In the latest episode of Dropping By from Stormwater Solutions, Joe Mouawad, general manager of the Eastern Municipal Water District (EMWD) talks about EMWD’s emphasis on groundwater desalination.
EMWD is the sixth largest water retailer in the state of California and serves the fastest growing region in the entire state. The district is making significant investments in drought-resilient water supplies. One of those investments is in groundwater desalination.
The district’s groundwater desalination effort is part of its Groundwater Reliability Plus initiative. As part of EMWD’s efforts to improve is drought resilience, the district conveys brackish groundwater to a reverse osmosis facility.
Last year, EMWD commissioned its third reverse osmosis facility, which produces 5.4 million gallons daily (MGD) for drinking water. Combined with its other two facilities, EMWD has the capacity to produce roughly 14 MGD of drinking water through desalination.
In the video, Mouawad says that one motivation for these desalination efforts is EMWD’s recognition of climate change and its effects on changing drought patterns.
“Knowing these changed patterns, we need to invest in making sure we capture that water we store that water, we bank it in the ground or in surface storage, and then we rely on that water to navigate us through consecutive drought years,” said Mouawad in the interview. “Knowing the climate has evolved and has changed, we need to adapt to it. And we need to do that by investing in water banking, in recycled water, in groundwater desalination and also ocean desalination.”
Watch the full video, “EMWD places emphasis on groundwater desalination” at Stormwater Solutions, an Endeavor Business Media Water Group partner brand.
