IDE Completes Re-commissioning of the Santa Barbara Desalination Plant

IDE Technologies announced that it has completed the reactivation of the Charles E. Meyer Desalination Facility with the City of Santa Barbara, California.

The plant will produce nearly 3.0 MGD (million gallons per day) to meet 30 percent of the City's demand. The City selected IDE to design, build and operate the desalination plant as part of the City's overall strategy to develop a more diverse water portfolio to ensure the community has an ample supply of safe drinking water.

The plant uses Seawater Reverse Osmosis (SWRO) to deliver consistent, high-quality water to the City of Santa Barbara. Seawater enters the desalination facility from 2,500 feet offshore, passing through ocean intake pipes equipped with wedge wire screens -- recognized by the State Water Resources Control Board as the best solution for screened open ocean intakes.

Once on shore, the seawater passes through a pretreatment system, which filters out suspended matter and colloids that occur naturally in seawater, such as silt, algae, bacteria and plankton, and then flows through SWRO membranes to separate the dissolved salts in the seawater.

"Desalination is a key step in the City efforts to build water supply resiliency through diversification," said Joshua Haggmark, the City of Santa Barbara's Water Resources Manager.

"The desalination plant's design includes high-efficiency pumps and motors that reduce the plant's overall electrical demands by 40 percent compared to the last plant. Restarting this plant puts the City in a position to better manage water shortages through a more diversified supply mix.

The City's water supply portfolio includes local surface water, state water, groundwater, recycled water, water conservation, and now desalinated water."

"Our advanced desalination technology and engineering expertise has made the Santa Barbara desalination facility more energy-efficient and the water supply more affordable," said Gilad Cohen, CEO of IDE Americas.

"The drinking water produced by the plant allows the City to meet its water requirement while utilizing natural sources alongside continued conservation efforts. We're excited to be partners in this important step to secure California's drought-proof water supply and serve the City of Santa Barbara."

For more information, visit www.ide-tech.com.

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• Technology
• Filtration
• Desalination
• Filtration
• Sustainable Desalination
• Water Utility
• Utility Management
• Desalination