Advancing the Seawater Desalination Knowledge Base

This partnership webcast with WateReuse discussed two recently completed WRF projects that feature advancements in seawater desalination by reverse osmosis. As part of Carlsbad Desalinated Seawater Integration Study (Desal-15-06/4773), researchers investigated the integration of desalinated seawater into the San Diego area distribution network following the 2015 completion of the Carlsbad Seawater Desalination plant. The data and analysis generated from this research is a valuable resource for understanding the challenges associated with the introduction of desalinated seawater into the regional San Diego County Water Authority and local member agency distribution systems, and can be used to guide the water treatment community in the design and implementation of future SWRO projects.

 

The successful operation of seawater reverse osmosis plants often depends on the ability of the pretreatment system to consistently produce high-quality water for the RO process. Pretreatment for Seawater Reverse Osmosis: Existing Plant Performance and Selection Guidance (Desal-14-07/4763) developed a knowledge base that provides water utilities with a set of key criteria for the evaluation of conventional versus membrane-based pretreatment technologies and a tool to assist water utilities in selection of pretreatment systems based on the water quality of the seawater and other selected information.