The current alternatives


In areas that experience significant fresh water shortages there have traditionally been only short- and long-term solutions.

Short-term solutions include trucking in water by tanker, shipping in bottled water or small-scale desalination or water treatment facilities. Longer term solutions include building dams, reservoirs, or large-scale water desalination or water treatment plants.

Please select a tab below:

  • Short-term
  • The Water Gap
  • Long-term

  • Tanking by road - shipping bottled water - emergency desalination solutions

    Pros

    - Crisis management Fresh water delivered when and where its needed

    - Flexibility Can be supplied quickly and efficiently to almost any location

    Cons

    - Transport issues Dependent on the availability of tankers, a fresh water supply and good logistics/road networks

    - Expense Tanking is a short-term solution, and the cost-per litre can quickly become prohibitive, particularly for commercial/industrial customers

    - Political Tanking reinforces the ‘crisis’ mentality which can provoke panic and unrest

    - Security In areas of limited supply fresh water is an enormously valuable commodity, therefore security issues must be explored

    - No competition Often delivering fresh water by tanker is the only option, which leads to a monopoly situation for the supplier of the water

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    Short-term solutions are commercially viable for up to three months, and the fastest any long-term solution can be implemented is around three years. So there is a considerable ‘gap’ between what is regarded as the only commercially sensible options.

    We like to call that the Water Gap.

    And we have the answer to it – three interchangeable modular transportable solutions that offer a real alternative to the existing options.

    To find out more about our onshore-modular, barge-based and vessel-based desalination solutions please click the links below:


    Onshore-modular

    Barge-based

    Vessel-based

  • Dams and reservoirs

    Pros

    - Volume Depending on location, dams and reservoirs an generate large volumes of water and potential hydroelectric power

    - Long-term Once built, cost of water is limited only by the post-treatment process

    Cons

    - Capital investment Cost of building a large dam/reservoir can reach hundreds of millions of dollars

    - Environmental Considerable impact of building a dam, especially clearing of land and large amount of consequential carbon emissions

    - Legal issues Planning permissions can take many years



    Permanent water desalination plant

    Pros

    - Volume Can be designed to fit the requirement and alleviate water shortage long-term. Plants from 20,000 m3 to 500,000 m3 can be constructed with a life of 20-30 years

    - Water cost When fully operational, cost per cubic metre should be in the range of 50c to $1, depending on associated energy costs

    - Integration Can be effectively integrated into current water supply model (reservoirs, existing water distribution networks, etc)

    Cons

    - Cost Requires considerable initial capital investment

    - Time Putting a full scale permanent desalination plant into full operation is a significant engineering project, and can take around 3-5 years to deliver, especially with tendering and financing requirements

    - Legal Significant planning and environmental approvals required

    - Location Only appropriate for coastal regions which satisfy certain criteria

    - Political Negative environmental factors (availability and cost of land) may provoke local resistance)

    - By-products Brine and chemical discharge must be handled sensitively

    - Power Significant energy requirement

    - Fixed plant If water requirements shift, water transportation costs can be prohibitively expensive