060

Welding Journal | June 2016

Welding Austenitic SMO 254 Stainless Steel for the Desalination Industry California is entering its fourth year of unprecedented drought. And with an ocean of water off its coast, finding a way to turn a drought-proof source into a potable one is seen as the best insurance policy for rapidly diminishing rivers and reservoirs. San Diego County, in particular, is especially vulnerable in this drought; the region imports over 90% of the water it uses. With sources like the Colorado River being stretched thin, compounded by the drought in the west and lack of snowpack, an innovative solution is being brought to the forefront. To ease the crisis, California looks to other countries like Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Australia, which have embraced the technology of desalination and constructed numerous plants over the past few decades. The Carlsbad Desalination Plant, located about 35 miles north of San Diego, is a reverse osmosis (RO) seawater plant that will turn roughly 100 million gal/day of seawater into 50 million gal/day of How welders at the Carlsbad Desalination Plant are successfully welding corrosion-resistant alloys 60 WELDING JOURNAL / JUNE 2016 BY MATTHEW STERNISHA An aerial view of the Carlsbad Desalination Plant taken in September 2015.


Welding Journal | June 2016
To see the actual publication please follow the link above