If the Earth Were a Globe 28 Inches in Diameter:  

• All of the water on the planet would fill less than one cup.
•  
• Only 0.03% of one cup is in rivers and fresh water lakes.
•  
• Slightly more than one drop of water would fill all the rivers and lakes.
•   

*Some of this lies too far under the earth's surface to be extracted at an affordable cost 

Sources of Fresh Water    

• Groundwater - water which infiltrates into the ground through porous materials deeper into the earth. It fills pores and fractures in layers of underground rock called aquifers. Some of this water lies too far under the earth's surface to be extracted at an affordable cost. 
• Surface-water runoff - precipitation that does not infiltrate into the ground or return to the atmosphere: streams, rivers, lakes, wetlands, and reservoirs. 
• Snow that is 4 inches (10cm) deep contains about the same amount of water as 1/3 inch (1 cm) of rain.
•    

Water Use in the U.S.   

• 8% domestic use 
• 33% agriculture 
• 59% industry 
• Over 600 gallons per day per person in the U.S. is being diverted for farm irrigation and livestock use from natural aquatic sources. 
• More than half the people in the U.S. get their water from groundwater. 
•  

Measures of Water Use   

• Water withdrawal - taking water from groundwater or surface-water source and transporting it to a place of use. 
• Water consumption - water that has been withdrawn and is not available for reuse in the area from which it is withdrawn. 
• In the U.S. about three-fourths of the fresh water withdrawn each year comes from rivers, lakes and reservoirs; one-fourth comes from groundwater aquifers. 
• 80% of water withdrawn in the U.S. is used for cooling electric power plants and for irrigation. 

So for quite some time now I've said to myself "Let the glaciers melt a little.Start a major desalinization program to tackle the rising seas and let Lake Mead fill again. Fund this program initially thru our government resources (tax revenues,of course) but for heavens sake run it privately."

Where's the problem?

John

 I dunno?

This idea has some value. 

Using desalination to eliminate salt/minerals from ocean water is very energy intensive and extraordinarily expensive.

But it is a wonderful way to provide water to communities close to the ocean that don't have much fresh water.

Desalination

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desalination

Note that  the biggest ones are in the Middle East.

Tuesday, 15 January 2019

Does size matter? Meet six of the world's largest desalination plants

https://www.aquatechtrade.com/news/desalination/worlds-largest-desalination-plants/

The recently awarded Rabigh 3 desalination project in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to ACWA Power was branded as one of the world’s largest desalination plants.

To put it into perspective, with a capacity of 600,000 m3/day, that’s 600 million litres of water that will eventually be produced per day. 

There is no doubting at that size, the Saudi mega-size project will be one of the largest out there and the second largest awarded RO desalination plant. 

Yet most desalination professionals will know it’s not the largest and it raises the question of well, with over 20,000 desalination plants contracted around the world, which are the largest?

Can the big get bigger?

Answering the question of whether desalination capacity will continue to be pushed in the world’s largest plants, Leon Awerbuch, director of the International Desalination Association (IDA), said: “I believe mega scale desalination plants in the future will get bigger than Ras Al Khair. The Japanese Mega-Ton projects are already under consideration and a 1,500,000 m3/day project in Saudi Arabia is already in planning stage.”

He added: “In the future there will be projects of this scale in Saudi Arabia, China, India and even in Abu Dhabi there is competitive for the scale of 600,000 m3/day. All of these developments will on an Independent Water Project (IWP) or Independent Water and Power Project (IWPP) basis but will be required and guaranteed by governments

John,

I did not know much of this previously. Thanks for bringing it up!!!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desalination_by_country

Desalination by country

There are approximately 16,000 operational desalination plants, located across 177 countries, which generate an estimated 95 million m³/day of freshwater.^[1] Micro desalination plants operate near almost every natural gas or fracking facility in the United States. Furthermore, micro desalination facilities exist in textile, leather, food industries, etc.^[2]

United States

Texas

There are a dozen different desalination projects in the state of Texas, both for desalinating groundwater and desalinating seawater from the Gulf of Mexico.  However, currently there are no seawater desalination plants earmarked for municipal purposes.^[106][107]

• El Paso: Brackish groundwater has been treated at the El Paso, Texas, plant since around 2004. It produces 27,500,000 US gallons (104,000,000 l; 22,900,000 imp gal) of fresh water daily (about 25% of total freshwater deliveries) by reverse osmosis.^[108] The plant's water cost—largely representing the cost of energy—is about 2.1 times higher than ordinary groundwater production.

California

California has 17 desalination plants in the works, either partially constructed or through exploration and planning phases.^[109] The list of locations includes Bay Point, in the Delta, Redwood City, seven in the Santa Cruz / Monterey Bay, Cambria, Oceaneo, Redondo Beach, Huntington Beach, Dana Point, Camp Pendleton, Oceanside and Carlsbad.^[110]

• Carlsbad: The Claude "Bud" Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant was constructed at a cost of $1 billion by Poseidon Resources and was the largest desalination plant in the United States when it went online December 14, 2015.^[111] It produces 50 million gallons a day to 110,000 customers throughout San Diego County.
• Concord: Planned to open in 2020, producing 20 million gallons a day.^[109]
• Monterey County: Sand City, two miles north of Monterey, with a population of 334, is the only city in California completely supplied with water from a desalination plant.
• Santa Barbara: The Charles Meyer Desalination Facility was constructed in Santa Barbara, California, in 1991–92 as a temporary emergency water supply in response to severe drought.^[112][113] While it has a high operating cost, the facility only needs to operate infrequently, allowing Santa Barbara to use its other supplies more extensively.^[114][115] The plant was re-activated in the spring of 2017.

Florida

RO production train, North Cape Coral RO Plant

In 1977, Cape Coral, Florida became the first municipality in the United States to use the RO process on a large scale with an initial operating capacity of 3 million gallons per day. By 1985, due to the rapid growth in population of Cape Coral, the city had the largest low pressure reverse osmosis plant in the world, capable of producing 15 MGD.^[116]

As of 2012, South Florida has 33 brackish and two seawater desalination plants operating with seven brackish water plants under construction. The brackish and seawater desalination plants have the capacity to produce 245 million gallons of potable water per day.^[117]

• Tampa Bay: The Tampa Bay Water desalination project near Tampa, Florida, was originally a private venture led by Poseidon Resources, but it was delayed by the bankruptcy of Poseidon Resources' successive partners in the venture, Stone & Webster, then Covanta (formerly Ogden) and its principal subcontractor, Hydranautics. Stone & Webster declared bankruptcy June 2000. Covanta and Hydranautics joined in 2001, but Covanta failed to complete the construction bonding, and then the Tampa Bay Water agency purchased the project on May 15, 2002, underwriting the project. Tampa Bay Water then contracted with Covanta Tampa Construction, which produced a project that failed performance tests. After its parent went bankrupt, Covanta also filed for bankruptcy prior to performing renovations that would have satisfied contractual agreements. This resulted in nearly six months of litigation. In 2004, Tampa Bay Water hired a renovation team, American Water/Acciona Aqua, to bring the plant to its original, anticipated design. The plant was deemed fully operational in 2007,^[118] and is designed to run at a maximum capacity of 25 million US gallons (95,000 m³) per day.^[119] The plant can now produce up to 25 million US gallons (95,000 m³) per day when needed.^[120]

Arizona

• Yuma: The desalination plant in Yuma, Arizona, was constructed under authority of the state Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Act of 1974 to treat saline agricultural return flows from the Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District into the Colorado River. The treated water is intended for inclusion in water deliveries to Mexico, thereby keeping a like amount of freshwater in Lake Mead, Arizona and Nevada. Construction of the plant was completed in 1992, and it has operated on two occasions since then. With a full capacity of 73 million gallons per day of permeate water, it is the largest desalination plant in the US. The plant has been maintained, but largely not operated due to sufficient freshwater supplies from the upper Colorado River.^[121] An agreement was reached in April 2010 between the Southern Nevada Water Authority, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the Central Arizona Project, and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to underwrite the cost of running the plant in a year-long pilot project.^[122]