Table 2 

 CONTEMPLATED NEW PLANT CON- 

 STRUCTION FOR DESALTING 

 (Greater than 10 mgd) 



Water has recently revised this figure upward to 

 the range of 35 to 37 cents per 1000 gallons.' ' 



Source: Water Desalination Report, Vol. IV, No. 1, Jan. 4, 

 1968, p. 3. 



Alternative arrangements for this project are being in- 

 vestigated by the participants. 



desalted water ranged upward from $4.00 per 

 1000 gallons.' ° By 1967, owing to improved 

 technology, costs were in the range of about $1 

 per thousand gallons for plants of 1 mgd capacity. 

 It is anticipated that during the period 1968-1972 

 desalting costs can be reduced to 50 cents per 

 1000 gallons for the one to 10 mgd plant size. In 

 1965, it was claimed that large plants of 50 to 150 

 mgd capacity such as that planned for Bolsa Island 

 off Huntington Beach in southern California could 

 produce desalted water for 20 to 30 cents per 

 1000 gallons within five years. However, owing to 

 higher plant construction costs the Office of Saline 



Figure 2. Projection of sea water desalting 

 costs for a range of plant sizes. Based on: 

 distillation technology, 6 per cent fixed charge 

 rate, U.S. construction and operation, dual 

 purpose plants, most probable energy costs, 

 and 1966-1967 price index. Source: Office of 

 Saline Water, Department of the Interior. 



The feasibility of constructing a desalting plant 

 at any particular site is dependent in large part on 

 the cost of alternate sources of water such as that 

 diverted or transferred from areas of water surplus. 

 Few detailed studies of relative costs in real 

 situations are available. 



However, a study of costs, completed in No- 

 vember 1966 by the Southwest Research Institute 

 for OSW, provided useful data for comparisons. 

 Thirty-seven cities in Texas with 1,000 or more 

 population were identified by a careful screening 

 process to have present or potential municipal 

 water supply problems; a detailed analysis of 

 alternative water prospects was considered neces- 

 sary. The 37 cities are widely scattered over the 

 State but about half are within 100 miles of the 

 Gulf of Mexico in the southern part of the State. 

 On the basis of a unit cost comparison between 

 desalting and the cost of providing water supplies 

 from the least expensive conventional source 

 eleven cities were identified as representative of 

 those which could benefit from a desalting plant. 



The 1967 National assessment of water and related 

 land resources. 



Conversation witli J. A. Hunter, Office of Saline 

 Water, Department of the Interior, March 1968. 



VII-228 



