Desalination http://www.edwardsaquifer.net/desalination.

html

Desalination

Desalination involves removing the salt from water to make it drinkable. There are several ways to do it, and it is not
a new idea at all. Sailors have been using solar evaporation to separate salt from sea water for at least several
thousand years. Most of the world’s 1,500 or so desalination plants use distillation as the process, and there are also
flash evaporation and electrodialysis methods. All these methods are very expensive, so historically desalination has
only been used where other alternatives are also very expensive, such as desert cities. However, an exploding world
demand for potable water has led to a lot of research and development in this field and a new, cheaper process has
been developed that involves heating sea water and forcing it through membranes to remove the salt from the water.
The process is even cheaper if the desalination plant can be located next to an electrical power plant that is already
heating sea water to use for cooling the electrical generating units. Even so, it is still more expensive than other
alternatives, but it is indeed becoming more competitive and could become a viable alternative to Edwards water.
There is also a lot of interest in using local, brackish groundwaters as a source for desalination instead of ocean water.
Such waters typically have only one-tenth the salinity of sea water, so desalination can be accomplished more easily
and transportation is less of an issue.

In April 2000 the Texas Water Development Board approved a $59,000 grant to the Lavaca-Navadid River Authority to
determine if building a $400 million plant on Matagorda Bay at Point Comfort would be economically and
environmentally feasible. There is a power plant at this location that could supply the heated sea water for the
membrane process. The study was released two months later and the cost rose to $755 million, but this included the
cost of transmission facilities to San Antonio. The study estimated that a 50-50 mix of desalinated water and water
treated by other conventional methods could be delivered to San Antonio users for about $2.80 per thousand gallons,

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compared to a current cost of $1.36 per thousand gallons. A similar plant being constructed in Tampa, Florida will
raise customer’s water bills by about $7.50 a month. (1), (2)

A major advantage of desalination of ocean water is that water is always available even in the most severe droughts.
The main environmental concerns of this project are increased salinity levels in Matagorda Bay and the fate of plankton
and tiny sea creatures in the water removed for the process. Supporters say it won’t raise the salinity level
appreciably and that organisms can be vacuumed out and replaced into the ocean. No one knows yet how this project
would be funded. It’s possible San Antonio could choose to construct its own transmission facilities and also use the
pipelines to bring water to San Antonio from other sources. (3), (4)

On April 29 2002 Texas Governor Rick Perry visited San Antonio and announced his intention to push for construction of
a 25 mgd desalination plant on the Texas coast. He said "Though it may be many years, if not decades, before ocean
water is a prime source of water for Texas to use, we must begin the groundwork today so that future Texans have an
abundant, drought-proof supply of water." (5)

In November 2002 the South Central Texas Regional Water Planning Group endorsed a proposal by the San Antonio
Water System, the San Antonio River Authority, and the San Patricio Municipal Water District to build and operate a
desalination plant that could produce eight million gallons per day by 2006. The project would include a plant to purify
brackish groundwater in San Patricio county and another plant to purify ocean water. Initially it would not deliver
water to San Antonio but would free up surface water in the Nueces River Basin now used by the city of Corpus Christi,
thereby reducing pressure on the Edwards to meet those needs. Corpus Christi has it's own competing proposal to
build it's own desalination plant and then sell surface water rights to San Antonio. SAWS indicated it is not interested
in a customer relationship with Corpus. (6)

In April of 2004, the city of Brownsville dedicated its new Southmost Regional desalination plant, which is designed to
turn brackish groundwater from the Gulf Coast Aquifer into drinking water. The plant cost $21.1 million and has a
capacity of 7.5 million gallons per day. It is the city's first drought-proof source of water. By 2004, there were more
than 100 desalination plants in Texas, all of them treating either brackish groundwater or surface water. Some of the
larger facilities are in Sherman (26.4 mgd), Lake Granbury (14.2 mgd), and Fort Stockton (12.7 mgd). El Paso Water
Utilities is planning a 29 mgd facility, and the San Antonio Water System is also studying the feasibility of withdrawing
and treating saline water from the Edwards Aquifer. (7)

In August of 2004, Governor Rick Perry gave the concept of desalination another shot in the arm by delivering a
speech in which he claimed that membrane technologies "will change the world forever". He suggested that Texas
should lead the nation by building the country's first large-scale desalination plant. (8)

In April of 2006 the city of Brownsville began construction on a pilot-scale ocean water desalination plant that will
produce about 100,000 gallons per day. The main purpose of the facility will be to determine how to develop a
full-scale plant and what financial incentives will be needed. (9)

Also in 2006, the San Antonio Water System began tests at several sites to evaluate the feasibility of constructing a
plant to desalinate brackish water from the Wilcox Aquifer. One site in Atascosa county seemed especially promising,
and SAWS set a goal to have an operating facility by early 2011 that could produce up to 25 million gallons per day.
(10)

In August of 2007, the city of El Paso opened the Kay Bailey Hutchison Desalination Plant, which will eventually supply
27.5 million gallons of drinking water daily. Officials said it is the largest desal plant outside of a coastal area.
Constructed at a cost of $87 million, it draws brackish groundwater from underneath Fort Bliss. Costs were expected to
be about $1.65 per thousand gallons. (11)

In October of 2007, under intense local pressure from area residents, the board of the Evergreen Underground Water
District voted to rescind an agreement it had made with SAWS to regulate and permit the production and export of
brackish Wilcox water. Under the agreement, the district was to have issued permits to SAWS after the utility showed
the water was available and production was not likely to effect freshwater supplies from the the overlying Carrizo
aquifer. If an impact occurred, SAWS would have to limit or stop production. In return, SAWS agreed to abandon plans
to pump fresh water. (12)

In January of 2008, a citizens panel endorsed the San Antonio Water System plan for desalination, but it noted that
local opposition may turn out to be a bigger obstacle than any technological challenges. SAWS Board Chairman Alex
Briseno said SAWS had not been proactive in doing outreach to the communities involved, but "We don't intend to just
go to a place and take its water. The goal is to have a win-win situation." Some of the benefits to the local community
could include providing treated water or economic development funds. (13).

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In July of 2008 Atascosa residents were upset by news that SAWS had donated $10,000 to help sponsor their annual
Cowboy Homecoming festival. Many considered it a "bribe" to quell opposition. After much public outcry at a packed
City Council meeting, officials said they would not accept the money. (14) In response, SAWS interim CEO Robert
Puente said the contribution was misconstrued and said "I give you my word as a fellow Texan that our gestures were
made in good faith and reflect our sincere attempt to respect your natural resources and be a contributing member of
your community." (15)

In February of 2009 SAWS unveiled a revised 50-year water supply plan, and the desalination component was scaled
back to 11,800 acre-feet per year, or about 10.5 million gallons per day. Originally the project was envisioned to
produce up to 25,000 acre-feet per year. The SAWS desalination wellfield will now be entirely within Bexar county;
previously, it was a multi-county design. The current goal is to have the project online by 2014. (16)

Materials used to prepare this section:

(1) "Desalination plant proposal drawing interest" San Antonio Express-News, April 6 2000.
(2) "Gulf could yield drinking water" San Antonio Express-News, April 20, 2000.
(3) "Sea water plant study due today" San Antonio Express-News, June 30, 2000.
(4) "Is there gulf water in San Antonio’s future?" San Antonio Express-News, July 11, 2000.
(5) "Perry plugs desalination" San Antonio Express-News, April 30, 2002.
(6) "Plan to treat ocean water gets regional group's OK" San Antonio Express-News, November 8, 2002.
(7) "Brownsville tests the waters of desalination" San Antonio Express-News, April 18, 2004.
(8) "Perry promotes seawater idea" San Antonio Express-News, August 6, 2004.
(9) "New Valley plant to convert ocean's water" San Antonio Express News, April 21, 2006.
(10) "Brackish water could ease San Antonio's drought pains" San Antonio Express-News, May 25, 2007
(11) "El Paso has new water source" San Antonio Express-News, August 9, 2007
(12) "Brackish water agreement with SAWS rescinded" Pleasanton Express, October 3, 2007
(13) "Advisory panel for SAWS supports desalination plan, San Antonio Express-News, January 9, 2007
(14) "Atascosa rejects SAWS contributions" San Antonio Express-News, July 19, 2008
(15) "SAWS regional effort made in good faith" San Antonio Express-News, July 25, 2008
(16) "SAWS seeks to supplement aquifer more" San Antonio Express-News, February 24, 2009

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