December 15, 2009
The San Patricio Municipal Water District has been selected to participate in a desalination pilot program involving the Texas Water Development Board, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the State of Singapore.
Work on the study will take place both at the District's Ingleside water treatment complex and in Brownsville where a microfiltration plant has been constructed to provide water in emergencies.
Don Roach, SPMWD assistant general manager, will serve as an advisor in the program. The research effort will incorporate findings generated in an earlier Bureau of Reclamation study of seawater desalination conducted through the District's Plant C.
The key question to be addressed in the research is whether a process can be devised to adapt a desalting facility to highly variable sources of water that would combine the economy of a brackish water plant with the reliability of a seawater desalination plant.
Singapore is exploring development of a single system that is capable of treating freshwater, stormwater, brackish water or seawater.
.
