Water Discussion

As a side note during the wet versus dry cooling discussion there was a discussion - more of a question/.answer session - of the water source to be used for the plant. 

Question: Audience member remembered discussions at least a year ago about the use of the Gray water for the cooling requirements of the power plant.  Was that still the plan?
Answer: That is still the plan, but the system is not in place yet to make it happen.

Question: We were talking about this years ago - has the County progress really been that slow?
Answer: [Direct answer was avoided] The county at the direction of the BOCC is working with Sempra to develop a concept plan [I forget the exact wording] for how this will work, and to determine if the capability will be available within our timeframes.  In addition, Sempra is developing alternatives to the Gray/Effluent water use plan as part of the regulatory approval process.  Once the development of those alternative concepts are completed, they will share them with us. [From Mr. Brent Waters testimony the primary alternative is to get the water directly from the Potomac river with a pipeline being constructed with right up New Design road, or right up Ballenger Creek Pike.] 

Question: Didn't the application talk about using the effluent water as the primary source and using the Potomac river as a supplemental source?
Answer: No, that was not in the application.  Plan is effluent only, with alternative options still under development.

Question: Is there enough water in the planned effluent system to provide for full plant operation?
Answer: Based on Preliminary discussions with the County - Yes.

Question: There is a plant that is like this one that has to truck out significant amounts of mineral and salt deposits to a landfill.  What is your plan for this?
Answer: That plant is what is known as a zero discharge plant.  They basically boil off all of their water and then have to deal with the deposits.  This plant will discharge all of those mineral and salt deposits, along with all of the other water contents but in a smaller volume of water.  It is expected that there will be about a 7:1 concentration increase.

Question: So what impact will those significantly higher concentrations have on the river?
Answer: The plant will have to live within whatever guidelines / agreement is made with the Potomac River regarding the discharge.  If we are unable to meet the requirements we will have to come up with an alternative.

[As we all know from reading the papers, the pipeline project is a major area of contention between a number of factions.  In my opinion while it is the best alternative for this plant (if approved) I think we can expect to have ongoing construction of both the Sempra pipeline and the County pipeline at either the same time or right after the other in our part of the county.]

02/18/2006 08:24 AM