Of the 3% of the water that is fresh, more than three-quarters is locked either in glaciers or polar ice. Another large portion of the remainder is trapped in underground aquifers, some of them thousands of feet below the surface. Of all the Earth’s freshwater, only 0.3% in rivers and lakes is easily accessible and available for human use.
The global demand on this limited resource has been increasing at an ominous rate—doubling every 20 years. It is projected that by 2025 water demand will exceed supply by 56%, due to ongoing regional droughts, population shifts to coastal cities and increased use of water for agriculture and industry.
Clearly, there is a critical need to better manage this increasingly valuable resource while creating new water sources.
Sustainable technologies for a world in need of clean water.
At Watec, we realize that meeting our planet’s (and our region’s) need for freshwater resources involves a two-step approach. First, we must take measures to protect our groundwater and fresh surface water resources from becoming polluted, depleted from over use or diverted from their other important environmental uses by misguided water management.
Next, we need to “make” new water from the ocean’s abundant supply using saltwater desalination and wisely reusing what we have to extend water’s utility throughout the water cycle.
It’s a matter of rethinking, recycling and reusing what the Earth offers us in the form of water resources.
Watec’s reverse osmosis systems are proven to be environmentally benign, requiring only the responsible management of brine concentrate discharge. Through extensive research and global studies, we know that the brine discharge is rapidly mixed by the strong ocean currents characteristic to our archipelago. Within a few feet from the outfall, there is no measurable difference in salt content. There is no over-salinated dead zone. In fact, the outfall itself is constantly being overgrown with sea life.
Energy efficiency has also drastically improved in the RO desalination industry. Currently, our plants produce 600 gallons of water for $1 of electricity. That’s 6 gallons for a penny using the current San Juan County electrical rate of 8 cents per kilowatt. This is a minimal energy requirement given that an average US household uses 1000 KW/month. At Watec, we continue to explore the field of desalination energy recapture to reduce the energy needed even further.
This is not to say that desalination has zero impact. Everything we do has an impact on our planet. That is the nature of being alive. However, the impact of RO brine concentrate is negligible compared to the impact of overdrawing our groundwater resources or over depleting surface water resources—both of which have been proven to have a drastic negative impact on the natural environment.