Abstract
The need for augmenting water supplies in Australia, such as by desalination of brackish surface or groundwaters and of seawater, is long established. Progress in the installation of desalination plants is reviewed, and the future of the technology discussed. A recent major inquiry into the nation's water resources has seen the technology as developing on two fronts: large-scale installations associated with industrial developments and salinity control schemes aimed at maintaining the quality of existing surface waters, and smaller-scale installations utilizing existing marginal or brackish water resources to provide potable water in regions lacking adequate fresh water. Descriptions are given of new water purification processes based on magnetic-particle technology. The developments are continuous magnetic ion-exchange systems for dealkalization, and for desalination by resins regenerable with hot water; demonstration plants have been built for both. An extension of this technology to clarification, with alkali-regenerable magnetite as the reagent, is now commercial; the technique may be relevant as a low-cost pretreatment for conventional desalination systems.
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