Water, Water Everywhere . . .
89
fresh water can still be piped over considerabledistances at a cost
far less than that involved in the conversion of sea—water, par—
ticularly wherelarge volumes are required. As a result, large—scale
desalting has been restricted to special areas whereother factors
have counterbalanced its comparatively high costs.
For example, when oil companies began to exploit new elds in
Kuwait they found et situation where the main source of drinking
water was the Shatt—el—Arab river at Basra, some sixty miles away.
These supplies, brought each day by boat, were inadeqüate for their
needs, and in 1950 the Kuwait Oil Company installed its rst
desalination plant—the savings were obvious because the fuel was
very cheap. Within a year the government was buying water for
domestic supply from the company. Shortly afterwards it com—
mi‘ssioned the rst of what was to be a whole series of distillation
plants. In a more temperate clime, the island of Guernsey invested
in a desalting plant to protect itsimportant tomato crops—aand-{its
considerable tourist trade—from shortages of water. Malta, another.
island held to ransom by.an acute water problem, constructed its
rst desalting plant with an output of over one m.g.d.
and
further installations are expected there. And 'so the story continues;
Curaçao, Cyprus, Aruba, Nassau in the Bahamas, ;Kingley
(Bermuda) and Key West (Florida),all have desalination pla‘nts. —It
is not‘pôssible to name every installation but the total production of
fresh water throughout the world ismushrooming up from tens to
hundreds of millions of gallons per day. Nevertheless, desalination
"
is still an expensive business and that nal economicbarrier which
Will make it competitive with conventional supplies has still,to be
crossed in most parts of the world.
’
,
…
Two main routes to cheaper desalination“ exist. One,is to 2è—kÇÇP
capital costs to a minimum and the other.is to
overall use of energy supplied to the
,
f‘
money—saverS tend to oppose rather than
'
more efcient processeSinv01ve further research
development
and more sophisticated design and structures, and all this
.
to “higher cOsts:
the research investmentside Dr H. Kr0nberger
(United… Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority) ;andrBrofessor Silver
have pointedlout that a cost reduction of thebrderof 25 percent
_
might rely©h…a Êtechnological advance which would probably costa
feW;million
ofresearch anddevelopmentto achieve.
A chaiigeininterest"ratefr0m 5 per cent to 4,per cent could achieve
89
fresh water can still be piped over considerabledistances at a cost
far less than that involved in the conversion of sea—water, par—
ticularly wherelarge volumes are required. As a result, large—scale
desalting has been restricted to special areas whereother factors
have counterbalanced its comparatively high costs.
For example, when oil companies began to exploit new elds in
Kuwait they found et situation where the main source of drinking
water was the Shatt—el—Arab river at Basra, some sixty miles away.
These supplies, brought each day by boat, were inadeqüate for their
needs, and in 1950 the Kuwait Oil Company installed its rst
desalination plant—the savings were obvious because the fuel was
very cheap. Within a year the government was buying water for
domestic supply from the company. Shortly afterwards it com—
mi‘ssioned the rst of what was to be a whole series of distillation
plants. In a more temperate clime, the island of Guernsey invested
in a desalting plant to protect itsimportant tomato crops—aand-{its
considerable tourist trade—from shortages of water. Malta, another.
island held to ransom by.an acute water problem, constructed its
rst desalting plant with an output of over one m.g.d.
and
further installations are expected there. And 'so the story continues;
Curaçao, Cyprus, Aruba, Nassau in the Bahamas, ;Kingley
(Bermuda) and Key West (Florida),all have desalination pla‘nts. —It
is not‘pôssible to name every installation but the total production of
fresh water throughout the world ismushrooming up from tens to
hundreds of millions of gallons per day. Nevertheless, desalination
"
is still an expensive business and that nal economicbarrier which
Will make it competitive with conventional supplies has still,to be
crossed in most parts of the world.
’
,
…
Two main routes to cheaper desalination“ exist. One,is to 2è—kÇÇP
capital costs to a minimum and the other.is to
overall use of energy supplied to the
,
f‘
money—saverS tend to oppose rather than
'
more efcient processeSinv01ve further research
development
and more sophisticated design and structures, and all this
.
to “higher cOsts:
the research investmentside Dr H. Kr0nberger
(United… Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority) ;andrBrofessor Silver
have pointedlout that a cost reduction of thebrderof 25 percent
_
might rely©h…a Êtechnological advance which would probably costa
feW;million
ofresearch anddevelopmentto achieve.
A chaiigeininterest"ratefr0m 5 per cent to 4,per cent could achieve