Avatar image for JimBell

( JimBell )

Comments made by JimBell

City Council Approves $6 Million Contract For Recycled Wastewater Project

Here's a broader view.
Achieving Water Security by Becoming Water Self-sufficient

A Jim Bell Commentary – www.jimbell.com, 619-758-9020

Many experts are projecting doom and gloom, scenarios of decreasing water supplies and increasing cost, yet the San Diego/Tijuana Region can easily become renewable water self-sufficient and even become a net water exporter.

Even if we assume the worst case scenario of zero precipitation and the complete cutoff of all imported water, the San Diego/Tijuana Region could completely replace all the freshwater it currently uses by installing PV panels over 4.3% of its roofs and parking lots. In 2015, 4.3% of our region’s roofs and parking lots will be about 9 sq. miles, or as shown in the graphic, 4.5 sq. miles on each side of the border.

The above statement is based on the following assumptions:

1. A yearly average of 5-hr. of sunlight per day,
2. 1,000 sq. feet of roof and parking lot per capita,
3. An average potable water consumption level of 180 gallons per capita per day,
4. A 2015 regional population of 6 million people,
5. That 70 gallons of freshwater can be extracted from seawater per kWh of electricity consumed through reverse osmosis (RO)
6. PV (photovoltaic) panels 15% efficient at converting sunlight into electricity, (Commercially available panels are already pushing efficiencies of 20% or better.

The electricity produced by this system would be used to power large scale reverse osmosis (RO) pumps to convert seawater into freshwater. The pumps push seawater through filters that let freshwater through while excluding salt, other minerals and contaminants in general.

The issue of sucking marine life into reverse osmosis system can be solved if seawater to be processed into freshwater is extracted from wells close to the ocean above high tide instead of direct ocean extraction. Since seawater coming into such wells would be sand filtered, marine organisms will be eliminated from the process.

Similarly, since “waste water” from the RO process will be twice as salty as seawater, it will have to be diluted by mixing it with seawater, also extracted from the near ocean wells, until the water to be returned to the ocean is no more than 20% saltier than seawater. Once diluted, its release into the ocean would be defused as an additional precaution against negative ecological consequences. Other sand filtering technologies have also been proposed.

Mining RO waste water for salt and other minerals opens up other local business and employment opportunities for the region and could potentially eliminate the need to return RO wastewater to the ocean at all.

The size of the “worst case scenario” RO system discussed above could be cut in half, if recycled sewage water was filtered and disinfected, then used for irrigation.

July 27, 2010 at 10:38 p.m. ( | suggest removal )