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Friday, November 06, 2009
Desalination Plant Possible in 3 Years
By Rosalie Rayburn
Journal Staff Writer
Sandoval County's quest to transform a brackish aquifer in the Rio Puerco Basin into a source of drinking water to sustain future economic development is one of the most challenging of its kind in the country.
That's the opinion of Paul Gorder, an engineer with Camp Dresser & McKee (CDM), a company that engineered a desalination plant in El Paso.
Sandoval County officials are nevertheless optimistic that, with funding, they could have a plant capable of producing 5 million gallons of potable water daily operational in three years.
That would open opportunities for new industrial and commercial development to an area west of Rio Rancho, which would help reduce cross-river traffic congestion, County Manager Juan Vigil said.
The aquifer lies more than 3,500 feet below ground in the Rio Puerco Basin, about eight miles west of the city of Rio Rancho. A county financed drilling project discovered the aquifer in 2007. Subsequent testing showed there was enough water to supply a city of 300,000 people for 100 years.
The downside is the water has higher levels of salts, minerals and hazardous components such as arsenic that will require more complex treatment and waste disposal than at El Paso and other inland desalination plants in the U.S., Gorder said.
CDM and Universal Asset Management, a company that specializes in water treatment projects, have been testing a multistage treatment process to determine the most economic method to remove and dispose of the unwanted solids. They expect to report their findings to Sandoval County officials in two weeks.
County development director Michael Springfield says information in the report will enable the county to seek federal grant funding. He estimates the plant would cost about $47 million.
Treatment would involve a combination of proven technologies, including reverse osmosis. The plant may use renewable biomass energy as an energy source. The county hopes to find commercial or agricultural uses for waste by-products such as lime and sodium chloride (salt), said Guy Bralley, Sandoval County's water resources administrator.
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