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Guest Column Desalination wave of our future for water needsBy GILLIAM CLARKE © St. Petersburg Times, published May 25, 1998 As the world's population burgeons because of advances in medicine and nutrition, people live longer, procreate more and, while we create the need for more water, we continue to waste it. We're making a serious mistake. Citizens of Pasco County know firsthand the devastation caused by a lack of water. The excessive rains of El Nino brought a brief respite. For the first time in years, there was water in lakes and on dead wetlands. But El Nino does not come every year. At least 50-million gallons a day of new water is needed immediately, or the overpumping of Pasco County will continue unabated. And the Tampa Bay region will need several times that amount of water if it is to sustain growth in population and tourism. Where is this water to come from? The West Coast Regional Water Supply Authority, soon to become Tampa Bay Water, a regional utility, has listed several options for new water. These include a new well field at Cone Ranch, reopening the well field under downtown Brandon, taking extra water from the Hillsborough and Alafia Rivers when they reach flood stage, reuse of water from the Howard F. Curran plant, storing excess water in a phosphate pit and, if necessary, a small desalination plant. Except for desal, all these options require long lead time before any production of water can take place. Brandon well field would be the fastest to bring on line since the wells are already there, but the amount of water available there is a drop in the bucket. What do all these sources except desal have in common? They depend on rainfall. If we have a prolonged period of lower rainfall, what happens then? The pumping will increase and spread the destruction over more of the state we call home. Growth in one region cannot depend on water from another area of the state. It has been argued that there's plenty of water in the springs of Florida, but when we lower the aquifer levels by overpumping, springs falter and die. Those springs also furnish fresh water to our estuarine systems that are the nurseries for both sport and commercial fishing. It's said that water can be piped from the north of the state. Such a pipe dream would cost hundreds of billions of tax dollars, deprive the north of the ability to develop and destroy even more of our state. The growth of coastal areas cannot be allowed to destroy inland agriculture and industry in order to get underpriced groundwater. Ocean and gulf desalination are the obvious answers to state and regional problems. They are environmentally friendly, don't destroy the resource and are not dependent on rainfall. But so many myths have been created about desal by the naysayers that few people are now certain of the facts. Here's what we know. The Environmental Protection Agency, Florida's Department of Environmental Protection, the Southwest Florida Water Management District and Progress Energy did a series of studies on the most sensitive marine organisms and found that desalination is feasible and easy on the environment. Reverse osmosis simply removes the salt from water. At the Pasco Anclote site, the brine would be mixed with the cooling water used by the electric plant. Water put back into the estuary would be within the same salinity range found in the estuary. There wouldn't be any more foam, no change in temperature and no toxicity, so desal will be kind to anglers, too. Why Anclote in Pasco? Why not Pinellas or Tampa Bay? Because we need that water now. Because of the studies already done at the Anclote site, we can have a desal plant running within three years. Desalination plants in upper Tampa Bay, which is environmentally sensitive, might take years to permit, if they were permitted at all. If plants are permitted in lower Tampa Bay, we can look at years for studies to be completed. What will that water taste like? The desal will be mixed with groundwater. So the water will taste like spring water, and there will be no need to buy from the supermarket. There are many benefits from higher quality water. Appliances and water pipes will work better; there will be less gugde and lime buildup. Soap and detergent bills will go down because the water will be softer. Water bills will go up, but only a little. Right now, the cost of a gallon of water from your tap is a fraction of a cent. With desal mixed in, the price will be a little higher, but still a portion of a penny. The plant at Anclote will not produce more electricity to run desal; power will be taken from the grid in order to keep costs and air pollution down. The only additions to the existing power plant will be more pipes, some pumps and a building to house the reverse osmosis filters. There is no smell to desal, no dirt, no toxicity. In fact, once the plant is completed, we won't know it's there. But our county will benefit from attracting activities that create more jobs. There will be more tax revenues to improve essential services, roads, libraries. As home of the largest desal plant in the world, Pasco can become a center for those concerned with supplying water for the future of mankind. Water is a magnet. In the Serengeti, water draws hippos, gazelles and zebras. In our country, water draws high tech industry, new business, centers of learning, money for parks and development. Let's do ourselves a favor and support desal. It's water. Our lives depend on it.
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he next spate of wars may well be fought over potable water. Its scarcity is becoming a global concern.
