May/June 2022 - 23

By using innovative new
zero brine, renewably
powered desalination
technologies, it's now
finally becoming possible
to cost-effectively clean all
of these " impaired " water
sources so they can be
safely used for agriculture.
as the produced water has first been
cleaned properly of the organics and
salts that are in it.
By using innovative new zero brine,
renewably powered desalination
technologies, it's now finally
becoming possible to cost-effectively
clean all of these " impaired " water
sources so they can be safely used for
agriculture. There are a lot of existing
stereotypes about desalination. Many
people think desalination technology
only involves ocean water, but it can
be used on any salty or contaminated
water source. Ocean desalination has
a well-deserved reputation for being
highly expensive ($2,400 per AF and
higher), as it requires very expensive
infrastructure and consumes a lot of
power. It also generates lots of highly
salty brine, which then gets dumped
back into the ocean with problematic
environmental effects. In fact, it's
this traditional generation of brine
by desalination technologies (the
salts in half or more of the water are
pushed through membranes into the
remaining volume of water, known as
the " brine " ) that has blocked almost all
inland desalination, because getting
rid of the generated brine by trucking
it to an ocean outfall for disposal, or
to an inland deep well injection site,
can be extraordinarily expensive. It
also wastes the water in the brine.
The great news is that with the
latest technologies, zero brine is
possible when desalinating any of the
above impaired water sources. Brine
can be taken from an older reverse
osmosis system and recover all the
water in it. These new technologies
are characterized as being able to
achieve zero liquid discharge (ZLD).
ZLD means that all the water in
the impaired water source being
treated is recovered and available for
agricultural use. Only dry salts are left
behind. No brine line to the ocean is
necessary because there is no salty
water brine left to be disposed of.
These new technologies have the
added benefit of removing salts from
the groundwater basin at the same
time new freshwater supplies
are
created. In fact, within the next several
years, several National Alliance for
Water Innovation members plan to
bring technology to market that will
allow for the separation of individual
minerals from these recovered salts
so that they can be recycled into the
manufacturing sector.
These new technologies are
containerized,
and can
be
run
autonomously with 24/7 remote
monitoring.
No expensive
infrastructure is required other than
a flat concrete or gravel pad and water
and utility hookups. The units can also
be renewably powered - their power
needs are far less than traditional
seawater desalination units.
If you have nearby access to
one of the impaired water sources
mentioned in this article, you
can simply have a couple of these
containers dropped on site and have
a new, reliable freshwater supply as
part of your water portfolio. You can
count on this new water supply being
always available, regardless of how
much surface water is being delivered
to you this year.
To learn more about new zero
brine desalination technologies,
contact Clark Easter at Global Water
Innovations at 805-947-3334 x111 or at
www.globalwaterinnovations.org/.
- Clark Easter is the co-founder
of Global Water Innovations, an
organization founded in 2017 to develop
and bring to market new technologies
that could cost-effectively convert
impaired water sources to new water
supplies for agriculture. Global Water
Innovations is a member of Western
Growers and one of the five companies
invited to present at the Western
Growers AgSharks competition this past
November.
Spudman * May/June 2022
23
http://www.globalwaterinnovations.org/
May/June 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of May/June 2022
