Desal-13-07
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Available as an ebook
Please purchase via www.iwaponline.comOpens in new window
Also part of Water Intelligence Online Digital Reference Library
Standard ePrice: £28.00
+ VAT
Permitting the disposal of concentrate and other waste streams is often one of the most challenging tasks associated with the development and implementation of desalination projects. This study focuses on the review of key regulatory requirements, support studies, and permitting practices for medium and large seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination plants in the United States and abroad. The size range (from 2.5 to 110 MGD or 9.5 to 440 ML/d) covers most plants built since 2005. The study is based on permitting experience with recent SWRO projects and is focused on the regulatory issues and considerations associated with the most commonly used concentrate management method: discharge to surface water bodies. Issues specific to the permitting of thermal desalination plants are not addressed in the report because, although popular in the Middle East, thermal desalination has not found significant application in seawater desalination in the United States and most other developed countries.
The formal project objective was to identify the discharge information that permitting agencies need and the decision-making process they go through to permit discharge methods in order to help desalination project proponents focus and expedite their permitting efforts.
The project involved documenting SWRO discharge regulatory information and facility information for the United States and selected countries. In the United States, the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit is the primary permit required for discharge to surface waters. One of the key limiting factors in the construction of new seawater desalination plants is the availability of suitable conditions and locations for disposal of the high-salinity sidestream commonly referred to as concentrate or brine. Concentrate is generated as a by-product of the separation of the minerals from the source water used for desalination. This liquid stream contains in concentrated form most of the source water’s dissolved solids as well as some pretreatment additives (i.e., residual amounts of coagulants, flocculants, and antiscalants) and other chemicals, as well as microbial contaminants and particulates rejected by the reverse osmosis (RO) membranes. If chemical pretreatment is used, such as coagulants, antiscalants, polymers, or disinfectants, some or all of these chemicals may reach or may be disposed of along with the plant discharge concentrate.
The Columbus Water Works of Columbus, Georgia, conducted three demonstration programs that focused on the middle Chattahoochee River and addressed national wet weather water quality and...
Under the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES), many municipal and industrial wastewater treatment facilities must perform Whole Effluent Toxicity (WET) Testing. Regulatory...
The objectives of this project are to document the performance and whole-life costs of Best Management Practices (BMPs) and Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS). These two terms refer to...
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) is pursuing a number of initiatives dealing with various aspects of the identification and management of substances that are persistent, bio-...
The book covers in detail the topic of microplastics in water and wastewater. There is a growing interest in the scientific community in microplastics. Most of the studies identified the problems...
Anaerobic/aerobic (AnA) and completely aerobic (CA) laboratory-scale sequencing batch reactors operating on an acetate- and casamino acids-based synthetic wastewater were used to...
The research presented in this report was performed in order to compile and better understand the total costs of some commonplace wastewater pipeline condition assessment and renewal engineering...
A laboratory study was conducted to elucidate the source-effect relationships for seven chemicals (sources) that can cause activated sludge process upset (effect). These chemicals were studied...