Chapter 11 Inland Desalination: Current Practices, Environmental Implications, and Case Studies in Las Vegas, NV

Abstract Water utilities around the world are facing increasing demands being placed on the limited water resources available and, as such, are turning to new strategies to ensure a sustainable, safe, reliable drinking water supply. Included within the portfolio of strategies available to utilities to stretch drinking water supplies are potable reuse, indirect potable reuse (IPR), ocean desalination, and inland desalination. This chapter will touch upon issues surrounding IPR and ocean desalination, but will devote most of the text to examining inland desalination practices including environmental effects, energy costs, infrastructure costs and challenges, and several practices that have been investigated to increase water recovery while reducing the impact of the system. The chapter will highlight two studies carried out in connection with the Southern Nevada Water Authority and Black and Veatch in order to compare strategies investigated for zero-liquid discharge (ZLD) for the desalination of saline shallow groundwater.

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