The world's water consumption rate is doubling every 20 years, outpacing by two times the rate of population growth. It is projected that by the year 2025 water demand will exceed supply by 56%, due to persistent regional droughts, shifting of the population to urban coastal cities, and water needed for industrial growth. The supply of fresh water is on the decrease. Water demand for food, industry and people is on the rise.

Lack of fresh water reduces economic development and lowers living standards. Clearly, there is a critical worldwide need to better manage this increasingly valuable resource. Desalination systems from GE Water & Process Technologies can make abundant fresh water both from seawater and from challenging brackish sources.

While Travco is always taking the lead in CR (creative solutions), and is constantly aware of preserving the environment, the company is currently working on solving this problem by conducting this large scale project in Madinat Makadi. Following the successful startup of a 4,000 m3/d (1 MGD) SWRO system, Travco's Mirage Makadi project awarded a second phase of the project to ITT Corp’s Water Equipment Technologies (WET) division. The finished project will provide 8,000 m3/d (2 MGD) potable water to several resorts in the Makadi area of Hurghada, on the Red Sea Coast, and will cost a total of $2.8 million for the equipment.

The company’s Middle East & Africa regional manager, Raafat Ali, told WDR that the units employ beach wells for the water intake and concentrate disposal. “Beach wells reduce pretreatment requirements to the addition of an antiscalant and 5 µm cartridge filtration. The first units were commissioned in April and have been producing water with a TDS below 300 mg/L. The second phase is scheduled for delivery in 20 weeks,” he said.