Whatever happened to seawater desalting in the US? (Can the trend be changed?)

摘要

Installed seawater desalting capacity in the 50 states of the United States is currently 13 mgd. Only 3 mgd is produced on a regular basis, with the rest of the installed capacity on standby. This is a minuscule percentage of ambitious projections that were made 25 years ago. It is also well below the projections being made just 3 years ago. The 1992 IDA Worldwide Desalting Plants inventory lists eight seawater desalting plant proposed projects within the continental limits of the US with a total capacity of 67 mgd. Not one of these proposed plants is currently under active consideration as of this writing. Another plant not included on the list was under active consideration until early 1994, after which was the project was shelved. What has happened? Reading yesterday's newspaper is not for the action oriented, but if the seawater desalination industry is to move to a higher platform with improved growth projects, it will be helpful to review the dynamics that influenced the marketplace during this earlier period.