Figure 62 
CONTEMPLATED NEW PLANT CONSTRUCTION FOR DESALTING 
(Greater than 10 MGD) 
Location Size (MGD) Owner Operation 
Gulf of California 1,000.0 U.S.-Mexico _ 
Israel-Jordan 1,000.0 Israel (public-private corp.) — 
Bolsa Island 150.0 Metropolitan Water 
District of Southern 
California (Cancelled) 
Almeria . 130.0 Spain 1970 
Donbass Region 130.0 U:S:S:Re - 
Sidi Kreir 100.0 U.A.R. 1970-1972 
Athens 50.0 Pueblo Power Corp. _ 
Escombreras 26.0 Spain 1970 
Kuwait 12.0 Kuwait 1970 
Kuwait 10.8 Kuwait 1970 
Source: Water Desalination Report, Vol. \V, No. 1, Jan. 4, 1968, p. 3. 
but simply another variation that must be coped 
with. 
The membrane processes may also prove useful in 
processing waste water from industries and munici- 
palities for reuse. Some 60 billion gallons of such 
waste waters are produced daily. They contain 
from a few hundred to perhaps 2,000 parts per 
million of salts. These waters because they are 
already at centers of use, may be reclaimed at 
costs competitive with the cost of providing 
“new” water in many instances. 
In the long run, it seems likely that membrane 
processes can be developed to the point where 
they will become the most efficient means of 
desalting sea water. This possibility is certainly not 
practicable now, but the membrane research which 
is currently aimed at small-scale plants is likely to 
provide the technological base for future genera- 
tions of large-scale plants. 
d. Potential of By-Product Recovery A question 
arises as to the potential value of solids removed as 
byproducts from the concentrated brine in the 
desalting process. Dr. Jack Hunter, Director of 
OSW, has answered this point in the following 
way:?7 
37 Hearings before the Senate Subcommittee on Water 
and Power Resources of the Committee on Interior and 
Insular Affairs, 90th Congress, First Session, on S. 1101, 
March 1967, p. 22. 
VI-202 
When we concentrate ocean water, for example, 
about twice its natural level of salt concentration 
we still do not have a brine that has great value as 
a source of by-product recovery. If our technology 
continues to improve, that is, our ability to 
prevent scale formation, our ability to minimize 
corrosion, and we are able to go to higher 
concentration ratios, we will come to a point 
where by-products can be effectively recovered. 
I think it must be kept in mind, however, that if 
we depend upon by-product recovery as a means 
of making desalting plants economically valuable, 
we are chasing an ever diminishing circle, because 
with the chemicals from the brine we could 
saturate a good portion of the earth with chem- 
icals, and obviously they would become less 
valuable as supply overtakes demand. 
It does have potential, but it is not a solution. 
[I] n the west coast test center near San Diego we 
have made an arrangement with a sea water salt 
company to take our brine effluent, which is 
concentrated by a factor of two, and somewhat 
warmer than ocean temperature. In that operation 
we will determine whether there is economic 
benefit to the production of sea salts. 
We have also conducted some examination, and 
industry has on its own conducted additional 
investigation of the economics of extraction of 
by-product chemicals. 
