Brent Alspach White Paper: Seawater Desalination in America

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'...And Every Drop to Drink': The Advent of Seawater Desalination in America

Author            :Brent Alspach

Designation    :Project Engineer

Company        :Malcolm Pirnie, Inc.

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Synopsis

“Water, water everywhere; nor any drop to drink.” Or so the conventional wisdom goes in regard to the vast water resource represented by the oceans of the world, as so eloquently stated in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s famous poem, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. However, human ingenuity coupled with modern technology has begun to dispel this familiar aphorism, as seawater desalination has already become a well-established water treatment practice in some parts of the world. In some arid coastal regions where other water supplies are especially scarce, such as areas of the Middle East, the ocean has become a primary source of potable water. Still, despite technological advances and demonstrated effectiveness – high costs, concentrate disposal issues, and the availability of other raw water supplies have historically hindered seawater desalination from being implemented in the United States.

However, while issues of cost and concentrate disposal remain primary concerns, the concept of seawater desalination – particularly using reverse osmosis (RO) membranes – has gained unusually rapid momentum in the normally conservative U.S. water treatment industry. In less than five years, the number of major water utilities either building, planning, or giving serious consideration to seawater desalination plants using RO treatment has increased from essentially none to ten or more, spanning the country from Florida to Texas to California.

The intent of this paper is to provide an overview of the reasons underlying this rapid evolution of industry acceptance, examining the factors that have diminished the historic obstacles to seawater desalination and enabled the concept to become so broadly embraced in America so quickly, including technology advancements, improved economics, creative engineering solutions, and the continually increasing demand for new water resources. The trends associated with seawater desalination are also examined with respect to their implications for the future of the concept, when perhaps the wistful refrain of Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner may at last be turned inside out.

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