Water. Desalination + reuse
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/670678
| 14 | Desalination & Water Reuse | May-June 2016 projects Drought stricken california county looks to nuclear plant Desalination project California's San Luis Obispo County board of supervisors has approved a sewage reclamation project that could add treated wastewater to an aquifer and the expansion of a desalination facility at the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant as emergency water supply options. Years of drought have reduced South County's main water source, Lopez Lake, to 29% capacity, shrunk aquifers and made deliveries from the State Water Project pipeline unreliable. A proposed expansion of Diablo Canyon's 3.2 Ml/d desalination plant has the potential to produce the most new water - as much as 1,250 Ml a year through expansion of the reverse osmosis facility. A 10 km pipeline would have to be installed to connect the plant to the Lopez Lake pipeline. A feasibility study is underway. Deputy public works director, Mark Hutchinson, told local press that the planning project would cost up to US$ 500,000 and construction of the pipeline would cost up to US$ 11 million. He said the county would seek state grants for drought relief to offset the costs. A sewage reclamation project at Pismo Beach could generate some 800 Ml of treated, recycled wastewater to be injected into groundwater supplies. That project has become a regional one, with other cities in the area collaborating. Construction could begin next year and finish at the end of 2018. Saltwater intrusion into the Santa Maria groundwater basin since 2009 forced water retailers to reduce their pumping to 30% of their entitlements. Low reservoir levels in Northern California have led to severely limited deliveries from the State Water Project in 2014 and 2015. The Diablo Canyon desalination facility has been operating at 40% capacity to meet the power station's needs. The desalination report identified other opportunities including expansion of other desalination facilities in Morro Bay and Cambria and co-locating new facilities on industrial sites. inDian city retail quarter to get Desalination plant The giant retail quarter of Indian city Chennai, Thyagaraya Nagar, is expected to get a new 41 Ml/d desalination plant that would supply some 300,000 residents. Chennai is to build the Rs 173.33 crore (US$ 25.4 million) desalination plant under India's Smart Cities Mission which funds the roll out of smart metering and other communications, reported the regional newspaper The Hindu. The Indian government insisted that Chennai include upgraded water supplies for Thyagaraya Nagar residents as part of the smart communications installation. "Information and communication technology is the key aspect of a smart city. But the government will not accept any proposal unless we offer residents water supply 24/7. Once the project is successfully implemented, such proposals will be extended to all other parts of the city," said a Chennai corporation official. The government has yet to decide on the location of the proposed plant. The population of Thyagaraya Nagar - India's largest retail quarter by sales - is currently 226,000 with water consumption per person at 90 l/d generating a demand of 30 Ml/d. The specification for the plant is based on anticipated increase, reported The Hindu. The current supply provided by water company, Metrowater, from Chembarambakam lake and two desalination plants, is insufficient to meet future requirements. Thyagaraya Nagar has been shortlisted for smart development at an estimated cost of Rs. 206 crore (US$ 30.3 million). inDian region looks to builD giant Desalination plant Aurangabad state government has requested a detailed project report from an Indian Institute of Technology professor who has proposed the construction of a 1,000 Ml/d desalination plant near Mumbai to overcome water scarcity in Marathwada, according to newspaper The Times of India. Assistant engineering professor, Ajay M Chole, has suggested Tarapur or Dahanu as possible sites for the facility. The processed water could, according to Chole, be transported by pipeline to the Godavari river to flow downstream into the Jayakwadi dam which supplies the region. Chole had sent his proposal to the union and state governments and both had shown "keen interest" in the proposal, the newspaper reported. Indian government under secretary, Kanwaljit Singh, has stated earlier that the Marathwada region was eligible for a desalination project under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) scheme. Singh said Chole's desalination plant and transmission pipeline proposal may be taken up by the Maharashtra government under AMRUT. Marathwada has reported the highest rainfall deficit in the country last monsoon. Officer on special duty in the state water resources department, Sandeep Jadhav, was reported as saying: "We have asked Chole to submit a detailed project report to work out the feasibility of setting up the desalination plant". "The desalination plant would need an investment of around Rs 5,000 crore, (US$ 756.5 million)," according to Jadhav. He also estimated that the running cost would be around Rs 28 (42 cents) per 1,000 litre. "This project can possibly rid Marathwada of its dependence on rainwater," he said. He said the project cost would be justified considering the recurring expenses over the past three years towards drought-relief and farmer packages.