Exploring the environmental impact assessment commissioners' perspectives on the development of the seawater desalination project

How to Close the Gap of Desalinated Seawater for Agricultural Irrigation? Confronting Attitudes between Managers and Farmers in Alicante and Murcia (Spain)

“…Conventional water sources are not able to fill the gap between the supply and demand of freshwater, because this growing gap can only be filled by non-conventional water sources such as seawater desalination. Taking into account that almost half of the world's population lives within 100 km of an ocean, and because nearly 70% of major cities are located in this narrow area, seawater virtually represents an infinite freshwater resource with the advantage of being un-exhaustible and climate independent [42]. Desalination plays an important role in the provision of irrigation water in Spain and is being used to alleviate the shortage of water and to preserve freshwater resources [43], besides addressing the water-energy-food nexus with scarcer resources [44].…”

Evaluating environmental requirements for the management of brine discharges in Spain

“…These include: i-ii) the analysis of the quantity and quality of the effluent and marine environment including, at least, salinity and nutrients but also substances that come from the pre-treatment and cleaning of membranes and filters, as coagulants and antifouling or organic matter [5,10,29,30]; iii) the control of the saline plume to determine the area potentially affected by the brine discharge [9]. For this, it is necessary that the implementation of salinity profiles which reach the bottom are used to determine salinity and temperature in a grid of points that cover the potential area of influence, and with seasonal replication to include different oceanographic conditions [9]; iv) to monitor key and protected species if they are present in the area to ensure they are not affected by the discharge [12,15] [13,14,29,32]; vi) the use of salinity-sensitive species of benthic fauna as bioindicators has proven to be useful as sentinel species in order to prevent possible impacts on benthic habitats [20,33] and to discriminate between the effects of desalination and other impacts that may coincide in space [32,34]; vii) it is necessary to carry out a structural monitoring of the submerged outfall for the early detection of possible fractures [8]; viii) in the case of a possible rupture of the outfall (or if the discharge is close to key habitats), the existence of a protocol of action with mitigation measures is convenient, given that this may include the increase of dilution, or the reduction of production [15].…”

What natural and social scientists need from each other for effective marine environmental assessment: Insights from collaborative research on the Tomakomai CCS Demonstration Project

“…Whilst acknowledgement of interdisciplinary collaboration is welcomed here, there is arguably an underlying assumption that interdisciplinary working serves to 'transfer' techno-scientific knowledge to the social domain, as opposed to a more iterative process. Liu et al (2018), assessing the views of EIA commissioners for desalination projects in Taiwan, see an entrenched need to present 'impartial' data to 'convince' stakeholders, and an aversion to long, drawn-out assessment processes which delay industrial development. Wright et al (2016) argue that the quality and extent of societal consideration in marine impact assessment remains at the mercy of jurisdiction and project.…”