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Desalination is the process of removing salts from sea water and converting it into drinking water. While the Southern Nevada Water Authority believes ocean desalination will someday be a viable element of its diverse water resource portfolio, there are several challenges that inhibit implementation of a large-scale project for the benefit of Southern Nevada in the near term.
If sited in California, a desalination facility large enough to provide a significant amount of water to Nevada would face significant environmental obstacles related to project footprint, power generation and brine disposal. Desalination is an energy-intensive technology, and California’s existing electric generation facilities are fully utilized. If sited in Mexico, it would likely require a new minute to the existing treaty between that country and the United States related to Colorado River delivery obligations.
Brine disposal
Another important issue is brine disposal. While one product of desalination is fresh water, the other is a highly concentrated salt water solution. Disposal of this brine poses a serious challenge; releasing it to the ocean may result in localized adverse water quality impacts with implications for aquatic species, while land-based disposal presents challenges related to land use and potential groundwater infiltration.
Conveyance
Perhaps more importantly, any water to be gleaned from desalination will be conveyed to Nevada via an exchange, not a pipeline. For instance, an agreement would likely entail Nevada funding a desalination plant in exchange for a portion of California or Mexico’s Colorado River allocation. This does not reduce Nevada’s reliance upon the river. Moreover, this will be a challenge given the projected water resource needs of California and Mexico in the coming decades.
This is not to say the SNWA does not consider desalinated water to be a viable resource. To the contrary, the SNWA is very interested in participating in a partnership that would allow it to access water from the Yuma Desalting Facility. The SNWA also continues to explore the feasibility of ocean desalination with other municipal Colorado River users. However, neither of these potential opportunities should be considered a “silver bullet solution” or a viable alternative to the responsible development of water supplies hydrologically separate and apart from the Colorado River. |
