West Basin's Approach
Research and Development
West Basin is committed to delivering the most economically-viable, environmentally-responsible desalinated ocean-water to its consumers. In 2002, West Basin initiated a $1.5 million ocean-water desalination Pilot Project in El Segundo, marking the first use of micro-filtration (MF) as a pre-treatment to reverse osmosis (RO). The goal of the Pilot Project was two-fold:
- Identify optimal performance conditions
- Evaluate the water quality
After five years of research and more than 35,000 water quality tests, West Basin has identified the optimal operating parameters for desalination and will continue with research at the Pilot Project, focusing primarily on water quality.
Pilot-scale Facility
By definition, a pilot-scale facility is an early step in the evaluation process that utilizes small- scale equipment to test for basic water quality and operating parameters as cost-efficiently as possible. West Basin's desalination Pilot Project includes micro-filtration (MF) and reverse osmosis (RO) components, and processes approximately 40 gallons per minute (GPM) of ocean water. This water is currently injected back into the ocean and is used only for testing purposes. As part of the facility's operations, approximately 500 analytical tests are performed monthly. Data collected at the Pilot Project is being used in the development of the Demonstration Facility. It is expected that the Demonstration Facility will lay the foundation for West Basin's ultimate goal of supplementing our water-reliability portfolio with a full- scale desalination facility capable of producing at least 20 million gallons a day (MGD).
Demonstration Project
In June 2005, West Basin was awarded approximately $1.7 million for its desalination program by the California Department of Water Resources under Proposition 50. The goal of West Basin's Temporary Ocean-Water Desalination Demonstration Project is to conduct research and develop data for the permitting, design, construction, and operation of West Basin's proposed full-scale desalination facility. In contrast to the Pilot Project, West Basin's Demonstration Facility will utilize limited quantities of full-scale equipment to refine operating parameters, perform additional water quality testing, evaluate environmentally-protective source intake methodologies, and assess energy efficiency. West Basin's temporary Demonstration project is located at the L.A. Conservation Corps' SEA Lab facility in Redondo Beach, on a fully developed urban site previously used by Southern California Edison and AES Corporation.