Impacts of Seawater Desalination on Coastal Environments

Petersen, Karen Lykkebo; Frank, Hila; Paytan, Adina; Bar‐Zeev, Edo

doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-809240-8.00011-3

Cited by 32 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 122 publications

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“…Given advances in scientific knowledge, it is possible to highlight what environmental impacts may occur in the areas where the brine discharges are located [12] and, therefore, what requirements are important to consider in EMPs [28].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…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]. Table 2 summarizes the requirements considered in the analysis of the EMPs.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Consequently, it may intensify the toxicity of the brine discharge, and it would thus induce a localized eutrophication and turbidity of the sea water [10][11][12]. These characteristics of brine discharges impact upon their dispersion mechanisms, which can in turn affect benthic communities such as seagrasses (Posidonia oceanica and Cymodocea nodosa), or benthic fauna [12][13][14][15][16]. Likewise, recent studies highlight both the short-and long-term impact upon the bacterial activity of benthic bottoms and also the possible impact upon fish larvae [12,17,18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evaluating environmental requirements for the management of brine discharges in Spain

Solà

Zarzo²,

Sánchez-Lizaso

2019

Desalination

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Desalination activities may have a detrimental impact on the marine environment, caused mainly by hypersaline effluents. The aim of this paper is to assess the quality of Environmental Monitoring Plans (EMPs) of desalination plants in Spain, and the aspects which could be improved to correctly manage brine discharges. A total of 30 desalination projects submitted to Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) between 1998 and 2009 have been reviewed. Requirements for the monitoring of brine discharges, and their sampling designs, in the EMPs have improved over time. However, this trend is similar for essential and irrelevant descriptors. Furthermore, the presence of protected species in the area of brine discharges showed a significant increase of requirements. Nevertheless, there was no increase of requirements with respect to a major brine discharge production plant. In conclusion, a review of the EIAs would be advisable to unify the monitoring requirements at the national level, and improving their sampling designs, including the essential descriptors when they are absent, and eliminating irrelevant descriptors when they are present. This standardization should be paid attention to desalination plants with higher brine production as they may have a greater influence on the marine environment.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evaluating environmental requirements for the management of brine discharges in Spain

Solà

Zarzo²,

Sánchez-Lizaso

2019

Desalination

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“…Despite increasing use of SWRO desalination worldwide as well as in California, impacts of brine effluent discharge on the living organisms and ecosystems in the coastal environments are ill-constrained [14,15]. Past research on pelagic phytoplankton and benthic microbes, seagrasses, polychaetes and corals demonstrate that salinity tolerances are highly variable among species and also dependent on the magnitude of the salinity increase and exposure time [14,[16][17][18][19][20][21]. For instance, seagrasses have low thresholds with a detectable mortality at salinity of 5% above ambient levels, whereas coral growth is not impacted at salinity as high as 10% above ambient [22][23][24].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biological and Physical Effects of Brine Discharge from the Carlsbad Desalination Plant and Implications for Future Desalination Plant Constructions

Petersen

Heck

Reguero

et al. 2019

Water

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Seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination is increasingly used as a technology for addressing shortages of freshwater supply and desalination plants are in operation or being planned world-wide and specifically in California, USA. However, the effects of continuous discharge of high-salinity brine into coastal environments are ill-constrained and in California are an issue of public debate. We collected in situ measurements of water chemistry and biological indicators in coastal waters (up to ~2 km from shore) before and after the newly constructed Carlsbad Desalination Plant (Carlsbad, CA, USA) began operations. A bottom water salinity anomaly indicates that the spatial footprint of the brine discharge plume extended about 600 m offshore with salinity up to 2.7 units above ambient (33.2). This exceeds the maximum salinity permitted for this location based on the California Ocean Plan (2015 Amendment to Water Quality Control Plan). However, no significant changes in the assessed biological indicators (benthic macrofauna, BOPA-index, brittle-star survival and growth) were observed at the discharge site. A model of mean ocean wave potential was used as an indicator of coastal mixing at Carlsbad Beach and at other locations in southern and central CA where desalination facilities are proposed. Our results indicated that to minimize environmental impacts discharge should target waters where a long history of anthropogenic activity has already compromised the natural setting. To ensure adequate mixing of the discharge brine desalination plants should be constructed at high-energy sites with sandy substrates, and discharge through diffusor systems.

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“…To maximize dilution, the brine is usually mixed with cooling water from adjacent power plants. The result is a warm (~25% over ambient temperature) saline (up to 10% over ambient salinity) floating brine plume that can be found up to a few kilometers away from the discharge site [6,7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of long-term brine discharge from desalination plants on benthic foraminifera

2020

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Desalination plants along the Mediterranean Israeli coastline currently provide~587 million m 3 drinking water/year, and their production is planned to increase gradually. Production of drinking water is accompanied by a nearly equivalent volume of brine discharge with a salinity of~80 that is twice the normal, which can potentially impact marine ecosystems. The goal of this study was to examine whether benthic foraminifera, a known sensitive marine bio-indicator, are affected by this brine-discharge. For that, we investigated the seasonal and cumulative effect of brine discharges of three operating desalination facilities along the Israeli coast. Those facilities are located in Ashkelon, Hadera, and Sorek. The brine-discharge in the first two desalination plants is associated with thermal pollution, while the Sorek facility entails increased salinity but no thermal pollution. In four seasonal cruises during one year, we collected surface sediment samples in triplicates by grabs from the outfall (near the discharge site), and from a non-impacted control station adjacent to each study site. Our results highlight that the most robust responses were observed at two out of three desalination shallow sites (Ashkelon and Hadera), where the brine was discharged directly from a coastal outfall and was accompanied with thermal pollution from the nearby power plants. The total foraminiferal abundance and diversity were, generally, lower near the outfalls, and increased towards the control stations. Moreover, changes in the relative abundances of selected species indicate their sensitivity to the brine discharge. The most noticeable response to exclusively elevated salinity was detected at Sorek discharge site, where we observed a sharp decline in organic-cemented agglutinated benthic foraminifera, suggesting that these are particularly sensitive to elevated salinity. The herein study contribute new insights into the effect of brine discharge from desalination plants, on benthic foraminifera, and propose a scientifically-based ecological monitoring tool that can help stakeholders.

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Impacts of Seawater Desalination on Coastal Environments

Cited by 32 publications

References 122 publications

Evaluating environmental requirements for the management of brine discharges in Spain

Evaluating environmental requirements for the management of brine discharges in Spain

Biological and Physical Effects of Brine Discharge from the Carlsbad Desalination Plant and Implications for Future Desalination Plant Constructions

The effect of long-term brine discharge from desalination plants on benthic foraminifera

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