AWWA ACE61848

This study forms part of two important on-going research projects that focus on brine management issues and will help utilities assess their brine disposal options in terms of both technical options and practical, region-specific implementation hurdles. These include an Awwa Research Foundation project, Desalination Product Water Recovery and Concentrate Volume Minimization, that was recently begun, and a Joint Water Reuse Task Force project, Regional Solutions to Concentrate Management (managed by the Water Reuse Foundation). The promising and emerging approaches to desalination and its brine management that aim to significantly reduce the volume of brine produced (near zero liquid discharge), or eliminate it by reducing it to solid products (zero liquid discharge), are of key interest to the future success of this technology, especially for inland sites. The paper describes the near-zero liquid discharge (near-ZLD) and zero liquid discharge (ZLD) methods of brine disposal and minimization, including the available methods, their characteristics (e.g. energy usage, costs) and future direction. Secondly, strategies for development of regional solutions for desalination concentrate disposal and management are explored using the available and emerging disposal options in combination with a decision methodology for managers, regulators and stakeholders to assess the viability of concentrate disposal options on a regional and local basis. Includes reference.