Texas' Water Woes Spark Interest in Desalination
SAN ANTONIO — Drilling rigs in the midst of cow pastures are hardly a novelty for Texans. But on a warm May day at a site about 30 miles south of San Antonio, a rig was not trying to reach oil or fresh water, but rather something unconventional: a salty aquifer. After a plant is built and begins operating in 2016, the site will become one of the state’s largest water desalination facilities.
“This is another step in what we’re trying to do to diversify our water supply,” said Anne Hayden, a spokeswoman for the San Antonio Water System ...
Comments (5)
Another 99%
With the energy companies fighting “tooth and nail”, any any regulation to protect and create more CLEAN WATER, which is against their personal profits, I just have to be turned off by this idea. Guess who will, create this industry.............the energy companies. Great profits are to be made, on creating more toxic dirty water throughout Texas, and America, and building a huge profitable desalination industry.
G Hall
Knowing what I know about the sunny weather in El Paso/San Antonio and municipal water systems, the water system should research solar power to offset the high electrical cost of desalination, especially during this period of lower prices for solar panels. Water demand is greatest during the daylight hours so solar power will be viable. AS for this: " Texas should first focus on conservation and the reuse of wastewater, said Amy Hardberger, a water specialist with the Environmental Defense Fund." According to the greatest reservoir of knowledge in the universe, Google, which helped me find the EDF online, Amy is listed as a Lawyer, so I'm not gonna be really impressed with her expertise/experience with what Texas should focus on, as regards to any doing with water in Texas. Texans have been studying water at their universities and government environmental organizations for decades and our water experts and citizens are well aware of the need to conserve our resources and the treatment, reuse and disposal of waste water and nobody I know, in the industry has ever said or shown to be inclined to state a "oh, we'll just get more" mentality." which is a snark comment I would expect from a lawyer. Here's a snark from me; 7000 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean is a good start.
As for putting desalination plants on the coast: bad idea, I wouldn't. All that investment will be washed away in the first hurricane and funds in this economy are precious and shouldn't have to be spent more than once on new infrastructure.
The greatest hurdle to desalination is disposal/reuse of the waste. I'm not sure government or environmental groups are the ones with the creativity to address this issue. Capitalism, the making of a profit by a private entity, which is what, after all, pays the taxes/donations to fund environmental organizations/water studies and projects; would be who I would look to for a solution to this issue. Just my 2cents worth as a retired water industry operations professional.
David Spratt
Millions of gallons of saltwater are produced every day in Texas as a result of gas and oil production. This is re injected into the ground now. Plants could be build strategically located with pipelines conveying this water from existing disposal facilities. There are issues with removing the contaminates used to facilitate the removal of oil and gas, but then again what are we educating people in our colleges for? If someone could make use of this water you could potentially turn what is a costly waste byproduct into a valuable product for sale.
Scott Stookey
I actually am a proponent in that it forces Texans (especially those in the Hill Country) to recognize the true costs of clean water. With energy from wind and solar, and our resources in these arenas, we may be able to regionally add 10-20 MGD (million gallons/day) at a more economical rate as the energy costs are lowered. With to liquefied natural gas terminals coming on board in Corpus Christi, we may be able to use natural gas to run turbines to make the electricity at a much lower rate to drive the pumps in desalination systems.
jeff l
Yall may need to correct the article, because the correct link to Wind-powered desalination research should be http://www.twdb.texas.gov/innovativewater/desal/projects/seminole/