Water. desalination + reuse

comment eDitoR���SCoRneR Still struggling in California In Marin County, the district is fighting The sTaTe of desalination progress in an uphill political battle for the desalination plant it will surely need in a few years, while California has moved on ��� from the frustrating to further south, in Cambria, the US Corps of Engineers has run foul of the Coastal the farcical. Up and down Commission, which has ruled against its the state, which, come the next drought, will desperately need proposed beach well tests. The plan to give San Diego a water water in some districts, arguments, dodgy deals and endless litigation are hampering supply from a desalination plant in Rosarito, Mexico, which recently lost implementation of seawater desalination Consolidated Water as a backer, is now projects. suffering allegations of cronyism, the same The still-to-be-built Carlsbad plant limps type of problem that brought Monterey to into another year with a water-purchase a halt. agreement now looking to be signed in The difference between desalination, June 2012. The situation in Monterey has which has never recovered in US public become ever more confused after American consciousness from the beating it took at Water in January backed out of the Tampa Bay, and water reuse - despite its Regional Desalination Project, brought to a Project1 20/1/12 3:46 pm Page 1 long-standing ���toilet to tap��� tag - could halt by a conflict-of-interest court case. not be more marked. In contrast to Tampa, water reuse can point proudly to its legacy of Water Factory 21 and the Groundwater Reuse Project in Orange County. The City of Los Angeles is just one of many that is seriously considering indirect potable reuse. So the publication in January 2012 of the National Research Council���s report Water Reuse: Potential for Expanding the Nation���s Water Supply Through Reuse of Municipal Wastewater will provide plenty of muscle for reuse proponents to push against a door, which if not exactly open, at least does not have the barricades against it that desalination is experiencing. Any sensible viewer would of course realise that both technologies are going to be required if California wants to maintain its current lifestyle, but public and political sentiment can be extremely irrational. Right now, reuse appears to have the edge. Robin Wiseman Advanced 701 Micro-Bubble 704 Technology for Cleaner Membranes Genesol After the success of Genesol 703, Genesys International is pleased to introduce two new speciality membrane cleaners to the Genesol range, Genesol 701 and Genesol 704. The new cleaners incorporate ���micro-bubble��� technology for greater foulant removal. Extensive testing in the lab and in ���eld has proven these products to be highly effective at removing dif���cult membrane foulants. This reduces membrane cleaning frequency and membrane replacement costs. Genesol 701 is ideally suited for use with cellulose acetate membranes. YEARS Tel: +44 (0)1606 837 605 | E-mail: info@genesysro.com | www.genesysro.com | 4 | Desalination & Water Reuse | February-March 2012

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