Marine environmental impacts of power-desalination plants in Kuwait

Abstract

Kuwait's Ministry of Electricity and Water is planning to supplement the existing electric power generation capacity in the country by constructing new Combined-Cycle Gas-Turbine Stations at Shuaiba North Power Station and Subiya Power Station in order to meet the increasing power demand. The plans also include installation of a Multistage Flash Distillation Plant for seawater desalination at Shuaiba to increase Kuwait's supply of potable water. Construction of these new facilities will impact the environment, and so therefore needed to be carefully assessed before the planned work could go ahead. Thus, the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research conducted an environmental impact assessment for these sites, as per the guidelines of Kuwait's Environment Public Authority. The environmental impact assessment was performed in three parts: air, marine, and hydraulics, by separate multidisciplinary teams that conducted field surveys, took measurements, collected and analyzed samples, and in some cases, carried out predictive numerical modeling studies of the potential impact of plant operations on the surrounding environment. These studies took into account the impact of the already existing, as well as the planned, power generation and desalination facilities. This paper summarizes the final results of the marine environmental impact assessment, including the results of the hydraulic surveys and modeling studies.