Making New Water: The Design of a Temporary Ocean Water Desalilnation Demonstartion Facility

摘要

A project team consisting of two primary consultants and sixteen (16) subconsultants provided project management, initial feasibility studies, detailed design, and the obtaining of all environmental and regulatory clearances required for the West Basin Municipal Water District's Ocean Water Desalination Demonstration project. As a part of the project's scope, the series of technical memorandums were developed: Water Assessment; Process Requirements; Operation & Maintenance Requirements; Permitting Requirements; Physical Siting Requirements; Cost Estimating; and Continued Research & Development. In addition, the following studies were developed: the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) compliance document and an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the proposed demonstration project; a comprehensive Red Tide research and monitoring program and research program on the influences of storm water to the influent water quality. These research programs were setup to evaluate the dynamics of marine phytoplankton blooms and biotoxins in the Pacific Ocean near the pilot site to support the client's State of California Prop 50 application. As a part of the project, the project team prepared extensive environmental documents including acoustical assessment to evaluate potential short-term and long-term acoustical impacts associated with the project; air-quality assessment to identify potential air pollutants and develop a plan for air pollutants mitigation; water quality assessment to estimate the washwater quality for different unit processes and their ability to meet Ocean Plan. In addition, the project team developed an alternative intake analysis to provide recommendations for viable alternative intake methods (open ocean and subsurface) that would provide a reduction in entrainment and impingement. Moreover, the project team evaluated use, feasibility and cost effectiveness of the energy recovery devices and building-integrated photovoltaic thin-film system to mitigate energy consumption.