Coordinated Water System Plan - Kitsap County Government

Kitsap County May 9, 2005
Coordinated Water System Plan
Regional Supplement 2005 Revision
flow. Use of an existing seawater withdrawal and discharge structure saves on construction and
permit costs. The higher inlet temperatures for desalination processing save on energy costs.
Unfortunately, such power plants or large sea water cooling structures do not exist in or near
Kitsap County and sea water temperatures in the Puget Sound region are much lower than areas
where desalination plants are currently being built. These factors, plus availability of much less
costly water supply alternatives, make desalination less attractive in this region compared to
areas such as Florida and Southern California.
Based upon a review of professional journal articles related to desalination, combined
operational and amortized capital costs for brackish water treatment plants producing between
1.06 and 10.6 million gallons per day range from $2.85 to $11.35 per million gallons (MG) of
water produced. Seawater desalination plants were reported to cost $11,367 to $2,839 per MG of
potable water produced.
Based upon cost figures for a desalination plant in Sand City, California, capital costs for a
desalination facility in the Pacific Northwest are estimated to be approximately $10,000,000 per
mgd. Annual O&M costs are estimated to be on the order of $500,000 per mgd. The
significantly higher O&M costs are related primarily to power requirements.
Appendix J Section J8 – Key Findings J8-2