The Georgia Operator Features Freese and Nichols’ Work on Desalination Studies
From rapidly growing urban areas to agricultural lands to dry stretches of southern and western states, communities across the United States increasingly are pursuing the goal of safeguarding their water supplies — through conservation, reuse and investment in innovative technologies,” Trooper Smith, at right, and Jason Cocklin, below, write in the summer issue of The Georgia Operator, the magazine of the Georgia Association of Water Professionals.
“Seawater desalination — using a resource readily available to coastal states — provides a pathway to a drought-proof, reliable water supply where traditional surface water and groundwater supplies cannot keep up wtih projected demand growth and risks of drought, subsidence and saltwater intrusion. Major projects in the U.S. and around the world are demonstrating the environmental feasibility and affordability of using previously untapped saline resources.”
The article describes two projects through which Freese and Nichols partnered with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to help develop more innovative, cost-effective and technologically efficient ways of desalinating water.
One was a study of Variable Salinity Desalination for the City of Corpus Christi. The second was an evaluation of energy-efficient alternatives for brackish groundwater desalination at plants owned by the North Alamo Water Supply Corporation. The NAWSC study found that retrofitting with nanofiltration membranes could significantly reduce energy consumption.
Trooper is our Georgia/Florida Division Manager, based in Atlanta, and Jason is a Treatment, Transmission & Utilities in Corpus Christi.
Read the full article on page 59: Alternative Water Supplies: Drought-proofing Water Supplies Through Desalination