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DesalData Weekly - August 19, 2015

Posted 19 August, 2015 by Mandy


In California, the revised ‘Ocean Plan’ requires desalination plants to use subsurface ocean intake systems unless a study determines it to be infeasible.[1]  For the proposed desalination facility at Huntington Beach, a report has concluded that a subsurface ocean intake is financially infeasible.  The report, completed by an Independent Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel (ISTAP), was jointly commissioned by Poseidon Resources and the California Coastal Commission.  The report calculates an estimated cost of $1,000 (USD) extra per acre-foot of desalinated water for a subsurface intake, which brings the total cost to approximately $2,661 (an open-ocean intake would cost a total of $1,639 per acre-foot).  Construction for the subsurface intake would also take five to seven years longer than an open-ocean intake.


Huntington Beach Desalination Facility Site [1]
 

Business groups across Orange County, California immediately celebrated the report, citing cost and construction advantages.[2]  Environmentalists will likely express concern for the impact of an open-ocean intake on marine life, if they are approved for future large-scale facilities.  Ray Hiemstra, Associate Director of Programs at the Orange County Coastkeeper, a non-profit clean water organization, has stated to the OC Register that people have reduced their water usage in the county by 25 percent, in accord with Governor Jerry Brown’s executive order.[3]  This reduction in water use, Hiemstra states, is more than three times the amount of water that the Poseidon plant would provide Orange County.  As the project develops, it will be interesting to see how divergent environmental and business interests will contend with California’s water crisis and the expanding desalination market. 

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In New South Wales, Australia, the Broken Hill Desalination Plant is undergoing a capacity increase.  The Australian firm Osmoflo will oversee the project, as part of a turnkey solution for existing client and plant owner, Essential Energy.[4]  The upgrade, to be complete by November 2015, will use reverse osmosis (RO) to desalinate brackish water. 

Officials decided to improve the Broken Hill facility after its chemical treatment plant was unable to remove salt from the Menindee Lakes, the city’s main water source.  The shallow, freshwater Menindee Lakes, also a vital source of water for New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia, undergo average evaporation losses of over 400 giga-litres of water each year.[5]  In the search for replacing the Broken Hill facility’s water supply, a consultancy first investigated the feasibility of transporting water 350 kilometres by rail (from near Crystal Brook in South Australia).  The economic costs of such a project were so great that the RO plant became a viable alternative.[6]

Sunset at Menindee Lakes [7]http://australianimage.photoshelter.com/img/pixel.gif

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Energy Recovery Inc. has announced a $1.8 million USD deal to supply its PX Pressure Exchanger technology for a desalination plant in Morocco.  The plant will generate water for 500,000 people, and has the capacity to double its output in the future.  Morocco’s National Power Drinking Water Office (ONEE) is overseeing the installation of the Pressure Exchangers in the plant, which is the first public-private partnership system in the country.  Energy Recovery reports that its exchangers (the PX-Q300 units) will process 100,000 cubic metres of water per day, and reduce the plant’s CO2 footprint by 54,200 tons per year.[8] 



[1] Credit: < http://poseidonwater.com/our_projects/all_projects/huntington_beach_project>.

[2] Orlowski, “Panel.”

[3] Ibid.

[4] “Broken Hill Desalination Plant to be Fixed up with Additional RO Capacity,” Water World, August 18, 2015, <http://www.waterworld.com/articles/2015/08/broken-hill-desalination-plant-to-be-fixed-up-with-additional-ro-capacity.html> accessed August 18, 2015.

[5] The Australian and NSW Governments are currently developing infrastructure that will improve the water storage abilities of the Lakes.  “Menindee Lakes Project,” Australian Government Department of the Environment, <http://www.environment.gov.au/water/rural-water/srwui/menindee-lakes> accessed August 18, 2015.

[6] “Broken Hill,” Water World.

[7] Credit: <http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/~/media/NPWS/Images/Parks/Kinchega-National-Park/park/lake-at-sunset.ashx>

[8] “Energy Recovery Awarded $1.8 Million for Desalination Deal in Morocco,” Market Watch, August 17, 2015, <

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