UK's FIRST INLAND DESALINATION PLANT

The UK’s first inland desalination plant has been officially opened by the Duke of Edinburgh in London to provide drinking water to one million of the city’s residents during times of drought. The $US 390 million large-scale facility, sponsored by Thames Gateway Water Treatment Works, was constructed in East London’s Beckton and has the capacity to convert 150 millions of liters of water per day for drinking.

It is the world’s first four-stage reverse osmosis process utility and can yield 85% of source water as drinking water. Most other desalination facilities utilize one to two stages and have a yield of 50%. Martin Baggs, Chief Executive of Thames Water, says that expanding the water supply via the plant is necessary step for the area as it copes with climate change.

“Existing resources — from non-tidal rivers and groundwater — simply aren’t enough to match predicted demand in London,” said Baggs.

Currently the utility supplies 8.5 million people across the capital and the Thames Valley with 2,600 mld of drinking water. The new works' water will be blended with other supplies, so up to 580,000 properties in northeast London (1.4 million people) will potentially receive it in varying proportions.

But opponents of the plant, like former London Mayor Ken Livingstone, claim the utility is a “waste of money,” and doesn’t address the city’s real water issues: leaky infrastructure and excess consumption. Other politicians have come out in agreement with Livingstone. “The desalination plant is a sticking plaster solution to London’s water shortage problem, which will take the pressure off Thames Water to reduce the capital’s appalling leakage rates,” Darren Johnson, the deputy chair of the environment committee for the London Assembly, told the BBC.

Johnson, like many officials and water experts from around the world, has also expressed concern regarding the high levels of energy desalination plants need.

In an effort to make the plant more energy efficient, Thames Water says it will use renewable biofuels to run the plant and only operate the facility during times of drought. But drought could become more frequent and prolonged in northwest England by the end of June. Lower than average rainfall and higher temperatures from climate change have been fueling the dry spells.

And although some local politicians say widespread water shortage in England is unlikely, Thames’ project manager Steve Baldwin insists that that the existence of a desalination plant will still ease potential water woes. “When the next drought arrives, it will ensure that we will always be prepared,” said Baldwin. .