SÃO PAULO, Brazil – The first ever guidebook on the growing threat harmful algal blooms pose to seawater desalination plants has been published.
Launched by UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, the 500+ page document has been put together with input from 63 desalination and algal bloom professionals.
The guidance takes data from 12 desalination plants which have faced algal blooms to provide practical advice for site operators.
Other chapters address fundamental features of algal blooms, species identification, HAB ecology, toxins, biomass, and extracellular products. It also discusses ways to maintain plant operations when challenged by an increase in suspended solids and organic loads associated with HABs.
Called, Harmful Algal Blooms and Desalination: A Guide to Impacts, Monitoring, and Management, the guidance tackles an issue which affects both human health and the distribution of desalinated water.
WWi magazine interviewed report author Mike Dixon this week at the IDA World Congress in Brazil, where the guidance document was launched. The video can be viewed above.
The publication was sponsored by the Middle East Desalination Research Center (MEDRC), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission.
Other editors of the guide included Don Anderson and Siobhan Boerlage.
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