Water. Desalination + reuse
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/640467
PROJECTS February-March 2016 | Desalination & Water Reuse | 21 | ... MOnTEREy PROJECT SEEkS fOuR-yEaR dEadlinE ExTEnSiOn US water supplier, California American Water (CalAm), along with local stakeholders has sought more time to complete its Monterey Peninsular desalination project. CalAm has requested changes to the State Water Resources Control Board's (SWRCB's) 2009 order which sets a deadline for the company's use of the Carmel River as a primary source of water for the people living on the Monterey peninsula. The company is looking for a four-year extension to the 31 December 2016 deadline. The Monterey Peninsula Water Supply Project was a central plank in the company's plans to comply with the order. The SWRCB issued its order requiring CalAm to reduce significantly the amount of water it diverts from the river after finding that the abstraction from the Carmel by Cal Am was having a detrimental impact on the river. The proposed seawater desalination project is awaiting approval from the California Public Utilities Commission. The company has said it will not be able to make the state's 2016 deadline. It has worked with many local stakeholders to develop a proposal to extend the deadline to December 31, 2020 with incremental reductions in abstraction rates during the interim. Were the deadline extension approved, the company has proposed that it should have to meet annual milestones in the project and face penalties if any were not met. "The state's order was put in place in part to motivate the Peninsula to get serious about finding an alternative to the Carmel River as our primary source of water," said CalAm's central coast operations director, Eric Sabolsice. "Our current proposal to modify the order was drafted in line with that directive by providing clear milestones that must be met, while also allowing our community sufficient time to build a new project and avoid the untenable consequences of reducing Carmel River diversions dramatically before a replacement water source is available," he added. The SWRCB will consider the proposed deadline modification and related proposals and they will be subject also to a public inquiry. Operation of the test slant well had been stopped in June last year until October when a coastal commission ruling allowed it to resume. The stoppage – only three months into the project – was triggered, under the terms of the project permit by a fall in local groundwater levels. The California Coastal Commission was required to amend the permit before California American could continue with the project. The commission found that the groundwater reduction was mainly the result of pumping in the area that was unrelated to the test slant well. California American Water engineering manager, Ian Crooks said, "The act of stopping and starting the well has itself confirmed the integrity of the well's construction." The California Coastal Commission, State Water Resources Control Board and Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary have each stated a preference for subsurface intakes, which draw ocean water through the sand rather than directly from the ocean. Many permitting agencies consider subsurface intakes, like the Monterey slant well as environmentally preferable to open ocean intakes. analyST fORECaSTS dESalinaTiOn TO dOublE inSidE fivE yEaRS Global desalination revenues will more than double to top US$ 19 million by 2019 reflecting a similar surge in the numbers of facilities according to a report by market analyst, Frost & Sullivan (F&S). In its report, Analysis of global desalination markets, F&S has predicted that the sector's market revenues will reach US$ 19.1 billion in 2019 from US$ 11.7 billion in 2015. It said also that the number of desalination plants in operation in 150 countries – at more than 17,000 worldwide – will increase 100% by 2020. F&S foresaw the transformation of desalination into a widely accepted, long- term response as droughts grow more intense. It predicted also that desalination technology firms will capitalize from the growth by developing more efficient solutions to the problems associated with drought. F&S suggested that weak regulatory support is currently stalling desalination's rise in some water-scarce regions while there is progress in a number of areas include the US, India, Mexico and the Middle East. Brine disposal will remain a chief challenge until advances in technology address it fully said the report. TExaS lOan bOOSTS Gulf Of MExiCO PROJECT Texas has agreed a US$ 2 million loan for the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority (GBRA) to fund a study into site and transport options for a power and water project including a seawater desalination plant on the Texas Gulf coast. The project will provide additional water supplies and add diversity to the region's water sources. The Texas Water Development Board closed the loan through the State Water Implementation Fund for Texas programme to finance GBRA's feasibility study on a seawater desalination project. GBRA could save some US$ 563,000 over the life of the loan. The loan will enable GBRA to identify site, transmission and delivery options for an integrated water and power project on the Texas Gulf Coast. GBRA will examine the feasibility of diverting and treating seawater from the Gulf of Mexico to convey it to central and gulf coastal regions of South Texas. GBRA serves DeWitt, Victoria, Calhoun, Refugio, Gonzales, Caldwell, Hays, Comal, Guadalupe, and Kendall counties. San anTOniO fiRST PhaSE dESalinaTiOn SET fOR 2016 finiSh The first phase of a groundwater desalination plant in San Antonio is set for completion this year. The US$ 193 million first phase will produce fresh drinking water at about 50 Ml/d for customers of the San Antonio Water System. According to the San Antonio Water System, two planned subsequent phases will take the output to more than 120 Ml/d by 2021 and 2026. Water System officials said the cost of all phases would come to more than US$ 410 million. The water system has accessed more than US$ 100 million in low-interest loans from the Texas Water Development Board for the project. Work on the plant began in July 2014 at the Water System's Twin Oaks plant. Eleven of the plant's 12 wells have been drilled but still need to be equipped with pumps and motors. Last year the Water System's chief executive officer, Robert Peunte, was reported as saying: "the whole state of Texas is excited about, the conversion of salty groundwater to potable water. But San Antonio was yet to do it."