Following the early January celebration of the first year of construction of the Carlsbad seawater reverse osmosis (RO) desalination plant in California, developer Poseidon Resources provided D&WR with a breakdown of the work so far.
The 50 MGD (189,000 m³/d) plant, which is on schedule and on budget, is due to start producing water in 2016 and will be the largest desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere.
The following is the construction progress:
· Intake (~10% total)
· Pretreatment (~40% total)
· RO (~10% total)
· Product water tank (~20% total).
In addition, some of the process equipment is beginning to show on site.
The plant is being constructed by Kiewit Shea Desalination Contractors with IDE Technologies providing the desalination expertise.