San Diego California, November 15-17, nd annual Maritime Business & Technology Summit. Site specific studies for evaluating potential locations for desalinization plants Rogelio Vázquez González. Department of Applied Geophysics, CICESE, Panel 5: Desalination, Filtration and Purity Detection

The southwest of USA and northwest of Mexico are one of the fastest growing regions. We are faced with the challenge of expanding the basic service infrastructure to fulfill the growing demand, particularly fresh water. Introduction

South of the border the sources for the water being supplied to satisfy the current demand, are being operated at the limit of their capacity and locally there is no other groundwater sources.

Given that, the State Water Commission has considered desalinating sea water to satisfy their requirements. desalinating sea water to satisfy their requirements. Membrane processes – Reverse Osmosis – Nanofiltration – Electro-Dialysis Reversal – Forward Osmosis Thermal processes – Flash Distillation – Multi-Effect Distillation – Membrane Distillation Which method of desalination is most appropriate? Where ? Reverse osmosis (RO) is the most popular desalination process used in the world. Improvements in efficiency have led to reduce energy consumption, cheaper processing costs.

In October 2009, the State Water Commission of Baja California, established a General Agreement for Collaboration with the Center for Scientific Investigation and Higher Education of Ensenada (CICESE) to characterize the site to place a desalting plant and perform the environmental impact assessment. CICESE is a Public Research institution coordinated by the National Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT ).

Organization Earth Sciences Administrative GENERAL DIRECTION Graduates Applied PhysicsOceanography Innovation and Development Telematics Experimental and Applied Biology Conservation Biology. Marine Biotechnology. Experimental Microbiology. Computer Sciences. Optics. Electronics and Telecommunications. Aquaculture. Marine Ecology. Biological Oceanography. Physical Oceanography. Applied Geophysics. Geology. Seismology.

Site specific studies for evaluating potential locations for the installation of desalinization plants; Relevant aspects: Geology and Geochemistry Geohydrology and Geophysics Inland and marine Ecology Oceanography Power supply Development plans Population projections Key components of the facility: The water intake. The disposal of rejected water

Site specific studies for evaluating potential locations for the installation of desalinization plants;

BATHYMETRY CTD (Conductivity, Temperature, Depth)

Dispersion modeling of water rejected.

Specific studies inland for evaluating and characterize potential sources and type of water intake

Site specific studies for evaluating the composition and abundance of major groups of zooplankton and benthos in the area adjacent to the location of the intake and discharge.

Thanks !