Sandia, Task Force To Study Ways Ocean And Wastewater Can Be Desalinized In California

The California Department of Water Resources recently granted Sandiaand its Task Force partners $1 million for the study. The Task Force -which comprises Sandia, the WaterReuse Foundation, the Bureau ofReclamation, and the American Water Works Association ResearchFoundation - matched the award for a total of $2 million. Each memberhas to contribute $250,000 to the project.

"Over the next six months we will decide on the type ofresearch we will do in the California effort," says Pat Brady, whoheads the project for Sandia.

Among possibilities to be studied will be alternatives todisposing of waste - extremely salty water - after the desalinationprocess. The waste could be dumped into the ocean, put in ponds forevaporation, or injected into the subsurface.

Brady notes that California is growing rapidly and may have limited choices about where to obtain future water supplies.

"They may have to come from the ocean or municipal wastewater," he says.

Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., who secured more than $4 million fordesalination efforts for Sandia as chairman of the Senate Energy andWater Development Appropriation Subcommittee, says this type ofresearch could be the "long term solution to our nation's and NewMexico's water problems."

"This award for research is an excellent step in the rightdirection," he says. "California shares many of our state's waterproblems, so technology developed under this award will be of benefitto everyone."

Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by SandiaCorporation, a Lockheed Martin company, for the U.S. Department ofEnergy's National Nuclear Security Administration. With main facilitiesin Albuquerque, N.M., and Livermore, Calif., Sandia has major R&Dresponsibilities in national security, energy and environmentaltechnologies, and economic competitiveness.