Preliminary results of the monitoring of the brine discharge produced by the SWRO desalination plant of Alicante (SE Spain)

Abstract Data from monitoring of the dispersion and effects of the hypersaline effluents originated by desalination plants are very scarce. The objective of this paper is to present the monitoring, on time and space, of the brine discharge originated by the Alicante seawater desalination plant (SE Spain). Since the seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination plant started to operate in September 2003, to the date, three campaigns were made in order to determine the seasonal and spatial distribution of the brine plume and its dilution along the area. One year after the plant operation, the results obtained at these campaigns have shown that dilution of the brine may be lower than the usually accepted and it may affect significant extensions of marine communities. Due to the recent development of the desalination activity in our country the information obtained in this work can be considered really useful for its application to future similar projects in the Mediterranean Sea.

[1]  John Murrer,et al.  Disposal of reverse osmosis membrane concentrate , 1997 .

[2]  R. Chesher.  Chapter 6. Biological Impact of a Large-Scale Desalination Plant at Key West, Florida , 1975 .

[3]  J. V. Del Bene,et al.  Ocean brine disposal , 1994 .

[4]  Walid H. Shayya,et al.  Brine disposal from reverse osmosis desalination plants in Oman and the United Arab Emirates , 2001 .

[5]  T. Höpner,et al.  Elements of environmental impact studies on coastal desalination plants , 1997 .

[6]  José L. Perez Talavera,et al.  Identification of the mixing processes in brine discharges carried out in Barranco del Toro Beach, south of Gran Canaria (Canary Islands) , 2001 .

[7]  Anton Purnalna,et al.  Modeling dispersion of brine waste discharges from a coastal desalination plant , 2003 .

[8]  N. M. Wade,et al.  Environmental impacts of seawater distillation and reverse osmosis processes , 1997 .

[9]  Mushtaque Ahmed,et al.  Feasibility of salt production from inland RO desalination plant reject brine: A case study , 2003 .

[10]  R. Einav,et al.  Environmental aspects of a desalination plant in Ashkelon , 2003 .

[11]  P. Glueckstern,et al.  Optimized brackish water desalination plants with minimum impact on the environment , 1997 .

[12]  R. Einav,et al.  The footprint of the desalination processes on the environment , 2003 .

[13]  Walid H. Shayya,et al.  Use of evaporation ponds for brine disposal in desalination plants , 2000 .

[14]  José Luis Sánchez-Lizaso,et al.  Effects of salinity on leaf growth and survival of the Mediterranean seagrass Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile , 2005 .