Water Desalination ReporT

American Water Works Association ACE24 – Anaheim

The international weekly for desalination and advanced water treatment since 1965

Volume 60, Number 22 10 June 2024

California
DPR feasible, but currently too costly than to monitor cost comparisons, regulatory requirements
Last week, Napa Valley City Council members got their and the cost and public acceptance at other similar facilities.
first look at the cost of direct potable reuse (DPR) under Editor’s note: Understanding definitions is important when
California’s new regulations. Joy Eldredge, the city’s deputy discussing potable water reuse, so this primer is offered as a
utilities director, presented an overview of its recently reminder of frequently used terms:
completed Purified Water Feasibility Study that was funded
Direct potable reuse (DPR) refers to the planned introduction
by the City of Napa Utilities and the Napa Sanitation District.
of recycled water either directly into a public water system,
The city’s water supply is currently provided by Lake or into a raw water supply immediately upstream of a water
Hennessey, the Milliken Reservoir and water imported from treatment plant. This includes:
the State Water Project. Facing reductions in average supply,
A) raw water augmentation (RWA), which means the planned
the city has begun investigating the use of DPR, in a raw
placement of recycled water into a system of pipelines that
water augmentation (RWA) scenario and a treated water
delivers raw water to a drinking water plant that provides
augmentation (TWA) scenario.
water to a public water system, or,
Besides covering three different capacity options, the study B) treated water augmentation (TWA), which means the
looked at operating each for six months per year, during the planned placement of recycled water directly into the water
drier months, and for a full 12 months per year. The cost distribution system of a public water system, sometimes
analysis took into consideration the state’s newly adopted referred to as ‘flange-to-flange DPR’.
DPR requirements, which call for 24/7 plant staffing for
Indirect potable reuse (IPR) refers to the planned placement
plants, including the need for having a certified advanced
of recycled water into an environmental buffer, such as a
water treatment operator (AWTO) on site at all times.
groundwater system or a surface water reservoir, before the
The state’s new log removal reduction values, require a blended water is used as a source of drinking water by a
20-log virus removal, 14-log Giardia cyst removal, and a public water system.
15-log cryptosporidium removal. In the case of the Napa Log reduction value (LRV): Each 1-log reduction is the
project, it would have entailed treating tertiary effluent reduction of organism density by a factor of ten; for example,
with an advanced treatment train consisting of ozonation, an LRV of 1 equals a 90% removal, an LRV of 2 equals 99%
biologically active carbon, microfiltration, RO, UV advanced removal, an LRV of 3 equals 99.9% removal, etc.
oxidation, secondary UV and chlorination.
The range of costs presented to the council members is California
shown in the following table: Cost increases could sink IPR project
Alternate 1 Alternate 2 Alternate 3 Two of the three original agencies have withdrawn from
Feed Flow, mgd (m /d)
3
1.8 (6,813) 1.8 (22,710) 10 (37,850) participating in the Central Coast Blue indirect potable
Annual production, AFY (MCM) 1,600 (1.97) 5,400 (6.66) 9,000 (11.1) reuse (IPR) project in Pismo Beach, California. The two-
Project CapEx, million $120-139 $218-245 $279-300
phase project was to have treated secondary effluent from
Pismo Beach’s Wastewater Treatment Plant with MF/UF,
Annual OpEx, million $5.2 $8.6 $12.3
RO and UV-AOP, to produce up to 3.125 MGD (11,828
Although the report concludes that DPR is technically m3/d) of purified water for injection into the Santa Maria
feasible, it is not considered cost effective at this time, and, Groundwater Basin to protect against seawater intrusion and
it was recommended that no further action be taken, other replenish the community’s water supply.

Tom Pankratz, Editor, P.O. Box 75064, Houston, Texas 77234-5064 USA
Telephone: +1-713-397-2125, www.desalination.com/wdr, email: tp@globalwaterintel.com
© 2024 Media Analytics. Published in cooperation with Global Water Intelligence.
WATER DESALINATION REPORT – 10 June 2024 Page 2 of 5

In an 18 March update, the general manager of the Central desalination. Then, in the late 1990s, the emphasis began
Coast Blue Regional Recycled Water Authority said that to shift towards ‘saving’ the Dead Sea by discharging RO
project costs have increased from $85-112 million in 2022 concentrate into it.
to $134-159 million in two years, and it unexpectedly lost The Dead Sea water level has dropped 45m (147 ft) in the
$10 million of state grant funding due to budget deficits. last 50 years and continues to decline at 1.2m (4 ft) per year.
The news prompted the management team to pause project With a salinity of 34 percent, or more than nine times higher
design and permitting until the impacts could be evaluated. than typical seawater, the Dead Sea could easily assimilate
The Cities of Arroyo Grande and Grover Beach have the concentrated brine while arresting its water level decline,
withdrawn from the project, although the City of Pismo offering potential environmental, economic and social
Beach has reportedly said it would move forward alone. benefits to the region. Closely related to these benefits would
Plans called for the project to be completed in 2028, but its be the suggested “peace dividend” that would result from
future is in doubt. increased cooperation among Jordan, Israel and Palestine.
WDR has been following the studies and proposals since 1995.
Middle East Variously referred to as the Red-Dead Sea Hydro Project, the
Everything Old becomes New again Peace Conduit, the Red Sea-Dead Sea Conveyance Project,
Various methods of harnessing the energy potential in the or simply the Red-Dead project, the schemes have involved
400m (1,312 ft) elevation differential between the Red and the construction of a 330km (206-mile) conveyance system
Dead Seas have been considered since the 1960s. At least two between the Red Sea and Dead Sea.
studies—including one inspired by a Bible verse—have also Several hydropower stations would be located along the
evaluated various means of connecting the Mediterranean route to generate some of the required power for multiple
and Dead Seas. SWRO plants, with the product water shared by Israel and
First envisioned as a project to generate hydroelectric power Jordan, while the concentrate would be discharged into the
in the 1970s, the focus slowly shifted to including seawater Dead Sea. (continues on page 3)

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WATER DESALINATION REPORT – 10 June 2024 Page 3 of 5

Unfortunately, the last serious attempt at undertaking such to describe the volume of water that would cover a one-acre
a project was initiated by the World Bank and was initiated area to a depth of one foot.
about 2005. It involved numerous studies culminating in Many Middle Eastern countries measure desal plant output in
the submittal of proposals from several prequalified teams. million Imperial gallons per day (MIGD, or MiGD), where
However, the project slowly fizzled to an end, due to a one Imperial gallon is 20 percent greater than a US gallon.
breakdown in relations between Jordan and Israel in 2018. Unfortunately, they often fail to include the “I”, which can
Last week, a report in The Times of Israel said that the result in much confusion.
country’s Ministry of Environmental Protection has released The use of the units can be further complicated when projects
a new plan to increase water levels in the Dead Sea by are described in terms of their annual production capacity,
channeling water from the Mediterranean Sea, rather than rather than per-day or per-hour basis. This is especially true
the Red Sea, to the Dead Sea. Proponents of a Med-Dead in projects where product water is purchased under long-
route claim its most obvious advantage over a Red-Dead term contracts of up to 30 years. When projects are described
solution is that it is shorter. in terms of million cubic meters per year (MCM/yr)—or US
The Ministry said that a project could be operational around plants are referred to in terms of acre-feet per year (AFY)—
2045. The plans call for potable water to be sold to Jordan, the volumes do not necessarily reflect the actual daily
while brine from the plant would help reverse the decline production capacity capabilities of a plant.
of the disappearing Dead Sea. The initiative would require To simplify things, and for ease of comparison, WDR usually
approval by the Israeli and Jordanian governments because converts annual plant production values to a per-day value
the Dead Sea’s eastern shore runs through the Kingdom. by dividing the annual contracted production by 365 days,
rather than including details on the plant’s unique operating
Units of Measure characteristics, or explaining how the annual production
Consistently inconsistent reflects an individual project’s reliability, downtime, etc.
Readers sometimes ask if there is any logic behind WDR’s In most WDR articles, a secondary unit is routinely included
choice of the units of measure and currencies used to describe parenthetically, as a convenience to readers from other
projects in its articles. The short answer is ‘yes’, the primary regions. If a particular volume is mentioned multiple times,
units used in an article usually represent those used by the the parenthetical conversion is usually used when it is first
facility that is the subject of the article, or the commonly mentioned, and not on subsequent uses of the same value.
used units in the region in which the facility is located. Converting millions of gallons to acre-feet can become
The most universally understood unit used to measure water routine, but the introduction of a currency term in the unit—
volume is the cubic meter (m3). Conveniently, a cubic meter e.g. dollars per acre-foot ($/AF)—can set anyone back to
of water weighs one metric tonne (1,000 kgs, or 2,200 lbs), square one.
thermal desal plants historically measured water production When reporting the cost of water, $/m3 is usually used and $/
in tonnes/day or tonnes/hour; however, it is rarely used when kgal ($/1000 gallons) is used parenthetically for US readers.
discussing membrane plants. If a project is bid in a non-US currency, that price is also
Although Australasian countries also use cubic meters, the usually included. Depending on how a project is bid usually
production of large projects is usually reported in megaliters determines the units used to report the cost of water. For
per day (MLD), where 1 ML equals one million liters, or example, if a project is bid in Saudi Arabian riyals (SAR)
one thousand cubic meters. Despite the fact that the MLD per cubic meter, it will be usually be reported in SAR/m3, and
acronym is shared with minimum liquid discharge, a 50 parenthetically referred to US$/m3and US$/kgal.
MLD plant is rarely confused with 50 MLD plants. To Currency conversions are another complicating factor,
eliminate any chance of confusion WDR refers to minimum especially when reviewing project data that is a few years
liquid discharge plants as near-ZLD projects. old, and the value of one of the currencies has changed
Americans measure water volume using the US gallon and significantly. Although the Saudi riyal and UAE dirham
plant capacities are described in terms of million gallons per are pegged to the dollar, Australia, Canada, and many other
day (MGD), while industrial applications usually use gallons currencies have a fluctuating rate against the dollar, which
per minute (gpm). However, many Western US states rely on can complicate comparisons of project pricing especially
the acre-foot (ac-ft, or AF), a unit that is used in agriculture when an article that is several years.
WATER DESALINATION REPORT – 10 June 2024 Page 4 of 5

Booth 1021
ACE24 Anaheim, CA
June 10-13

www.water.toray

Nothing illustrates the local and regional aspects of the

global desal market better than the units and currencies used
to describing a project. Even if a project is described in terms
of cubic hectometers or hectoliters, you can rest assured that
WDR will include its conversion to a more familiar unit, to
help put things in perspective.
Bahrain
SWRO IWPP refinanced
After two years of commercial operation, Saudi-based
ACWA Power has refinanced $580 million of debt on
Bahrain’s Al Dur 2 independent water and power project
(IWPP). The $1.1 billion project consists of a 227,100 m3/d
(60 MGD) SWRO and a co-located 1,500 MW combined
cycle gas turbine power plant. The IWPP originally reached
financial closure in 2019, and began operation in June 2022.
Haya Power & Desalination Company, the special purpose
company that owns the plant, consists of ACWA Power How high can you go? The pressure vessels on the recently refinanced
(60%), Mitsui (30%) and Almoayyed Contracting Group 227,100 m3/d (60 MGD) Al Dur 2 IWPP plant in Bahrain are stacked 21
(10%). A Veolia-Sidem/SepcoIII consortium was the project rows high, which is the highest that WDR has ever seen them stacked.
EPC, and ACWA Power’s Nomac is the plant operator.
Bahrain’s Electricity and Water Authority is the offtaker supplied the RO membranes, Energy Recovery supplied the
under a 20-year power and water purchase agreement. ERDs, ROPV supplied the RO pressure vessels, Torishima
The desal plant pretreatment system includes Veolia’s dual supplied the high-pressure pumps, and Piedmont Pacific
media pressure filters with integrated cartridge filters. Toray furnished the mechanical couplings.
WATER DESALINATION REPORT – 10 June 2024 Page 5 of 5

Events
Summer conferences
Singapore – The 10th Singapore International Water Week proposals are being evaluated, and the successful bidder
(SIWW) will be held on 18-21 June at the Sands Expo & will contract to provide water on a take-or-pay basis, with
Convention Center at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. volumes increasing from an initial 2 MGD (7,570 m3/d)
For more information, visit https://www.siww.com.sg/ minimum, to a maximum of 5 MGD (18,925 m3/d).
water-expo.
Netherlands-based NX Filtration said that it would
Bahamas – The Caribbean Desalination Association collaborate with food and beverage industry specialist
(CaribDA) will host its CaribDA 2024 Biennial Conference Bucher Denwel, a subsidiary of Bucher Unipektin AG to
& Exposition under the theme Building Resiliency and bring a new beer filtration solution to market. According to
Security into Water Treatment Systems. The event will be Bucher Denwel, the use of NX Filtration’s polymeric MF
held at the Grand Hyatt Baha Mar in Nassau, Bahamas on membranes eliminates the use of diatomaceous earth (DE)
8-11 July. For information or to register, visit http://tinyurl. filtration, and are said to increase sustainability and simplify
com/3z77sz34. operation while improving taste stability.
Canada – The International Water Association will host its
World Water Conference and Exhibition under the theme
Shaping our Water Future on 11-15 August in Toronto,
Canada. For details, visit https://tinyurl.com/25ekfwzh.

In brief
Tennessee-based Heartland Water Technologies has
announced a partnership with Empire Green Generation
to develop a facility to convert food waste into renewable
hydrogen and carbon as part of the Department of Energy’s
Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2). The
partnership between Heartland and Empire represents a
significant step forward in converting waste into sustainable
hydrogen production, employing anaerobic digestion, solids
drying in Heartland’s LTC Dry, and ionic gasification in its
HelioStorm gasifier. The food waste-to-energy project is
expected to begin operations in Q3 2025.
India’s VA Tech Wabag has received an INR 850 million
Corpus Christi delegation tours Carlsbad – As the
($10.2 million), five-year contract from Oman’s Nama
City of Corpus Christi, Texas, prepares to release RFPs
Water Services to operate the 6,000 m3/d (1.6 MGD) SWRO
for its proposed 30 MGD (113,550 m3/d) Inner Harbor
plant it furnished in 2010. The water will serve residential
seawater desalination project, a delegation from the city
customers in the Duqm and Haima regions of Al Wusta
toured the San Diego County Water Authority’s Carlsbad
Governorate.
SWRO plant last week. Pictured above, from left, are
Matt Pickle, the general manager for Central Texas’ Jeremy Crutchfield (SDCWA water resources manager),
Creedmoor Maha Water Supply Corporation (CMWSC) Drew Molly (Corpus Christi Water COO), Michael Cloud
told WDR that five bidders submitted proposals in response (US congressman), Peter Zanoni (Corpus Christi city
to an RFP for a BWRO project for its service area. The manager) and Dan Suckley, (Corpus Christi councilman).

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