Sea Water Desalination

Desalination is a procedure that removes minerals from salty water. The classic method of desalination is distillation, which involves boiling and re-condensing saltwater to remove salt and contaminants. Multi-stage flash distillation and reverse osmosis are currently the two technologies with the most desalination capacity in the world.

Desalination not only eliminates salt, but it also removes potentially dangerous metals, chemicals, and germs from your water supply. It eliminates microorganisms by physically excluding them through chemical methods.

If renewable energy sources are not employed for freshwater production, desalination has the potential to increase fossil fuel dependency, raise greenhouse gas emissions, and aggravate climate change. Surface water intakes from desalination plants pose a significant hazard to marine life.

We produce clean, safe water from a drought-resistant source: the ocean.

The Claude "Bud" Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant is the nation's largest, most technologically sophisticated, and most energy-efficient saltwater desalination plant. The facility distributes almost 50 million gallons (56,000 acre-feet per year (AFY)) of fresh, desalinated water to San Diego County every day, enough to service around 400,000 people and accounting for roughly one-third of all water generated in the County.

Energy efficiency that has won awards

The Carlsbad Desalination Plant was built as a public-private collaboration next to the Encina Power Station in Carlsbad, California. The project began in 1998 and was completed in 2015 with the signing of a purchase agreement with the San Diego County Water Authority. Numerous honours have been bestowed to the project for its design, implementation, and energy efficiency.

How does seawater desalination function?

Desalination separates water molecules from seawater using reverse osmosis technology. Under extreme pressure, water from the ocean is driven through hundreds of tightly wrapped semipermeable membranes. Smaller water molecules can pass through the membranes, leaving salt and other contaminants behind.