WSP08191 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

~ '1 en ~ Solar-Powered Desalting Advancing In a recent report prepared for the Department of Interior, Office of Water Research and Technology, the prospects of using solar-powered Electrodialysis for desalting remote brackish water sources were eXamined. The major thrust of the study combines the established technologies of water desalting by electrodialysis (ED) and power generation by photocvoltaic (PV) collectors to design a plant that can literally follow the sun and directly utilize available solar energy with minimum losses and storage requirements. The ED-PV watertreatmenVsupply system would benefit remote, small communities (fewer than 500 people) in the Southwest which have water in short supply or water of poor quality. The study estimated the potential for water desalting in the five state area and found 15,CXX> to 2O,CXX> public water systems, each serving fewer than 500 people. Many communities were using brackish water or relying on bottled/trucked water sources. Some community water systems will have to install water treatment facilities to meet Safe Drinking Water Act requirements. Still other communities, particularly in New Mexico, do not have access to three-phase electrical power required for conventional water treatmenVdesalting plants. In the Southwest, typical solar energy radiation ranges over a yearly average of 0.2 to 0.3 Kilowatts per square meter. The collected solar radiation can be converted directly into DC electrical power for ED plant use. Although the energy conversion efficiency of available PV collectors is only 1 avo, the ED plant can produce about 5O,CXX> gallons of fresh water per year per square meter of collector from brackish water sources. In specific study cases, water costs for ED- PV system were about $7.00 per thousand gallons ($1.85 per cubic meter) of fresh water; the costs included all capital, operation and maintenance, and well pumping costs for a brackish ground water source. While the costs do not yet look attractive to the typical large city dweller (with residentiaVmunicipal water costs of about $1.00 per thousand gallons), they do offer hope for remote communities. In certain applications where grid power is unavailable or where fuel costs exceed $1.50 per gallon, the solar-powered desalting plant is expected to provide lower cost water today. Blllhymer Retires Paull. Billhymer retired October 1, 1983, from the Upper Colorado River Commission after serving on the Commission for over 24 years. He served as Executive Director and Secretary since March 1980. The Upper Colorado River Commission, at a special meeting in Denver, Colorado, on November 30, 1983, expressed its gratitude and appreciation for Mr, Billhymer's untiring service and wise counsel in solving the many legal, technical, and political problems which had confronted the Upper Colorado River Commission during his tenure as General Counsel and Executive Director. Paul L. Billhymer utilized his experience as an attomey in private practice and in the State of New Mexico Attomey General's Office to advise the Upper Colorado River Commission both in general legal matters and in areas of particular concem to the Commission and the Upper Basin States. The Upper Colorado River Commission transmitted a copy of the Resolution of Upper Colorado River Commission honoring Paul L. Billhymer to Mr. and Mrs. Billhymer. At the meeting on November 30,1983, Gerald Zimmerman, the current Chief Engineer of the Commission, was selected as the new Executive Director. Salinity Control In the Corps Major General H.G. Robinson, Division Engineer of the Southwestern Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Dallas, Texas, spoke to the participants at the International Symposium on State-of-the-Art Salinity Control in July as his last official conference presentation before retirement. Major Robinson related that Secretary of the Army Gianelli supports the salinity control effort in the Corps of Engineers. The salt pollution to the Red River in Texas was 27,000 tons per day. The loading to the Ar!<:ansas River from natural sources was .; , iJ ~ 14,CXX> tons per day. It was determined the Ar!<:ansas River project was not economical from a benefiVcost standpoint. The Red River chloride controVwater supply project could proceed; however the issue of cost-sharing had not been resolved. USDA Personnel The Soil Conservation Service welcomes Mr. Frank Riggle as he joins the field office staff at Grand Junction, Colorado. Frank will direct the SCS's Onfarm Monitoring and Evaluation Program that is getting underway in the Grand Valley. His name may be familiar to some because Frank comes from the Uinta Basin Salinity Control Program in Utah, where he spent two years assisting the SCS Onfarm Implementation Program there. Frank's experience in the Uinta Basin plus his Master of Agriculture Degree, including a broad background in Forestry Resources, Soil Science and Fertility, Agronomy, and Agricultural Economics, will be a great asset to the SCS's Grand Valley Salinity Control Program. Other honors that have to come to Frank include receiving the SCS's Superior Service Award in 1981 for his wor!<: on the Price, Utah, Soil Survey and helping the Roosevelt, Utah, Field Office receive a Unit Award for wor1< done on the salinity control program there. EPA Salinity Study EPA is examining a number of potential innovative approaches to water quality management; and salinity control in the Colorado River Basin has been selected as a case study. The study will include an evaluation of the technical and managerial approaches for control of salinity from point and nonpoint sources. The concepts of banking, offsets, poinVnonpoint trading, and trading between nonpoint sources will be evaluated; and subsidy and other economic incentives to increase the use of best management practices will also be examined.