Optimal managing the coastal aquifer for seawater desalination and meeting nitrates level of drinking water

Abstract

Fouling remains one of the main issues related to membrane filtration during seawater desalination. The main acceptable methods are based on adding chemical reagents to the low quality waters that are going to be desalinated and/or adjusted to the membrane materials and the waters. This becomes a real issue when developing desalination plants for small communities, located along the sea shore. The approach adapted here is based on Coastal Soil Seawater Pumping (CSSP), with a pretreatment stage for the desalinated water. A management model was used for construction of main lines characterizing the system.In this work, a management model for small and relatively isolated communities is presented. It allows the water authorities of urban areas located close to the sea to provide desalinated water for the benefit of their residents, primarily for drinking purposes. Water from local wells that contain relatively high nitrate (NO3−) levels will be blended with the desalinated waters that are produced and distributed along the seashore to reach acceptable levels of 50–70 mg/L nitrates this will replace the “killed” wells and revive wells with high nitrate contents.