Amid drought, water desalination gets attractive

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar visited El Paso's desalination plant Wednesday to showcase the technology as a way to help alleviate the region's chronic water woes and to support a statewide water supply increasingly stressed by drought and population growth. The $87 million plant is the largest inland facility of its kind in the world. It takes in brackish water, which has more salinity than fresh water but not as much as ocean water, from an underground aquifer and makes it drinkable. With a daily output of 27.5 million gallons, it's also the largest desalination plant in the U.S. "Through using water, brackish water, we are able to extend water supply in a way that would have not been possible 10, 15 years ago," Salazar said after touring the facility. "Other places in the country that could learn from this place." Salazar said desalination is one part of a water management strategy that comprises several factors, including recycling and using water more efficiently...more