ABSTRACT ONLY:
Any evaluation of seawater desalination facilities must carefully consider how to discharge the resulting concentrated brine in a manner that minimizes untoward effects on the environment. Although locating desalination facilities next to power plants or wastewater treatment plants offers a way to dilute the brine, various factors require careful analysis depending on whether the facility is discharging to a bay or an ocean.
BIOS:
Patrick Treanor, P.E., is an environmental engineer and Val S. Frenkel, Ph.D., P.E., D.WRE, M.ASCE, the director of membrane technologies for Kennedy/Jenks Consultants, of San Francisco. This article is based on a paper that the authors delivered at the World Environmental and Water Resources Congress, sponsored by ASCE and the Environmental and Water Resources Institute and held in Kansas City, Missouri, in May.