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| | MAY 1, 2003 SPECIAL REPORT: ENVIROTECH Treasure from the Deep: Drinking Water [Page 2 of 2]
Advances in membrane technology mean desalination can produce one gallon of fresh water from every two gallons of seawater, an improvement of 50% over 20 years ago. Engineers have also cut energy costs by locating desalination facilities next to coastal power plants. This provides both a source of power and an existing infrastructure to draw water in and release it back to the ocean because power stations use seawater as a coolant. So in the future, they could combine that with brine from a nearby desalination plant and release both back into the ocean. "Improvements in the technology have brought the cost down to a point where desalination is competitive with other new water-supply options," says Yamada. COW POWER. San Diego is leading California's desalination charge. This year, in partnership with Poseidon Resources, it will break ground on a $270 million plant in Carlsbad, next to the Encina Power Station. Upon completion in 2008, it will be the largest seawater-desalination facility in the Western hemisphere, producing 50 million gallons of fresh water each day, or 8% of the San Diego region's drinking supply. The local water authority is also evaluating the feasibility of two other similar plants -- one adjacent to the South Bay power plant in Chula Vista and another near the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station at the border of San Diego County and Mexico. Further north, in the lush valleys of San Bernadino County, Inland Empire Water Utility is already using desalination to clean up contaminated ground water. The $80 million project uses manure from local dairy farms to create methane, which in turn is used to power the plant. It strips nitrites and salt -- runoff from the region's orange groves and vineyards -- from groundwater. Affectionately dubbed the Cow Power project, it was launched in June, 2002, and is expected to provide 25,000 acre-feet of water annually -- or 20% of the local population's drinking supply. "We're really into recycled water," says Inland Empire General Manager Richard Atwater. "We believe every drop of water should be reused or conserved." Today, Atwater's area serves 700,000 people (and 300,000 cows). In 25 years, the human population is expected to more than double to 1.5 million. Without such innovative water cleanup projects, experts say, the taps would run dry. GREENER OPTION. Environmentalists also embrace desalination. Studies show that pumping the cooling water and concentrate back into the ocean raises its salinity by less than 1%, which is equivalent to the natural rise and fall. Barry Nelson, a senior policy analyst with the Natural Resources Defense Council, says he became a proponent of desalination when a June, 1999, California report demonstrated that it was cheaper than building new dams, which often have a huge environmental impact. Nelson still worries about energy consumption and coastal disruption. But he adds that "desalination is no longer on the lunatic fringe. It has entered the mainstream. That means we look at desal projects on a case-by-case basis, as we would any other legitimate water policy." As the technology continues to improve, experts say it'll fast become a solution not only for municipalities but for hotels and resorts, corporations, and, someday, homeowners. Privately held water-treatment outfit Matrix Water, based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is installing a desalination plant that will process 800,000 gallons of water per day for the new Emerald Bay Four Seasons Resort in the Bahamas. And the new U.S. Homeland Security Dept. is investigating ways of using reverse osmosis to protect the nation's water supply from bioterrorism. Clearly, desalination is a technology whose time has arrived -- not only to combat the effects of drought but to provide cleaner, safer drinking water everywhere.
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