Benchmarking Desalination Costs for Multiple Water Sources

Metropolitan Water District of Southern California Engineering, 2003-04

Liaison(s): Sun Liang, Christopher Gabelich, Tae Yun
Advisor(s): Donald Remer
Students(s): One Kim (PM), Zack Burstein, Keith Miyake, Malia Miyashiro, Aileen Ng

This project (1) provided benchmark cost data for brackish-water desalination technologies,(2) prioritized future research needs based on a cost analysis, and (3) identified areas for cost reduction at various plant sizes. The Clinic team created a database of capital investment and annual operation and maintenance costs through various cost-estimation models and literature data.