The following are some of my notes taken from recent research that we have conducted on the water industry:
- Desalinated water is roughly 30-50% more expensive than rainwater.
- Seawater desalination is more expensive than desalination from brackish water. This is because ocean water typically requires more power to bring the water up to the temperature where it will pass through the reverse osmosis membranes more easily. Also, brackish water is less salty than seawater.
- While most desalinated water is piped from the desal facilities, some desal water may be placed in containers and delivered to distribution points that way in the future. The containerization of desal water would enable the desal facilities to be located further offshore. This could help eliminate the community opposition to desal facilities which are placed closer to the coasts. The environmentalists are concerned about the highly-saline concentrated discharge that comes out of the desal plant and has to go back into the bay or ocean.
- The salt that arises from the desal process has almost no commercial value. In fact, there is a cost to discharge it.
- Emerging countries that invest in their water infrastructure will not need to buy much equipment from American companies as most of these countries are quite capable of producing pipes and pumps.
These are some of the issues that are discussed at IncreMental Advantage's Water Conferences. For more information, please visit www.incrementaladvantage.com.
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