Water. Desalination + reuse
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/133796
RESEARCH What is the Alamagordo research facility for? Editor's Note: The Brackish Groundwater National Desalination Research Facility in New Mexico, USA, has provided and continues to provide a testbed for many different varieties of desalination, which could provide future directions for the technology. The facility's manager, Randall Shaw, outlines the purpose of the center and the research currently under way THE BRACKISH Groundwater National Desalination Research Facility (BGNDRF) is located in the Chihuahuan desert near Alamogordo, New Mexico, USA. It is owned and operated by the United States, Department of Interior, Bureau of Reclamation. The facility opened in 2007 and provides clients with a variety of test bays, test pads, and research areas for testing and developing a variety of advanced water technologies. Clients consist of government agencies, universities, and private sector companies. Reclamation is widely known for its role in designing and building large dams and irrigation projects in the western United States. Its mission is to manage, develop, and protect water and related resources in an environmentally and economically sound manner in the interest of the American people. BGNDRF helps fulfill Reclamation's mission by developing increased supplies of water through desalination technology. Desalination roaDmap In 2001, Congress appropriated funds for a partnership between Reclamation and Sandia National Laboratories to develop a desalination roadmap and plan a research facility for the development of the next generation of desalination technologies. The roadmap Desalination and Water Purification Technology Roadmap was completed in 2003, followed by the 2004 report by the National Academy of Sciences titled Review of the Desalination and Water Purification Technology Roadmap. Additionally, Congress continued funding for the planning and subsequent construction of BGNDRF, which was opened for research in 2007. Much of the success of the design of BGNDRF can be attributed to the Executive Committee hosted by the New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute. BGnDrF oBjective The general objective for BGNDRF is to develop supply-enhancing desalination technology using inland brackish water sources. It has five specific objectives used to select and guide research: • develop solutions to concentrate management issues • develop renewable energy/desalination hybrids • develop economically viable small-scale desalination systems • develop desalination technologies for produced waters • provide public information and education. research Facilities The completed facility is comprised of a central research building on 40 acres (24 ha) of land. The central May-June 2013 | Desalination & Water Reuse | 27 |