- Title: SPAIN: Desalination plant solves Barcelona's water shortage, say operators
- Date: 25th November 2009
- Summary: EL PRAT DE LLOBREGAT, BARCELONA, SPAIN (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ATLL DESALINATION PLANT'S OSMOSIS HALL GENERAL MANAGER OF THE PLANT, JOAN COMPTE, WALKING WITH A COLLEAGUE. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) JOAN COMPTE, AIGUES TER-LLOBREGAT (ATLL) DESALINATION PLANT SAYING: "Well, people have to remember that a decade ago, energy consumption from a desalinisation plant like that was 18KW hour for each cubic metre produced. With the latest technologies to conserve energy, our plant is now consuming something under 3KW/h for each cubic metre produced. So, we improved quite a lot the ratio from previous years." VARIOUS OF THE REVERSE OSMOSIS RACKS VARIOUS OF THE ENERGY RECOVERY SYSTEM
- Embargoed: 10th December 2009 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Spain
- Country: Spain
- Topics: Science / Technology
- Reuters ID: LVA2IVU4CIJ4UBX0R6J1B0RRH4FN
- Story Text: Spain's north east region has solved a recurring water shortage with a state-of-the-art desalination plant which can produce enough drinking water for nearly a quarter of the population of Barcelona.
As recently as last year the region of Catalonia imported drinking water by ship from France and elsewhere in Spain when reserves could not cope with demand from Barcelona's 5.5 million inhabitants.
Now, the plant, on the rivers Ter and Llobregat, can provide up to 60 cubic hectometres of fresh water a year, roughly a quarter of the capacity of the area's reservoirs.
The primary method of removing the salt from seawater is reverse osmosis, which pushes water under high pressure through fine membranes that separate out the minerals, including salt. Critics of the process say it uses too much energy, a claim rejected by Aigues Ter Llobregat, the operators of the plant, who say they have fitted the latest energy recovery system.
"A decade ago, energy consumption from a desalinisation plant like this was of 18KW/h an hour for each cubic metre produced. With the latest technologies to conserve energy, our plant is now consuming something under 3KW/h for each cubic metre produced," said Joan Compte, general Manager of the plant.
The Energy Recovery system transfers pressure from the waste stream of brine to the incoming seawater. The system's manufacturers say the cost of desalinated seawater is becoming more competitive for many urban users because of fast-rising rates for other water sources.
Most of the world's high-capacity desalination projects are in the Middle East, though a handful of relatively small desalination plants operate in the U.S. and Australia.
Advocates of desalination tout its potential for limiting the strain on scarce water supplies and easing the environmental consequences of diverting freshwater from rivers and streams and pumping it long distances to urban centres.
"This is a good solution but we don't think this is the only solution. We think that the solution for this problem frequently involves a series of measures -- including desalinisation but also the re-utlisation of residual water, the elimination of the waste hat happens in the networks, the exploitation of underground water. In summary, all those combined measures can bring a solution for every country, for every region," Compte said.
Many promising technologies, particularly desalination membranes developed by nanotechnology, aim to further reduce the cost of producing drinking water from sea water by reducing the amount of energy used in the process. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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