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The San Diego County Water Authority and the City of San Diego have been promotingthe development of alternative water sources to reduce San Diego County's reliance onlimited imported water supplies. Desalination of various water sources includingreclaimed water and brackish groundwater are important in this regard. As the costcompetitiveness of membrane desalting continues to improve due to technologyadvancement, water desalination is becoming the preferred alternative in many aridregions. Cost data on membrane desalination using reverse osmosis (RO) membranes isscattered over a wide range of references and simple tools to evaluate present costs areunavailable.This paper presents the methodologies used in the development of this unique costmodel that is based on existing and/or planned membrane desalination plants. Itfocuses more on the approach used for development of the model rather than a descriptionof the spreadsheet tool. Data was collected from existing and planned treatmentplants and normalized to prepare curves for capital and operating costs. The watersources have been considered for this project include: reclaimed water and brackishgroundwater. The use of existing costs provides a connection to reality with regard tocosts as competitive bidding has caused the market prices to be disconnected fromtheoretical prices in recent years. Models for similar applications use standard curves forthe other treatment processes, established 30 years before but for membrane plants. Themodels used for membrane plant cost estimation are largely driven by user input andguestimates. This model incorporates special membrane cost curves for low pressure andhigh pressure membranes to normalize membrane costs from different sources to providespecific costs based on market data and not primarily driven by user input. In addition,the information gathered provides useful information with regard to the trend in historicalmarket costs and development in productivity for membranes. This project wasconducted as a part of a research program initiated by Desalination Research andInnovation Partnership, which consists of water purveyors in the Southern Californiaregion. Includes tables, figures, appendices.

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Edition: Vol. - No. Published: 03/05/2003 Number of Pages: 12File Size: 1 file , 250 KB