water

1. As drough continues to grip Texas and many other Western states, one of the
solutions often discussed (and pursued) to overcomewater scarcity is
desalination. Simply put, desalination, or desal as it is most commonly called, is a
process that removes salt and other minerals fromsalty (brackish) or seawater to
producefreshwater for drinking and agriculture. This technology seems like a no-
brainer option for addressing thestate’s water woes, but the problemis that
desalination uses a lot of electricity and the majority of Texas’ electricity comes
fromcoal and gas power plants, which require copious amounts of water to
generate that electricity. Itdoesn’tmake much sense to use water to makewater,
especially when there’s an alternative in Texas’ abundant renewable energy
resources.
Texas is the national leader in wind energy and has the greatest solar
energy potential in the U.S., yet neither of these resources arebeing widely
deployed for desal plants despite recent studies pointing to vastopportunities.
Not only do these energy resources producenegligible carbon emissions, butthey
also consumelittle to no water, unlike fossil-fueled power plants. Furthermore, if
we look at wherebrackish water sources are locatedcompared to where
the wind and solar energy potential is in this state, the overlap is pretty clear. This
synergy should notbe ignored.
Let’s desal water whenthe wind blows and the sun shines!
Solar energy coupled with a desal plant provides economic, health, and seasonal
benefits. Foremost, as the price of solar panels continues to fall each year, the
investment for building solar-plus-desalination plants looks bright. And one
company, WaterFX, is already ahead of the curve. WaterFX uses the sun’s heatto
filter salty water and is about 30 times moreefficient than similar facilities.
Currently, the company has a pilot project right in the heart of California’s
agricultural heartland and is able to provideabout 14,000 gallons of water a day.
Solar provides a vastand inexhaustible energy supply and doesn’t emit harmful
air pollution, making it the perfect alternative to dirty fossil-fueled power plants
currently used to desalinate water. Italso safeguards the health of our
community members and future generations. Plus, Texas has no lack of sunny
days, especially during the summer months, when the need for water is highest.
But solar power isn’tthe only resourceavailable in Texas.
A recent study by the Webber Energy Group at the University of Texas at Austin
found that wind energy could power desal plants at night, when wind blows the
hardest, and storethe water for the next day’s use. Someareas in Texas are
already testing the waters, so to speak. Seminole, located in the Texas Panhandle,

2. has ademonstration project underway to desalinate brackish water fromthe
DockumAquifer using the region’s abundantwind energy. The water will be
integrated with the city's existing water treatment and distribution systemfor
municipal use. The partners for this project, Texas Water Development Board and
Texas Department of Agriculture, aim to complete this $1.6 million effort by
August2014. Texas Tech University’s National Wind Institute, a powerhousewind
energy research program, is on board to managethe project.
Texas’ Water Crisis Requires aSuite of Solutions
The droughtin Texas is, by any definition, dire. When people are reduced to
taking “spitbaths” and lake levels have dropped to as low as 26 percent full, all
options need to be on the table. But being more efficient with the water we have
now is what weshould do first—justas with electricity.
There are currently 46 brackish desalination plants and an estimated 2.7 billion
acre-feet of brackish water in Texas—enough to cover the entire state with 15
feet of water. While desal seems like an obvious solution for solving the state’s
water woes, providing enough freshwater to meet Texas’ currentneeds for 150
years is not that easy. Aside fromaddressing the energy-intensity issueof treating
all that salty water, there are other problems that need to be resolved, specifically
around property rights, groundwater districts, and waste, if weare to begin
addressing this complex challenge froma holistic viewpoint.
First, we should focus on conservation and water reuse. Desal can be part of the
solution, but it shouldn’ttrigger us to think that we havean infinite supply of
water justbecausewe can make more.
Our second best solution should be to find ways to treat and move water that are
not water-intensivethemselves, such as taking advantageof renewable energy to
maximize new, freshwater resources.
Just as there is no silver bullet to solveclimate change, there is no single solution
to solve water scarcity problems either. It requires a suite of options that mustbe
undertaken with thoughtful urgency. As Legislators fromall corners of Texas
preparefor the upcoming 2015 legislativesession, the eyes of Texas will be upon
them, looking for innovative, cost-effective plans to keep our faucets running.