scholarly journals Desalination in Spain. Past, present and future

2019 ◽  
pp. 85-92
Author(s):  
E. Cabrera ◽  
T. Estrela ◽  
J. Lora

A summary of the evolution of desalination in Spain, spanning over half a century of history, follows. What started as a solution to resolve occasional water shortages in islands where natural surface and ground water resources were scarce, has gained more relevance with technological advancements, less expensive production costs and at the same time minimizing the impact on the environment. But fifteen years ago, the normal pace of history underwent an about-turn with the sudden construction of a significant number of desalination plants. The speed, and on occasions the haste, involved in many of the decisions, brought about some imbalance between the different players that were involved. Time, and above all, technological advancement have clarified the situation, and most of the desalination plants that were built have managed to find their place, thus justifying the investment that was made. But there are still some stages to address, particularly that of integrating these plants in the joint water resource operation systems. In this regard, consumers must accept that desalination plants competing with traditional water resources, greatly improve the guarantee of supply, and in fact act as a new water insurance that, indeed, has a cost. Today however, and particularly in the future, desalination in Spain plays and will continue to play an essential role, especially in the southeast Mediterranean region and in some of the more touristic islands. The following is a brief history.

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 137-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenyi Wang ◽  
Weihua Zeng ◽  
Bo Yao ◽  
Jing Wei

Due to the fast growth of the economy and population, the water scarcity issue has aroused widespread critical concern. In fact, reasonable structure, adaptive patterns and effective regulation of the economy, society and water resources can bring a harmonious future. Therefore, the study of how to balance economic social growth and water resources is of great importance. A model of the water resource, society and economy system of the Tongzhou district was designed by Stella. The model established here attempts to analyze future trends in social-economic development and the impact of the economic and population growth on water use in the Tongzhou district under three scenarios. The results reveal that the water shortage is very serious. If the current trends persist, the existing water supply will not be able to meet the water demand in the future. Tongzhou district's water shortage will be 162.50 million m3 in 2020 under the business-as-usual scenario. Therefore, it is necessary to develop unconventional water sources and improve the water-saving capacity of production and life to alleviate the water tensions. This research offers insight into larger questions regarding economic growth and water resource management in general.


Author(s):  
X. B. Wang ◽  
Z. L. Wang

Abstract The paper uses the super-efficiency DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis) model to measure the water resources utilization efficiency of 30 provinces in China, and then uses the system GMM (Generalized Method of Moments) model to analyze the impact of environmental regulations on China's regional water resources utilization efficiency. Conclusions as follows: (1) The overall water utilization efficiency is low, and the regions are very unbalanced. The more efficient areas are concentrated in the east, and the less efficient areas are in the west; (2)There is a ‘U’-shaped relationship between the intensity of environmental regulation and water resource utilization efficiency, that is, weaker environmental regulation intensity is not conducive to the improvement of water resource utilization efficiency, but when the intensity of environmental regulation crosses the ‘inflection point’, it can promote the improvement of water resources utilization efficiency; (3) The level of economic development has a very significant positive effect on water resources utilization efficiency, and the coefficient of scientific and technological progress is positive, but the impact of scientific and technological input on water resources utilization efficiency is limited and not significant; industrial structure and water resource utilization efficiency shows a negative correlation; water use structure and water resources efficiency show a negative correlation.


2007 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 711-720 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Tilmant ◽  
P. van der Zaag ◽  
P. Fortemps

Abstract. Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) recommends, among other things, that the management of water resources systems be carried out at the lowest appropriate level in order to increase the transparency, acceptability and efficiency of the decision-making process. Empowering water users and stakeholders transforms the decision-making process by enlarging the number of point of views that must be considered as well as the set of rules through which decisions are taken. This paper investigates the impact of different group decision-making approaches on the operating policies of a water resource. To achieve this, the water resource allocation problem is formulated as an optimization problem which seeks to maximize the aggregated satisfaction of various water users corresponding to different approaches to collective choice, namely the utilitarian and the egalitarian ones. The optimal operating policies are then used in simulation and compared. The concepts are illustrated with a multipurpose reservoir in Chile. The analysis of simulation results reveals that if this reservoir were to be managed by its water users, both approaches to collective choice would yield significantly different operating policies. The paper concludes that the transfer of management to water users must be carefully implemented if a reasonable trade-off between equity and efficiency is to be achieved.


2010 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 358-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. De Marchis ◽  
C. M. Fontanazza ◽  
G. Freni ◽  
G. La Loggia ◽  
E. Napoli ◽  
...  

In many countries, users acquire private tanks to reduce their vulnerability to water scarcity. In such conditions, water managers often apply intermittent distribution in order to reduce the water volumes supplied to the users. This practice modifies the hydraulic behaviour of the network and determines competition among users that need to collect enough water resource for their uses. Intermittent distribution is thus responsible for the inequality that can occur among users: those located in advantaged positions of the network are able to obtain water resources soon after the service period begins, while others have to wait much longer, after the network is full. This paper analyses the inequalities that take part when intermittent distribution is applied in water scarcity scenarios. Considering the complexity of the process, the analysis was performed by means of an unsteady numerical model. The model was applied to a real case study which provided interesting insights into the network filling process, helping to highlight the advantaged and disadvantaged areas of the network in different water scarcity scenarios.


2012 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. 2685-2702 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. H. Yan ◽  
H. Wang ◽  
H. H. Li ◽  
G. Wang ◽  
T. L. Qin ◽  
...  

Abstract. The interbasin long-distance water transfer project is key support for the reasonable allocation of water resources in a large-scale area, which can optimize the spatio-temporal change of water resources to secure the amount of water available. Large-scale water transfer projects have a deep influence on ecosystems; besides, global climate change causes uncertainty and additive effect of the environmental impact of water transfer projects. Therefore, how to assess the ecological and environmental impact of megaprojects in both construction and operation phases has triggered a lot of attention. The water-output area of the western route of China's South-North Water Transfer Project was taken as the study area of the present article. According to relevant evaluation principles and on the basis of background analysis, we identified the influencing factors and established the diagnostic index system. The climate-hydrology-ecology coupled simulation model was used to simulate and predict ecological and environmental responses of the water resource area in a changing environment. The emphasis of impact evaluation was placed on the reservoir construction and operation scheduling, representative river corridors and wetlands, natural reserves and the water environment below the dam sites. In the end, an overall evaluation of the comprehensive influence of the project was conducted. The research results were as follows: the environmental impacts of the western route project in the water resource area were concentrated on two aspects: the permanent destruction of vegetation during the phase of dam construction and river impoundment, and the significant influence on the hydrological situation of natural river corridor after the implementation of water extraction. The impact on local climate, vegetation ecology, typical wetlands, natural reserves and the water environment of river basins below the dam sites was small.


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 593-612 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pengpeng Jia ◽  
Dafang Zhuang ◽  
Yong Wang

Abstract Water shortages in China have hindered development of mega cities, especially Beijing. Assessing the impact of temperature and precipitation on water resources is important. This study analyzed spatiotemporal variations and impacts of temperature and precipitation on water resources in Beijing from 1956 to 2013, using statistical and spatial analysis. The results showed the following. (1) Temperature and precipitation affect water resources variously from region to region; their correlation in mountains is lower than in other areas. Precipitation redistribution caused by terrain reduces water resources. (2) The inter-annual variabilities of precipitation, temperature and water resources are different among five water resource divisions. Because of ‘rain-slope’, Beisanhe's precipitation is larger than others; Yongdinghe's precipitation is less than others due to ‘rain-shadow’; suffering from urban heat island effect, Beisihe and Daqinghe-plain's temperature is higher than others; Beisanhe and Beisihe's water resources are greater than others due to area differences. (3) Water resources are positively correlated with precipitation and negatively with temperature. (4) In recent years, precipitation and water resources decreased and temperature rose. Population growth, land use/land cover change, urbanization and pollution affected precipitation, temperature and water resources. Imported water cannot completely solve water shortages. With increasing water demand, precipitation and temperature will significantly influence water resources in Beijing.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (14) ◽  
pp. 5814
Author(s):  
Zhen-mei Liao ◽  
Yang-yang Li ◽  
Wen-shu Xiong ◽  
Xuan Wang ◽  
Dan Liu ◽  
...  

To maintain sustainability and availability of regional water resources, appropriate integrated water resource management (IWRM) should be based on an assessment of water resource background and responses to regional development and utilization policies. The study proposed an assessment method combining hydrological variation analysis with a system dynamics (SD) model to support IWRM in the Baiyangdian Region, Northern China. Integrated variation analysis and attributive analysis were used to identify variation time and causes of runoff. Then, based on the current water resource situation, an accessibility analysis examined the possibility of achieving a water resources supply and demand balance of social economic development and the ecological environment within individual internal management. Finally, an SD model simulated water resource response to development policies to predict future policy impacts. Results showed that 65.18% of the impact on runoff was from human activities. Sustainability goals were impossible through internal management, but with eco-migration policies and 1 × 108 m3 inter-basin transferred water, it could quickly be achieved, and water ecosystem function could also be recovered. Establishment of the Xiong’an New Area necessitated introduction of integrated cross-basin management to protect the Baiyangdian Region from degradation of its ecological function. Our study proposed a new method for comparation of internal and cross-basin IWRM.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 3373 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Frank Duvenhage ◽  
Alan C. Brent ◽  
William H.L. Stafford ◽  
S. Grobbelaar

A systematic approach to evaluate Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plant fleet deployment and sustainable water resource use in arid regions is presented. An overview is given of previous work carried out. Once CSP development scenarios, suitable areas for development, and the water demand from CSP operations were evaluated, appropriate spatiotemporal CSP performance models were developed. The resulting consumptive patterns and the impact of variable resource availability on CSP plant operation are analysed. This evaluation considered the whole of South Africa, with focus on the areas identified as suitable for CSP, in order to study the impact on local water resources. It was found that the hydrological limitations imposed by variable water resources on CSP development are severe. The national annual theoretical net generation potential of wet-cooled Parabolic Trough decreased from 11,277 to 120 TWh, and that of wet-cooled Central Receiver decreased from 12,003 to 170 TWh. Dry cooled versions also experience severe limitations, but to a lesser extent—the national annual theoretical net generation potential of Parabolic Trough decreased from 11,038 to 512 TWh, and that of Central Receiver decreased from 11,824 to 566 TWh. Accordingly, policy guidelines are suggested for sustainable CSP development and water resource management within the context of current South African water use regulation.


2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 10465-10500 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. H. Yan ◽  
H. Wang ◽  
H. H. Li ◽  
G. Wang ◽  
T. L. Qin ◽  
...  

Abstract. The interbasin long-distance water transfer project is a key support for the reasonable allocation of water resources in a large-scale area, which can optimize the spatiotemporal change of water resources to reinforce the guarantee of the access of water resources. And large-scale water transfer projects have a deep influence on ecosystems; besides, global climate change causes the uncertainty and additive effect of the ecological impact of water transfer projects. Therefore, how to assess the ecological and environmental impact of large-scale water transfer projects in both construction and operation has triggered a lot of attention. The water-output area of the western route of China's South-North Water Transfer Project was taken as the study area of the present article. According to relevant evaluation principles and on the basis of background analysis on the eco-environment of the study area, the influence factors were identified and evaluation indexes were established. The climate-hydrology-ecology coupled simulation model was used to imitate the laws of ecological and environmental change of the water resource area in a changing climate. The emphasis of influence analysis and quantitative evaluation was placed on the reservoir construction and operation scheduling, representative river corridors and wetlands, natural reserves and the water environment of river basins below the dam sites. In the end, an overall influence evaluation of the impact of the project on the water circulation and ecological evolution of the water resource area was conducted. The research results were as follows: the environmental impacts of the western route project in the water resource area were concentrated on two aspects, i.e. the permanent destruction of vegetation during the phase of dam construction and river impoundment, and the significant influence on the hydrological situation of natural river corridor after the implementation of water transfer. Its impact on local climate, vegetation ecology, typical wetlands, natural reserves and the water environment of river basins below the dam sites was small.


2011 ◽  
Vol 383-390 ◽  
pp. 2471-2478
Author(s):  
Ze Zhong Zhang ◽  
Jian Xin Xu ◽  
Yan Bin Li ◽  
Qing Qing Qi ◽  
Qiang Huang

In order to understand the impact of reservoirs to water resource value more scientifically and rationally, and based on expatiating the study of water resource value theory, this paper reveals the mechanism of regulating reservoir changing water resource value, by some physical theory such as momentum and kinetic energy theory, as well as resource scarcity theory. It is that the reservoirs transfer the relative control pivot’s labor value to the flowing water resources, and change the scarcity value of regulating water resources, by dam working on regulating water resources. The paper provides a scientific basis for regulating reservoir obtaining compensation benefits.


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