TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Several viewers reached out to KGUN 9 On Your Side after our coverage Monday of the $5.5 billion desalinization plantdeal our state is considering to feed our dwindling water supply.
One viewer asked, “Why not build a pipeline from the Great Lakes to Arizona with a controlled amount of fresh potable water to relieve the water shortage here?”
Another viewer said, “I'll be in touch with this water desalination program. We should put the plant here so we're reliant on disposal of the waste, not Mexico.”
Another viewer has a plan for a solution closer to our state, with proposals already in motion. That viewer, Mark Witten, has served the Tucson area with his research since 1983. He was on theAdvisory Council for the Pima County Department of Environmental Quality and was professor in pediatrics at the University of Arizona.
He’s done extensive research and made significant discoveries, but his current focus is on providing a long term water supply to Arizona and other states that rely on the Colorado River.
In 2007, he met with a researcher in Saudi Arabia. He remembered looking out of a high rise at the dry land surrounding them. When the researcher said he was interested in water desalinization, he immediately understood why. It was that moment that he realized he might have the answer.
During his research, he worked with an isolated biofilm from the lungs called surfactant. He noticed the surfactant had a different reaction to salt. So he made the connection that he could potentially desalinate water.
Now he has a model for desalinization technology. He uses silicon disks with a layer of the liquid biofilm and coated the liquid onto silicon disks. He’s able to demonstrate the formation of salt on the disks by putting them in an aluminum pan. With a small amount of water, he places the pan on a lab rocker. At only 15 revolutions per minute, he’s able to make the desalinization occur.
Witten is hoping to use the potential his technology has and turn it into a solution that is desperately needed by states relying on Colorado River water. Witten said he has an inside contact with one of the water districts in Arizona. The source told him as of right now, cutbacks are at three million acre feet.
In April, he’ll propose to water authorities in Southern California his idea to build a desalinization plant in Colorado.
“We’re going to potentially bring up Gulf of Mexico sea water through a canal 900 miles from Texas to Pueblo, Colorado. And then we’ll desalinate the seawater there. Then, I can recharge three different rivers,” said Witten.
He said the energy needed is much less costly than the plan Arizona is currently discussing.
“I’m not bringing up water from the Sea of Cortez. I’m not using reverse osmosis which is incredibly expensive, because part of that plan is they’ve got to build a power plant to build a desalinization plant. I could power my technology with wind, solar, and batteries at night,” said Witten.
He said he has plans for the salt generated from the plant. In looking at other plants as models, he found one that pours the salt back into the ocean. He wanted to avoid the ecological impacts, so he came up with an idea to avoid wasting the salt.
He planned to extract lithium and magnesium from the sea salt. Then the remaining sea salt can be used to grow sea algae, which grows fast and absorbs CO2 at a fast rate. He said it has the potential to be of use in several ways.
“My program manager from when I worked at the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research tells me they’re converting sea algae into synthetic jet fuel. And my pilot friend tells me synthetic jet fuel derived from sea algae is better for the jet engines because their parts don’t wear out as fast,” said Witten.
Witten also said sea algae has enough nutrients that it could be used as food for fuel and animals. With these sources of revenue, he believes any costs would be paid for down the line. Still, he proposed costs could be raised from each benefitting state selling water bonds until the project is complete.
He will be pitching his model to interested parties this weekend in Calexico, California.
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Reyna Preciado is a reporter for KGUN 9, she joined the KGUN 9 team in July of 2022 after graduating Arizona State University. Share your story ideas with Reyna by emailing reyna.preciado@kgun9.com or by connecting on Instagram, or Twitter.
