San Antonio Water System might bring desalination plant to Gulf Coast region
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To view a PDF of San Antonio's proposed 50-year water management plan, go to www.victoriaadvocate.com and click on the story.
To view a PDF draft of the desalination plant's plan, go to www.victoriaadvocate.com and click on the story.
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To view a PDF of San Antonio's proposed 50-year water management plan, go to www.victoriaadvocate.com and click on the story.
To view a PDF draft of the desalination plant's plan, go to www.victoriaadvocate.com and click on the story.
LEARN MOREFor more information about this project or about SAWS, call William Peché, SAWS' manager of legislative affairs, at 210-233-3851 or visit www.saws.org.
A water desalination plant might be in the Gulf Coast's future, San Antonio Water System officials said Tuesday.
SAWS representatives presented plans for the proposed plant, which is still in its developmental stage, to about 65 people at the Victoria Economic Development Corporation's Victoria Partnership meeting.
With a growing population and an increasing industry base, water consumption will increase in the future, said Joseph Rippole, SAWS' project engineer for water resources. In fact, a 50-year water management plan indicates that, from 2035 to 2060, San Antonio will need more than 75,000 additional acre feet of water annually, he said.
One acre-foot of water is enough to cover an acre in a foot of water, or enough water to provide for a family of five for a year.
"This will provide for that gap," Rippole said.
Nothing - including the plant's location and potential price range - is set in stone, but the organization is working to get word out early, said William Peché, SAWS manager of legislative affairs.
"We have no project, we have no blueprint, we have no pipeline," he told those present. "We have nothing."
Representatives have already met with elected officials in all 34 counties that span the area, he said, and is now reaching out to various groundwater agencies.
SAWS plans to hire a consulting firm in June to study the coast, brackish areas and to determine the best way to go about the project, Peché said.
That consultant will then help the organization identify five potential locations that would be best for bringing water in, Rippole said, adding that the project won't likely take place until 10, 15 or even 20 years down the road.
Until then, SAWS will continue getting word out about the proposed plan, making connections and looking into which areas best suit the project's needs, he said. Not every location on the Gulf Coast will be feasible, he said.
The organization might be looking far into the future, but representatives said that's better than waiting until the last minute.
A state in Australia recently sat in the grips of a 10- 15-year drought, Rippole said, and had only enough water to last it a year. It developed a desalination project in the nick of time.
"I don't think Texas is in that state yet," he said. "But we don't want to get there. We want to come up with a viable source of water."
Comments
Desalination has been sold as a miracle solution to solve the water problems facing municipal water districts in Texas, Florida, California and New York. Unfortunately, desalination has been a disaster for consumers and the environment.
Desalinating water is hugely energy intensive, meaning that it is astronomically expensive for the rate payer. On top of the high prices for desalinated water, the process of separating salt from sea water can cause dangerous chemicals such as Boron to leak into our drinking water and oceans. Finally, a byproduct of the entire process is a toxic brine which must be released into the marine environment.
To learn more about the pitfalls of desalination, visit Food & Water Watch at http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/wate...
It is unfortunate that instead of considering cost effective, environmentally responsible conservation measures to solve our water problems, we are considering shackling ourselves to expensive and harmful desalination technology.
November 4, 2009 at 1:10 p.m.Hyatt Regency Grand Cayman Islands is on desalination system. Here's the link http://www.reopure.com/awsw.html
November 4, 2009 at 7:33 a.m.The link doesn't work. Google "Cuero Reservoir" to get information on the project that has been proposed since the 1960's and as recently as 2001? It looks like it's the rich land owners who shut this project down at the expense of the tax payers and middle class.
November 4, 2009 at 3:14 a.m.What happened to the old fashioned, common since way of dealing with the region's water problem? Dam up the Guadalupe north of Cuero as proposed here by the Texas Water Developement Board:
http://www.twdb.state.tx.us/rwp/L/Sub...
Water would still pass through. The ecosystem would be fine. It would hold back the flood water and give much needed flood control to everyone below the dam.
(1) It's more economical. This country is spending more money than we have. We're literally going broke. The desalination plant is another excellent example of how stupid we can be with our money to appease the environmentalists and the rich. How broke does this country have to get before we wake up?
(2) How environmentally friendly is dumping water back into the ecosystem with more than twice the salinity?
(3) We would have to use a lot of energy to process and pipeline the water back up to San Antonio. What happened to going to renewable energy? Daming up a river is was one of the first renewble energy means man came up with.
(4) Investing in our future now and building the dam would mean much needed jobs for the region.
People, get over it. Build the dam to make the CUERO RESERVOIR!
November 4, 2009 at 3 a.m.