interest. The joint venture will oversee the construction of power generating and water desalination facilities in the Ras Laffan Industrial City, located 80 kilometres northeast of Doha. The water facilities will be equipped to supply at least 800,000 people with water for 25 years. Thomson Financial/Forbes_ 3/24/08
Desalination ensures no water, power crisis in Kuwait this summer: Minister
The Minister of Electricity and Water has made preparations to ensure that the country does not face a water crisis this summer. "We do not expect either a water or electricity shortage. So don't worry this summer," noted Mohammad Al-Olaim, Minister of Electricity and Water and acting Oil Minister yesterday. Kuwait is suffering from water shortage because it is geographically situated in a dry weather area. "This is why the sea water desalination plants were established-to produce fresh water. This strategic technique is indispensable. Further, unused sources of water such as the treated sewage water can be used for irrigation or industry," he said. "The current production capacity of the desalination stations is 430 million gallons per day. Production will be raised to 600 million gallons during the next few years," he explained. Kuwait Times_ 3/24/08
Desalination gets a serious look in Las Vegas, Nevada
As the West dries up, water managers, politicians and environmental groups alike are searching for an option — any option — to create water. Even the Southern Nevada Water Authority, which has said the technology is no silver bullet, is considering desalting despite its many challenges. Last month, Gov. Jim Gibbons made waves when he said he would rather see Las Vegas rely on desalination plants on the Pacific coast than on the controversial planned pipeline to move rural Nevada water to Las Vegas. Southern Nevada Water Authority General Manager Pat Mulroy has not talked with the governor since he made those comments in Fallon on Feb. 21, but last week she said Gibbons just doesn’t understand how complex it would be to build a desalting plant on the coast of California or Mexico and trade the water it produces for more water from the Colorado River. Las Vegas Sun_ 3/21/08
Pilot desalination plant up and pumping in Santa Cruz, California
The first step down the long road to securing the area's future water supply was taken Thursday as a temporary test desalination plant on the Westside was switched on. The $4 million pilot plant, to run for at least a year at the Seymour Center's Long Marine Lab, is expected to set the stage for a permanent desalination facility in Santa Cruz around 2015. The desalination project is a team effort by the city Water Department and Soquel Creek Water District, the two water agencies that provide the bulk of drinking water to homes and businesses from Davenport to Aptos. Soquel Creek is plagued with overused wells threatened by saltwater intrusion, while Santa Cruz, which relies on surface water, is caught in a bind during the dry periods that have occurred every six or seven years. Santa Cruz Sentinel_ 3/21/08
Peru bets on desalination to ensure water supplies
Peru plans to start desalinating water from the Pacific Ocean to make up for declining supplies from fast-melting glaciers affected by climate change, President Alan Garcia said on Tuesday. The Andean nation relies for fresh water mostly on rivers, some of which descend the dry western slopes of the Andes and are partly fed by large tropical glaciers that are melting at an unprecedented rate. Lima, Peru's capital and home to 9 million people, is located in a coastal desert. Doosan Hydro Technology, a unit of South Korea's Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co Ltd that specializes in desalination, may build two plants on Peru's coast to supply water to more than a million people, the government said. Reuters_ 3/11/08
Kuwait awards $318 million desalination contract to Doosan Heavy
Doosan Heavy Industries Co., South Korea's biggest maker of power equipment, said Tuesday that it has won a 311-billion-won ($318 million) deal to build a desalination facility in Kuwait. The deal with Kuwait's Ministry of Electricity and Water calls for Doosan Heavy to build the facility by September 2013, the company said in a regulatory filing. Korea Times_ 3/11/08
Research rejects need for Melbourne, Australia desalination plant
Victoria's $3.1 billion desalination plant could prove an energy-hungry white elephant, an analysis of Melbourne's water supply future has found. Projections using State Government figures show that even with climate change reducing rainfall and an increasing population, Melbourne's dams could be overflowing by the middle of 2014 if desalination goes ahead. But Melburnians would still be paying extra for their water because of the cost of building and running the plant. The Government has rejected the research, commissioned by protest group YourWaterYourSay, as flawed, saying it underestimates Melbourne's needs and overestimates the water available, but a leading water expert who has sat on several government water advisory boards has said it shows "there are questions which need to be asked." Emeritus Professor Barry Hart, former director of the Water Studies Centre at Monash University, and independent chairman of the Yarra Co-ordinating Committee, said "the information … is sufficiently robust for there to be concern over the long-term need for the desal plant." The Age_ 3/11/08
Desalination may be Tiger Woods' way out of Jupiter Island, Florida water hazard
The golf great and his neighbors on the elite island where Woods is building a new home are searching for alternatives to the public water supply — and therefore government regulation — to irrigate their expensive landscapes, according to Jupiter Island officials. The options range from a multi-million dollar personal desalination plant only the likes of Woods — the biggest drinking water user in his immediate area in January — likely could afford, to older cistern technology property owners can build for about $8,000 on a quarter-acre lot. Such systems would be exempt from the current South Florida watering restrictions and are considered in the spirit of conservation. TCPalm_ 3/10/08
Britain's Royal Navy awards £1.3 million desalination contract
Rochdale-based Salt Separation Services will install equipment on two new aircraft carriers which is capable of turning more than one million litres of sea water into drinking water every day. The company expects to start work on the construction of six `desalination' plants next year. The 18-year-old business specialises in cleaning and improving the freshwater supply for boats, cruise liners, oil platforms and manufacturers. It employs around 40 staff, with a turnover of over £2.5 million. Manchester Evening News_ 3/10/08
Desalination vs. earmarks: Orange County, California project loses to Washington politics
Rep. John Campbell, R-Irvine, a crusader against earmarks- the name given to money lawmakers get included in bills for projects in their district- had a request from the Metropolitan Water District of Orange County for $2.5 million to continue planning for a desalination plant at Dana Point. Campbell got the bill through committee and it was scheduled for a vote on the House floor last month. But instead, Campbell pulled it. He said unnamed lawmakers – who support earmarks and sit on the committee that doles them out – were reportedly going to say that on the one hand Campbell rails against earmarks while on the other he is pushing for one for Orange County. Meanwhile, the Metropolitan water district still wants $2.5 million in federal money, half of what's needed to complete the current planning for the project. Orange County Register_ 3/5/08
San Antonio, Texas water board votes to build desalination plant with design-build method
San Antonio Water System's (SAWS) board of trustees agreed to use the design-build method to complete its proposed $200 million desalination project. The project will treat mineralized, saline water from the Wilcox Aquifer to supplement the San Antonio region's water supply from the Edwards Aquifer. Minerals and other impurities will be removed from the water through a process called reverse osmosis. State lawmakers from the 80th Legislature gave water purveyors the right to utilize the design-build method to complete water and wastewater projects. SAWS provides water and wastewater services to more than 1 million customers in the San Antonio regio. San Antonio Business Journal_ 3/4/08
Consolidated Water Co. executive resigning
Consolidated Water Co., a developer and operator of seawater desalination plants, said Tuesday that Jeffrey Parker, the company's executive chairman, plans to step down effective July 4. Parker will continue to serve as non-executive chairman of the board of directors. Parker joined Consolidated Water in 1980 and has been chairman of the board since 1982. He also served as chef executive from 1982 until 2004. AP/CNN_ 3/4/08
North Carolina coastal towns desalt brackish water; too expensive to ship inland
With demand for water increasing as the drought and growth continue, some coastal counties in Eastern North Carolina are tapping a saltier source: rivers of brackish water that flow underground. Pasquotank and Currituck counties awarded contracts last month to start construction of two water treatment works that will eventually produce a combined 6.5 million gallons per day to bolster existing supplies of fresh water and help meet the need for more water in the growing communities. The new $17.5 million Pasquotank plant, which will initially produce 2 million gallons per day, will supplement an existing freshwater treatment plant that is fed by 30 freshwater wells. North Carolina already has about a dozen water plants on the coast that remove salt from water using a process called reverse osmosis -- and at least five more are planned. Pumps force brackish water under pressure through a series of fine filters to remove salt. The process produces high-quality water, experts say, butthe process is typically more costly than conventional treatment of fresh water, and there are environmental concerns about discharging concentrated salt into estuaries or fresh water. As the drought persists, some have asked why inland cities such as Raleigh don't look to the coastline as a water source. But that's not realistic, given the high cost of treating and piping the water. "Reverse osmosis plants are a good option for affluent coastal communities where people have expensive homes, and paying $100 a month for water is not that big a deal," said Bill Holman, a visiting scholar at Duke University's Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions who is studying state water resources. "The idea of treating large quantities of ocean water and pumping them 100 miles uphill does not seem economically feasible." News Observer_ 3/3/08
Ownership of Australia's Victoria desalination plant could go overseas
The Victorian Government hasn't ruled out allowing a foreign company to run the state's first desalination plant. The $3 billion plant will be built in Wonthaggi and will supply 150 billion litres of water a year to Melbourne and Geelong as part of the plans to drought-proof the state. Construction of the plant is scheduled to commence in 2009 in order to start delivering water by the end of 2011. The Water Minister Tim Holding says he is expecting expressions of interest from Australian and overseas companies in the next few months. ABC News_ 3/3/08
Tarpon Springs, Florida gets $20 million for desalination plant
After years of being told by consultants the state would never help the city build a reverse-osmosis water treatment plant, this month Tarpon Springs proved the experts wrong. The governing board of the Southwest Florida Water Management District Board has approved a $20.1 million grant to help defray the cost of constructing the treatment plant, which will remove salt from well water, rendering it potable. The estimated price tag of the plant is $45 million. Tarpon Springs wants to build the reverse-osmosis plant so it no longer has to buy water from Pinellas County Utilities. The city has little control over what it has to pay the county for water, local officials say. Suncoast News_ 3/1/08
Dutch university tests windmill for seawater desalination
A traditional windmill which drives a pump: that is the simple concept behind the combination of windmill/reverse osmosis developed by the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in The Netherlands. In this case, it involves a high-pressure pump which pushes water through a membrane using approximately 60 bar. This reverse osmosis membrane produces fresh water from seawater directly. The windmill is suited for use by, for instance, small villages in isolated, dry coastal areas. In the TU Delft installation, the high-pressure pump is driven directly by wind power and the storage of water is a great deal cheaper than that of electricity. The first prototype is to be dismantled and transported to Curaçao the first week of March. There the concept will be tested on seawater. physorg.com_ 2/29/08
GE plans big desalination ad push for Beijing Olympics
With sales to emerging economies representing the fastest-growing chunk of the company's revenues, General Electric is tackling a more complex problem: How can it effectively prove to potential customers and shareholders in the developed world that GE's creativity is translating into big sales in the developing one? GE's answer, perhaps unsurprisingly, is to make the biggest splash it can at the upcoming Beijing Olympics. The company is building an Imagination Center in the middle of the Olympic Green, a two-story building that is half funhouse, half museum exhibit. And it is putting the finishing touches on a series of print ads and commercials that put an Olympic spin on its effort to bring desalination technology to the Middle East, X-ray technology to China and heart monitoring equipment to India. International Herald Tribune_ 2/27/08
Africa must invest to secure clean water--GE execs
Africa should tackle the prospect of increased water scarcity by investing now in technology and not simply hoping the threat will go away, officials of America's General Electric company said on Sunday. Governments and development partners around the world must also accept that businesses can only provide clean water to users at a price that provides a commercial return, the executives said, explaining it could not be a "gift." "The technological breadth we have puts us in a position to really solve any problem, anywhere," Jeff Garwood, president and CEO of GE Water and Process Technologies, a GE unit, told Reuters in an interview after attending the inauguration in Algeria of Africa's biggest seawater desalination plant. "The only issue is how fast you're going to make a decision and who is going to finance or fund it." Earl Jones, GE Water's general manager, Global Commercial Development, said "You have to make a decision to invest in the infrastructure. Hope is not a method. If you hope that it's just going to rain and that's going to take care of it, you could find yourself in a very critical situation." Garwood said Africa was a "special" case because of the large number of its sources of development finance, many of them spearheaded by celebrities from the world of entertainment. "Bono talks about it, Oprah (Winfrey) talks about it (Rapper) Jay-Z's got a fund, there's a number of people who have earmarked infrastructure development, and we actually have had conversations with most of them." But he said that while businesses would work to drive down costs, they could only provide their technology at a price that ensured a commercial return. Reuters_ 2/24/08
GE and Algerian government inaugurate Africa's largest seawater desalination plant
A persistent shortage of potable water in the City of Algiers, Algeria was eased today as the US $250 million Hamma Seawater Desalination Plant (SWDP) was officially opened by Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and Jeff Garwood president and CEO, GE Water & Process Technologies, a unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Completed on time and on budget in 24 months, the Hamma SWDP uses GE’s advanced ecomagination-certified reverse osmosis membranes to purify up to 200,000 cubic meters (53 million gallons) of seawater per day -- providing as many as two million residents of Algiers with a reliable and drought-proof supply of fresh water. "Our momentum continues to build and in 2008 we expect to grow GE's large structured projects, like Hamma, by 80 percent," said Garwood. Hamma SWDP is also North Africa’s first large-scale reverse osmosis desalination plant to be funded by a joint venture that combines public and private equity investment. The special project company, Hamma Water Desalination SpA combines 70 percent funding from General Electric and 30 percent from the state-owned Algerian Energy Company. The Overseas Private Investment Company, which helps U.S. businesses invest in new and emerging overseas markets, financed U.S. $200 million towards the project. GE was also awarded a 25-year contract to operate and maintain the plant. News Release_ 2/23/08
Acciona, United Utilities win bid for Perth, Australia desalination contract
Spanish construction company Acciona (ANA.MC: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Friday its Australian unit and its partner United Utilities Australia have qualified as joint bidders to build and run a desalination plant in Perth. The 300 to 400 million euro ($590 million) project includes designing and operating the plant, aimed to provide water to as many as 400,000 people for 25 years, Acciona said. Reuters_ 2/22/08
Hitachi Zosen Corp., the world's third-largest maker of water desalination plants, plans to double overseas sales in three years on demand for its plants, nuclear equipment and incinerators in the Middle East, China and the U.S. The company, which started as a shipyard and makes equipment from garbage incinerators to casks used to transport nuclear fuel, targets sales outside of Japan to reach 30 percent by March 2011 from 15 percent now, President Minoru Furukawa said. ``A lot of water plant projects are lined up in the Middle East,'' he said in a interview in Tokyo. Hitachi Zosen, which may reduce its 50 percent stake in a shipbuilding venture with JFE Holdings Inc., is ``aggressively'' trying to win orders for water plants in a global market expected to grow at an annual rate of 10 percent, Furukawa said. Bloomberg_ 2/22/08
Pakistan's first water desalination and power plant
On Feb 11, 2008 Pakistan reached a milestone called the DHA Desalination and Power Plant. It is the first project of its kind in Pakistan which desalinates water from the Arabian Sea for human consumption as well as provides Electrical Power to the KESC Grid. The capacity of the Power plant is 94 MW (Mega Watts) and that of the desalination plant is 3 MIGD (Million Imperial Gallons per Day). Electrical Power is supplied to the 132 KV (kilo-volt) KESC grid whereas the Desalinated Water is supplied to CBC/DHA for local distribution. The project is carried out by DHA Cogen Limited (DCL). It is a Public Limited Company which was incorporated in the city of Karachi on January 19, 2003. The company is a joint venture between Defence Housing Authority, Karachi (DHA) and Sacoden Investments, Singapore (SI). The contract for building the Power Plant was given to Siemens AG Germany (SAG) who also supplied the two turbines used in the plant. The Desalination Plant is built by Alfa Level, Copenhagen, Denmark (ALC) and the civil works is carried out by Siemens Pakistan (SPK). Pakistaniat.com_ 2/20/08
Long Beach, California says its patented desalination method is a success
More than two years after the first sea water was poured into the test facility at the edge of the city, the Long Beach Method of taking salt and minerals out of water has been deemed a success. In a release Tuesday, the Long Beach Water Department announced that the Long Beach Method had proven 30% more energy efficient than the now-common reverse osmosis method. The testing is being conducted in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Reclamation. The Long Beach Method is known as dual-stage nanofiltration, and was developed by Diem X. Vuong. It has since been patented by the city. The test facility cost $5.4 million to build. The water department and the Bureau of Reclamation also are building another test site for the other problems associated with desalination — biological and environmental damage where water is taken into the system and where the mineral-saturated brine is discarded. It will be at least 2015 before Long Beach residents are drinking any desalinated water. It will take that long to build a full-scale plant, and even then, only 10% of the city’s water supply is expected to be generated from desalination. Gazette Newspapers_ 2/14/08
January, 2008
Forecast author Christopher Gasson says: "Across the world millions of people are dependent on non-renewable water: they are draining the aquifers and depleting the rivers. What is left becomes mineralised, threatening ecosystems and reducing agricultural yields. "People in the developing world are eating more protein, which means more water is needed to grow animal feeds. They also want to grow more crops for biofuel. This puts pressure on food prices, but the real story is in water. That is the ultimate limiting factor. And with urban demand for water growing apace, the only solution is to make more of what we have got. "That means demand management, desalination, and water reuse. Global Water Market 2008 paints a picture of the emergence of a robust global industry. However, the environmental and human cost of getting it wrong is clear." Among the companies expected to gain from the growth of this market are: General Electric, Veolia Environment, Suez, Siemens, Acciona, Abengoa, Christ Water Technologies, Hyflux. News Release_ 1/28/08
After 10 years, largest desalination plant in U.S. finally ready
After 10 years of setbacks, redesigned plans and bankruptcies, the nation's largest desalination plant is up and running. The Tampa Bay plant is in Florida's Hillsborough County. Ken Herd, director of operations and facilities said "It's really important that this process works efficiently. What we have to do is clean the water so we don't foul the reverse osmosis membranes." That's what caused problems in the past. The project went through two other companies. Tests failed repeatedly. Susan Latvala, Pinellas County Commissioner and chairman of the board, for Tampa Bay Water said, "It has never been done at this level in the United States. We were breaking new ground. I don't want to go back and beat up those people who weren't successful. Maybe they took on a challenge that was over their heads." Fox 13 Tampa Bay_ 1/25/08
Floating seawater desalination factory possible solution to northeast Florida water woes
Several fast-growing northeast Florida communities could tap into the Atlantic Ocean for drinking water by anchoring a desalination ship 21/2 miles off the coast. If completed, the floating water factory could become the first major ocean-desalination system in the United States. The idea is to retrofit an oil tanker with filters and powerful pumps that would make up to 25 million gallons of drinking water a day, enough for more than 150,000 people. Project costs are far from clear but could reach $200 million. Without the ocean option, the communities may have to draw from the more fragile St. Johns River, now the focus of a budding water-rights battle between Orlando, Jacksonville and cities in between. Friday, representatives from dozens of northeast Florida governments plan to gather for a summit on how to fight what they think is a major threat to the ecology of the St. Johns. The 310-mile river is coveted by Central Florida utilities, which have been told they cannot pump additional water from the region's prime and imperiled source, the underground Floridan Aquifer. The ultimate river withdrawal could reach 250 million gallons a day. At the same time, quieter talks will continue among the Coquina Coast Cooperators -- including Palm Coast, the counties of Volusia, Flagler and St. Johns and other communities. Besides the tanker idea, the group also is considering a land-based desalination plant. Nearly 130 land-based plants in the state desalinate the lightly salty waters of brackish underground aquifers and Tampa Bay. But no utility in America uses far saltier seawater as a major source, and none relies on a ship to make fresh water. Long Beach, Calif., runs a tiny demonstration plant, and two small plants provide backup supply for the Florida Keys. Orlando Sentinel_ 1/19/08
Florida's Flagler County facing water shortage; desalination an option
Flagler County will face a drinking water deficit in just two short years, water management officials said Thursday. And at least for now, it appears the answer to that problem is to build a desalination plant. But officials haven't decided yet where such a water plant would go or even if it would be in Flagler County. Flagler County residents will be short about 4 million gallons of drinking water per day by 2010 and 20 million gallons per day by 2025, commissioners learned in a water workshop Thursday with the St. Johns River Water Management District.Officials across the region, including most Volusia cities, have been given similar projections by the district and are looking for ways to supplement their use of groundwater. Options in Volusia include a proposal to tap the St. Johns River for drinking water. Several cities and Volusia County may consider partnering with Seminole County to build a plant near the St. Johns River. Florida is home to more desalination facilities than any other state in the country with most of those plants desalinating brackish groundwater, according to Jim Gross, a water district project manager. The nation's largest desalination plant is in Tampa. Daytona Beach News-Journal_ 1/18/08
Water-short California's search to satisfy its thirst is beginning to focus on a controversial source -- the Pacific Ocean. In November, Connecticut-based Poseidon Resources Corp. won a key regulatory approval to build a $300 million water-desalination plant in Carlsbad, north of San Diego. The facility would be the largest in the Western Hemisphere, producing 50 million gallons of drinking water a day, enough to supply about 100,000 homes. Taking the salt out of seawater is a common way to produce drinking water in the Middle East and in other arid regions. World-wide, 13,080 desalination plants produce more than 12 billion gallons of water a day, according to the International Desalination Association. But it has been less successful in the U.S. Desalination is more expensive than traditional sources, and critics say it harms the ocean. In 1992, Santa Barbara, Calif., shuttered a small plant after three months when rain replenished the county's main water sources. At a plant near Tampa, Fla., that Poseidon was also involved in, technical glitches increased the water's cost and, when it opened in 2003, initially limited output to less than a third of the projected 25 million gallons a day. Southern California water officials say conditions have changed. Improved technology has cut the cost of desalination in half in the past decade, making it more competitive. And traditional water supplies, such as the Colorado River and snow-melt runoff, are becoming less reliable because of population growth and environmental restrictions. Wall Street Journal_ 1/17/08
Desalination plant to make big splash on Brockton, Massachusetts water bills
The Aquaria desalination plant, expected to be ready to pump water this spring, will cost the average city water customer an extra $80 in the first year, according to early estimates. Projections show that water rates for the city's 100,000 customers in Brockton, Whitman and parts of Hanson could rise 40 percent beginning July 1. That means the average customer using 70,000 gallons of water annually would see his bill climb from $200 a year to about $280. The figures are preliminary, based on a study by the consulting firm CDM of Cambridge for the Brockton Water Commission. The commission will review the findings and hold a public hearing before setting the final rates, which must be approved by the City Council. It was the first public look at the financial impact of the Aquaria project, which was conceived a decade ago as a remedy for Brockton's persistent water shortages in the 1980s and 1990s. The Enterprise_ 1/16/08
Environmental groups sue over Poseidon's San Diego County desalination project
Two environmental groups are suing the California Coastal Commission, challenging its approval of a proposed ocean-water desalination plant in Carlsbad. The lawsuit was due to be filed in San Diego Superior Court yesterday, said Marco Gonzalez, an attorney who prepared it on behalf of the Surfrider Foundation and Planning and Conservation League. The 12-page complaint alleges that the desalination project would harm marine life in Agua Hedionda Lagoon, which would be the plant's water source. It also alleges that the commission did not make the findings necessary to approve the project. Connecticut-based Poseidon Resources Inc. proposes a 500-million-gallon-a-day plant on the grounds of the Encina Power Station, at the foot of Cannon Road in Carlsbad. The Coastal Commission's staff rejected Poseidon's proposal four times before clearing the application for consideration, saying that it would kill thousands of fish, larvae and other marine organisms and that there is better technology. It recommended that the commission not approve the project. The commission overrode the recommendation and approved a permit Nov. 15 on a 9-3 vote, but the panel attached more than 20 conditions. The lawsuit targets the desalination plant's intake method, among other issues, saying it does not meet California Coastal Act requirements. Poseidon issued a statement yesterday calling the lawsuit “a desperate last attempt to delay the project,” noting that Surfrider's previous suits were rejected. San Diego Union-Tribune_ 1/15/08
Australia's Queensland government to put mobile desalination plants on river barges
The Queensland government will put mobile desalination plants on the Brisbane River to ensure water supplies if the record drought continues. Acting Premier Paul Lucas said two mobile desalination plants were planned on barges on the Brisbane River at a cost of $550 million. The contingency moves, which would be assessed and approved at the end of the wet season in March or April, could pump an extra 144 megalitres of water a day into the region by the end of next year, even if the worst drought on record worsened. Mr Lucas said the 2006-07 financial year was the worst for rainfall in southeast Queensland in more than a century of records, with just 4.4 per cent of the historical long-term average, he said. The Queensland Water Commission estimated the region's dam storage levels could drop to 7 per cent by 2010, based on 2006-07 inflows, daily usage, evaporation, power needs and additions to the $9 billion water grid as they come online. The Australian_ 1/6/08
December, 2007
IDE to build desalination plant in Australia, Haaretz reports
IDE Technologies Ltd., a joint venture between Israel Chemicals Ltd. and Delek Group Ltd., won a $100 million contract build a desalination plant in Australia, daily newspaper Haaretz reported. The facility will be used by an iron ore mine company in Pilbara, Australia to supply 51 million cubic meters a year, the newspaper said, without citing anyone. The construction of the desalination plant will start in 2008, and the mine will start production the following year, Haaretz said. A spokeswoman at IDE refused to comment on the news report. IDE, Israel's biggest water-desalination company, postponed its initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange because of ``global market conditions'' last month. Bloomberg_ 12/30/07
Victoria, Australia desalination plant to get environmental study
A controversial $3.1 billion desalination plant planned for Victoria's south-east coastline will now be subject to an environmental study, but it won't stop the project going ahead. Victorian Planning Minister Justin Madden said he decided an Environmental Effects Statement (EES) was necessary because preliminary reports showed further investigation was needed into the impacts on the landscape, flora, fauna and marine life. The study would also consider Aboriginal heritage issues and the impact on any fossils in the area, he said. But it was unlikely the EES, which would take about a year to complete, would stop the project going ahead altogether at the proposed site near Wonthaggi, south-east of Melbourne. The $3.1 billion desalination plant will provide 150 billion litres of water each year for Victorians. Sydney Morning Herald_ 12/27/07
Keansburg, New Jersey plans desalination to clean up borough water supply
The Keansburg Council recently instructed its environmental engineers to create a $145,000 design plan for decreasing the amount of sodium and chloride in the borough's drinking water. Engineers at Millburn-based Hatch Mott MacDonald have until March to create a design for how the process, known as desalination, would be incorporated into the borough's water system. The project's total estimated cost is $2 million, up from $1.5 million, said Steven Ussmann, superintendent for the borough's Water and Sewer Department. Keansburg water customers could expect to pay an additional $11 to $12 per quarter if the project, which the municipality would pay for by floating bonds, were implemented, said Glenn Cullen, the borough's chief financial officer. Keansburg draws its drinking water from aquifers located dozens of feet below the surface of the borough. The U.S. Geological Survey believes that decades of overpumping by Keansburg and other Bayshore communities have caused salty water from Raritan Bay to creep into the aquifers. Engineers at Hatch Mott MacDonald believe that if Keansburg does not implement the desalination program, the increasing levels of sodium and chloride eventually could render the borough's water undrinkable. The alternative would be for Keansburg to purchase its water from a private company. But borough officials believe the option could prove more costly for its water customers. New Jersey American Water charges $4.78 per 1,000 gallons, according to the company's Web site. Keansburg charges $2.60 per 1,000 gallons, Ussmann said. Asbury Park Press_ 12/27/07
Severn Trent to build desalination plant in Mexico
Severn Trent Services has won a contract to design and build a desalination plant for the Maravia Country Club Estates in La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico. The Fort Washington, Pa., unit of Severn Trent PLC didn't reveal the value of the contract. Severn Trent Services' office in Torrance, Calif., will perform the work. Philadelphia Business Journal_ 12/24/07
Veolia wins UAE desalination plant order
Veolia Water said on Friday it has been selected to run the operations and maintenance part of a Reverse 0smosis (RO) desalination plant in Qidfa, Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates. The plant will produce 136,500 cubic metres per day of desalinated water. The contract, worth an estimated cumulated amount of $115 million, has been awarded a venture of International Power Plc and Marubeni Corp. Reuters_ 12/21/07
AcquaPro Worldwide partners with Emares of the UK to seek Saudi desalination plant contract
Biloxi, Mississippi-based AcquaPro Worldwide, Inc. is the developer of the world's first full-scale, fully engineered, barge-mounted water desalination system, but the Saudi work would be shore-based. Under the agreement with Emares Ltd., the companies will seek a contract with the utility Marafiq in Saudi Arabia. AcquaPro Worldwide would provide the system hardware and operational support to Emares, a global industrial procurement and supply company, to produce up to 20 million gallons (75,000 cubic meters) of potable water daily to the industrial zone at Jubail and Yanbu on Saudi Arabia's Persian Gulf Coast. The volume is equivalent to the output of four standard AcquaPro plants and the 16-month supply contract would have a minimum value of just over $52 million. The AcquaPro system employs all existing, tried-and-true reverse osmosis (RO) desalination technology mounted in a unique configuration on a large sea-going barge. In the case of the Saudi contract, however, the client, the utility company Marafiq, seeks a modular shore-based plant. As a result, the AcquaPro water plant, which includes containerized RO units and other skid-mountable components, will be decoupled from the barge for this installation. AcquaPro said in its news release it is exploring potential U.S. opportunities in California, Florida and Georgia, all areas facing interim and long-term water shortages that the company's system might address rapidly and economically. It said an advantage of the AcquaPro system is that it avoids most of the costly and time-consuming political and environmental conflicts that often plague shore-based desalination plants. It can be deployed in a fraction of the time and cost as conventional desal plants. News Release/NewswireToday_ 12/11/07
Sydney, Australia desalination plant to run as dams fill
Sydney Water plans to operate the controversial Kurnell desalination plant while there is still years worth of water in Sydney's dams - a significant shift from the original plan in which the plant would be used during times of water shortage. The head of Sydney Water, Kerry Schott, told a public hearing yesterday that the water utility planned to turn the desalination plant off only when water storage levels reached 70 to 80 per cent. This week water storage levels at Sydney's dams stood at 58.5 per cent, a four-year high and sufficient to supply the city's water needs for up to six years. The final decision on the operating regime for the plant will be made in the coming 12 months in talks with the Government and other agencies, she said. Sydney Morning Herald_ 12/8/07
Water rates to rise in South Australia to pay for Adelaide desalination plant
The State Government has announced plans for a $1.1 billion desalination plant, on the site of the mothballed oil refinery at Port Stanvac in Adelaide's south. The plant will produce 50 gigalitres of fresh water, about one quarter of Adelaide's annual needs, with potential to double that output to meet population growth. The desalination plant is expected to be in operation by 2012. Another $300 million will be spent to build a north-south water interconnector in Adelaide, to balance supplies between the desalination plant in the south and water treatment plants in northern Adelaide. Water rates will rise by 12.7 per cent from next July to help fund the water project. ABC News_ 12/5/07
Dinosaurs derail desalination drive Down Under; An inconvenient fossil find
A fossilised spanner has been thrown into the works of plans for Australia's largest desalination plant, as a hoard of dino-remains has been uncovered on the beach near the proposed site. The plant, intended to protect Melbourne from drought, was being built at a cost of A$3 billion, but the dinosaur discovery has put its future in doubt. The find dates back to 115 million years ago, when the Australian land mass was in the polar circle, experts say. Local authorities have yet to rule on whether or not the plant will proceed, and won't say whether or not it will conduct an environmental impact report, following the find. The desalination plant would be one of the biggest in the world, capable of processing 150 billion litres of water every year. Construction was set to begin next year, and the plant was expected to be up and running by 2011. The Register_ 11/27/07
With a final hurdle within sight, the controversial Carlsbad desalination plant appears to be on schedule. The state Coastal Commission approved construction of the proposed $300 million desalination plant on a 9-3 vote, but did so by imposing 20 conditions on the developer, Stamford, Conn.-based Poseidon Resources Corp. Now the project will face its final hurdle in the approval process with the California State Lands Commission next week. Michael Cowett, a lawyer with the San Diego office of Best Best & Krieger who has followed the desalination approval process closely, said that he believed that Poseidon anticipated the conditions and said that the project should continue along its original timeline. Best Best & Krieger represents six water districts in the county, including the Sweetwater Authority, Helix Water District, Padre Dam Municipal District, Santa Fe Irrigation District, Valley Center Municipal Water District and Ramona Municipal Water District. Privately held Poseidon has developed and invested $2.5 billion in water supply and wastewater treatment projects worldwide, according to its Web site. The Carlsbad plant, when completed, will process half of 100 million gallons of seawater per day into drinking water; the other half will be returned to the ocean with a higher salt content. It is considered drought-proof compared with the 85 percent of the county’s water imported from other agencies. San Diego Business Journal_ 11/26/07
Namibia building desalination plant
After years of bickering and redrafting of contracts, Namibia's long-anticipated move toward large-scale desalination is set to become a reality, supplying water for homes as well as for the country's uranium mining industry. The country's water utility and French company UraMin signed an agreement Friday to build a 250 million Namibian dollar (nearly $40 million) sea water intake and brine disposal pipeline to support a 715 million Namibian dollar ($110 million) sea water desalination facility. It will be located in the coastal town of Swakopmund. AP/BusinessWeek_ 11/23/07
Could nuclear power be the answer to desalination?
Research results presented at the Trombay Symposium on Desalination and Water Reuse offer a new perspective on desalination and describe alternatives to the current expensive and inefficient methods. Meenakshi Jain of CDM & Environmental Services and Positive Climate Care Pvt Ltd in Jaipur, India highlights the energy problem facing regions with little fresh water. "Desalination is an energy-intensive process. Over the long term, desalination with fossil energy sources would not be compatible with sustainable development ...." "Nuclear energy seawater desalination has a tremendous potential for the production of freshwater," Jain adds. The development of a floating nuclear plant is one of the more surprising solutions to the desalination problem. S.S. Verma of the Department of Physics at SLIET in Punjab, points out that small floating nuclear power plants represent a way to produce electrical energy with minimal environmental pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Such plants could be sited offshore anywhere there is dense coastal population and not only provide cheap electricity but be used to power a desalination plant with their excess heat. A. Raha and colleagues at the Desalination Division of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, in Trombay, point out that Low-Temperature Evaporation (LTE) desalination technology utilizing low-quality waste heat in the form of hot water (as low as 50 Celsius) or low-pressure steam from a nuclear power plant has been developed to produce high-purity water directly from seawater. Science Daily_ 11/20/07
Poseidon Resources has persuaded the Coastal Commission to give it a permit to build an ocean-water desalination plant in Carlsbad, but the strings attached to that permit may tie up the developer for months, or even years. After an 8 ½-hour hearing and lengthy debate Thursday, commissioners voted 9-3 to give Poseidon a coastal permit to build the desalination plant – but only after attaching more than 20 conditions. Poseidon must work out the details of those conditions with the commission's staff and then deliver the plan back to the commissioners for approval. The most stringent condition is a requirement that Poseidon devise a plan to offset the number of tiny marine organisms – fish eggs, larvae and plankton – the desalination plant would kill while processing seawater. Poseidon had argued that such a condition was outside the commission's authority, but commissioners didn't buy that position. San Diego Union-Tribune_ 11/17/07
Poseidon plant nears OK
San Diego, CA Desalination project needs another panel's approval
After a marathon 8½-hour meeting in front of an overflow crowd, the California Coastal Commission last night approved a proposal to build in Carlsbad what would be the country's largest ocean water desalination plant.Although commissioners voted 9-3 to approve a proposal by Poseidon Resources to build a $300 million plant that could produce 100 million gallons of drinking water a day, few gave it a ringing endorsement. Several said they would vote for the project as insurance against San Diego's continuing drought, but with a list of conditions attached to address environmental damage the plant is expected to cause. “This just doesn't meet any of the tests” for issuing a coastal development permit, Commissioner Sara Wan said before voting against the proposal. Commissioner Ben Hueso, a San Diego city councilman who made the motion to approve the permit, said Poseidon's offers to fund wetlands restoration and reforestation programs made the project palatable. SignonSanDiego.com_11/16/07
Marin County, California, considers San Francisco Bay desalination for future water needs
For a mere $115 million, homes in Marin County could soon be sucking de-salted bay water through their taps, according to an environmental report scheduled for release this week. The Marin Municipal Water District on Wednesday will present a draft environmental report on a proposed desalination plant, becoming the first water agency in the Bay Area to seriously consider using San Francisco Bay for drinking water. The district's 190,000 customers in southern and central Marin will have considerable say over whether water district directors eventually decide to build the plant, in part because the ratepayers will likely end up financing the construction through taxes or higher water rates, officials said. San Francisco Chronicle_ 11/5/07
The staff of the California Coastal Commission has rejected a private developer's proposal to build an ocean-water desalination plant on Carlsbad's coast. The commission staff's 88-page report, released Friday, says the proposal to produce 50 million gallons a day of drinking water “would cause significant adverse impacts to marine life and water quality in Agua Hedionda and in near-shore ocean waters." Despite the staff's negative analysis, Poseidon Senior Vice President Peter MacLaggan said: “We've spent the last eight years looking to the Pacific Ocean for a partial solution to San Diego's long-term water-supply needs. We're looking forward to Nov. 15 and having an opportunity to share our views with the commission." San Diego Union-Tribune_ 11/3/07
Roughly 250 people packed into a state hearing Tuesday, many of them arguing that a proposed desalination project in Carlsbad could help protect this drought-stricken region as it confronts a dwindling water supply. The proposed plant could give the area a guaranteed source of local drinking water and provide a little security for a region that now depends on the distant Colorado River for nearly all of its water, said proponents, who included area water district officials, chamber of commerce leaders and farmers. Opponents of the desalination project, including local coastal preservationists and surfers, said they don't oppose the idea of producing drinking water out of seawater, but they don't think the design of this plant is best way to do it. "Here we are with the first one (of what may be many such plants) and it's one of the worst ones," said Marco Gonzalez, an environmental lawyer who is active in the local Surfrider Foundation. Poseidon Resources Inc. wants to build the plant within the Encina Power Station site on the coast in the community of Carlsbad. The state panel has permit authority over part of the project because the proposed intake pipe runs across state tidal land. Commissioners said Tuesday they hoped developer Poseidon Resources Inc. would have more information when the commission returns for a vote in December, particularly about
how it will reduce the carbon dioxide generated by the plant. Even with the commission's backing, the project still has a least one big hurdle to overcome -- it needs a permit from the state Coastal Commission. That panel is expected to review the issue in November. North County Times_ 10/31/07
Desalination for Australian racetrack
Flemington racecourse plans to cut its water consumption by more than 50 per cent through an onsite desalination plant tapping a salt water aquifer beneath the track. The plant, to be about the size of a shipping container and expected to cost $10 million, should cut Flemington's use of Melbourne's drinking water by about 350 megalitres a year — enough to supply about 1700 households. Victorian Racing Club chairman Rod Fitzroy said the plant meant it could "preserve the wonderful elm trees, the lawns, the tracks and our beautiful roses with confidence into the future". The Age_ 10/31/07
Nipomo, California leans toward desalination to fix water woes
The Nipomo Community Services District board has narrowed several options that it has considered in recent months to two: buying state water or building a desalination plant. A desal plant would cost between $80 million and $100 million, according to a study completed for the district by consultants Boyle Engineering. And the plant, in San Luis Obispo County on California's central coast, could take at least eight years to complete, the report states. The board may choose either state water or desalination, or both, according to district General Manager Bruce Buel. But the district likely can’t afford state water and desalination. The board is expected to vote at a Dec. 12 meeting, Buel said. For more than seven years, the district has been looking for additional water for Nipomo. Several studies show that too much water is being pumped out of underground aquifers, the district’s only source of drinking water. San Luis Obispo Tribune_ 10/22/07
Speaking in Adelaide this afternoon, Mr. Howard said the Coalition Government if re-elected would provide $10 million towards planning for the proposed desalination plant. The Government also would provide a further $40 million to more than double its contribution to the waterproofing northern Adelaide project, extending it into new development areas. In a normal year Adelaide draws some 40 per cent of its water needs from the River Murray and Mr Howard said this was “ impractical and unacceptable for a river system under stress”. The Advertiser_ 10/21/07
Tampa Bay Water's perpetually troubled desalination plant may at last be free of its operational woes, an official from the company repairing the plant told the utility's board Monday. "I sometimes say that this plant has ghosts with it," Kent Turner of American Water Pridesa told the board. "I think the ghosts are gone." Since the start of a test run that began Oct. 2, Turner said, the $158-million plant has been producing its capacity of 25-million gallons of water every day. If this phase, known as a "run-in," continues without a major glitch, the company will end it Thursday, take a two-week break and begin the plant's formal acceptance test in early November, Turner said. If the plant passes that test, then it will be ready to begin full-fledged operation, he said. The Apollo Beach plant, the largest in the United States, was supposed to be ready in 2003, but it flunked its acceptance test, and the company that built it went bankrupt. Turner's company, hired in 2004 to fix the plant, has missed several deadlines to complete the $29-million job. Turner has said that the fate of the desal industry worldwide hinges on the success of the Apollo Beach plant. With so much riding on the plant's success, the German-Spanish consortium agreed Monday to give Tampa Bay Water a $600,000 price break to settle its claims on the repeated project delays. St. Petersburg Times_ 10/16/07
Wind powers Sydney, Australia's desalination plant
Sydney's controversial desalination plant will be supplied with power from 75 wind turbines from as many as six wind farms to be built across the state. The $1.7 billion project will demand almo