Mr. MCFARLAND. Mr. Chairman, if I might pursue a few questions with respect to Brownsville. If I recall your statement, Mr. O'Meara, you stated that a feasibility report had been completed. Mr. O'MEARA. Yes, sir. Mr. MCFARLAND. Now, recognizing the statement you made earlier that the plant you build primarily is for information, a prototype such as Brownsville, one of the purposes would be to develop some meaningful cost data? Mr. O'MEARA. That is correct. The prototype plant is an operating plant. It is no longer experimental; only to the extent that it is the first of a kind, but it is designed to be an operating production plant. Mr. MCFARLAND. In that feasibility report, what is the estimated cost of water from the Brownsville prototype plant? Mr. O'MEARA. The estimated cost on today's calculations of fuel costs at 40 cents a million B.t.u., indicates the water would be 60 cents per thousand gallons. Mr. MCFARLAND. And does this cost include the total cost of the plant including the cost the Government contributes? Mr. O'MEARA. Yes, sir. Mr. MCFARLAND. And what is the amount that the Government would contribute? Mr. O'MEARA. Our contribution for the construction of the plant would be in the range of $6 to $7 million. Our total input to the project would be about $101% million. Mr. MCFARLAND. And do I understand there would be an additional Federal investment; a loan from HUD? Mr. O'MEARA. No, sir. The Texas Water Development Board and the Lower Rio Grande Municipal Water Authority are the source of other money. Mr. MCFARLAND. Is this recommendation based on this being the lowest-cost water for furnishing the necessary supply to that area? Mr. O'MEARA. Yes, sir. Mr. MCFARLAND. In other words, alternatives have been studied? Mr. O'MEARA. We looked at the alternative of brackish water in the area, but the data available on brackish ground water indicates that it is not a reliable source of supply. If we began drawing on those wells we could very rapidly deplete the source of supply. Mr. MCFARLAND. Did you look at the possibility of stored water from reservoir development, whether there would be available water from stored water? Mr. O'MEARA. I would have to check that question, but it is my belief that the Texas Water Development Board has studied the alternatives and have recommended this as the way they think it would be best to proceed. I can check that further for you if you'd like, Mr. McFarland. Mr. MCFARLAND. I recall a few years ago there was a proposed reclamation project for developing water, and one of the possible areas of use of municipal water was the Brownsville area. That time they were estimating the cost of water around 5 cents or 6 cents a thousand gallons for municipal water. Mr. O'MEARA. I would have to conclude that that has been carefully looked at by the Texas Water Development Board and the local people have recommended this would be the way to proceed. Mr. MCFARLAND. Mr. Chairman, maybe we could have some further information for the record on that. Mr. O'MEARA. I think one of the things that makes me believe this is they are willing to put their dollars into the project. That is a pretty good commitment. Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. Casey, do you have any questions? Mr. CASEY. I don't have any questions. Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. Leppert? Mr. LEPPERT. No, sir. I don't have any questions. Mr. JOHNSON. The gentleman from Idaho. Mr. MCCLURE. I wonder, on the feasibility of the Brownsville plant, what interest cost was used in the capital cost. Mr. STROBEL. I'll have to check that-around 5 percent. Four percent. It was their money, whatever the Texas Water Development Board interest would pay on the bonds they're going to buy. We will check that figure. Mr. McCLURE. I wonder if you would provide that for the record so we will know what the interest cost is, compared to 63 cents per thousand gallons. (Information supplied for the record follows:) BROWNSVILLE PROTOTYPE FINANCING The financing for the Brownsville prototype project is made up of Federal and local funds. The local funds would be supplied by the Lower Rio Grande Municipal Water Authority through the sale of bonds to the Texas Water Development Board. The current interest rate on funds obtained by qualified entities in Texas from the TWDB is approximately 3.87%. A rounded figure of 4% interest on capital was used in the feasibility study. Mr. JOHNSON. The gentleman from Colorado, Mr. McKevitt. Mr. McKEVITT. Mr. Chairman, I just want to welcome Mr. O'Meara to the hearings. It's nice to see your smiling face again. Mr. O'MEARA. Thank you, sir. Mr. JOHNSON. We want to thank you, Mr. O'Meara, for appearing here and for the statement that you gave us, and the additional statement that you gave this morning in response to the questions. You will also furnish the other materials that we asked for, for the record here? Mr. O'MEARA. I would like to thank the Chairman for the opportunity to be here, and I would urge you to give favorable consideration to the authorization request that we put before you, and I will rest with whatever decision you make on our patents. (Letters for the record plus those referred to on page 46, follow :) UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, Congressman WAYNE N. ASPINALL, SEA WATER CONVERSION LABORATORY, Chairman, Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, Washington, D.C. DEAR CONGRESSMAN ASPINALL: The beginning of the budgeting process seems an appropriate time to urge favorable action on the Office of Saline Water's request for appropriations. I am a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, and professional engineer in California, mainly in heat-power systems with some background in construction. I am also Coordinator of the University's saline water conversion program and Director of the Sea Water Conversion Laboratory. The aim of the University of California program to help make large quantities of desalted water available at low cost is practically the same as that of the Office of Saline Water. During its twenty-two years, the University pro gram has included research on all forms of desalination and has participated in the OSW program from its beginning. Regarding the subject of this letter, however, please consider me a citizen with a longtime interest in desalted water supplies for arid lands to improve the living conditions of underprivileged people. Because it was a significant step towards implementing my wishes, I was particularly pleased when the United States Government set up a program to encourage the desalination industry to provide practical water supplies in arid regions. During the six years I have been directly involved in desalination, I have come to realize how far both programs had to go to meet their goals and how farsighted the federal and state planners had been. I appreciate the desire of the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs to make good use of the taxpayers' money and your efforts to spur the Office of Saline Water to aggressively pursue the Government's aims for I firmly believe success will have far-reaching beneficial effects on the well-being of all Americans. The Office of Saline Water has been the necessary focal point in the ambitious developmental program to drastically shorten the maturation period of the emerging desalination industry. Many public and private research and development concerns have been active in selecting promising ideas and processes from the hundreds of possibilities initially competing for attention. The OSW has been a central figure in this selection process. Theirs is a coordinating, planning, and, sometimes, directing role required to see that important possibilities are not overlooked and to maintain progress toward the establishment of a viable desalination industry. On the whole, they have had a fair measure of success. Desalting can be done so many ways that it is to the OSW's credit that, with the help of the interested scientific and industrial community, they quickly found the most likely desalting methods to be demonstrated in state-of-the-art plants. Much was learned in the attempt, and the desalting industry was stimulated as intended. The concept of test-bed facilities was effectively exploited by the OSW, and excellent testing programs have been developed at several sites. An important service was the funding of the fifteen conceptual design studies. OSW ground rules aimed at uniform cost estimates were a useful step towards providing a practical way to compare these and other plant designs. Naturally, there were difficulties with these simplified procedures and the resulting controversies stimulated more realistic methods. Now, because of the OSW's efforts and financial support, there are sophisticated computer programs available at the OSW and in several active planning groups. Another important saving in developmental cost came with the OSW's development of modules as distinct from pilot plants. Modules provide better means of measuring the performance of very large plant equipment without actually building large plants. Since they use prototype equipment, they can be incorporated into large plants, thus recovering much of their original cost. The OSW has provided technical information freely and encouraged the building of commercial plants by funding feasibility and engineering studies and by cooperating in the financing of plants employing new technology. When the University of California discovered practical reverse osmosis membranes and demonstrated their feasibility, the OSW was quick to recognize the potential of this revolutionary method that has applications in many other technologies. Their support of research and development of this new technology must be credited with being a major influence in the rapid establishment of the reverse osmosis industry. Another significant advance in desalination has occurred recently as a result of OSW-sponsored heat-transfer augmentation research at the Sea Water Conversion Laboratory. The resulting foaming-flow method doubles evaporation rates in vertical tube evaporators and increases their stability in the upflow mode. This improvement is already being considered for demonstration units. Further activity on this project is expected to demonstrate ways to recover and recycle the foaming agent, remove copper and other metallic products of corrosion from the effluent brine, and aerate the brine. These improvements should make large distillation plants much more environmentally acceptable than previously possible. Consequently, it now appears that after initial manufacturing and managerial techniques have been worked out, state-of-the-art dual-purpose plants capable of distilling from 200,000 to 1,000,000 acre feet of water a year could produce water at a cost less than additional imported water in several parts of the country. The use of low-cost geothermal energy may provide the necessary economies to make the construction of the first one or two very large distillation plants finan cially feasible, thus providing the means of gaining the experience and manufacturing capability needed by industry to construct such plants economically. A strong federal desalination program is still urgently needed, for there is much to be done. In my opinion, the OSW should be retained as the guiding organization and encouraged by administrative and financial support to the greatest extent possible in the light of other pressing needs. In the California State research program at the University, I have appreciated being able to turn to the OSW for advise, cooperation and support. In direct contacts with many members of their staff in connection with research projects over the last five years, I have been favorably impressed with their diligence, competence and care. They have demonstrated that they can work effectively with both the industrial and the scientific communities. It had been my opinion that much of the apparently slow progress of the federal desalination program was probably due to insufficient funding to take advantage of a considerable number of opportunities to advance the technology. This view was reinforced recently when I could see that some projects that certainly merited funding on the basis of probable payoff and industrial need simply could not be supported by the OSW. Since no other funds were available, this work had to be put off thus postponing those parts of the development of desalination. This is unfortunate since early solution of problems would produce savings in construction and operating costs during the development process and later in commercial operation. At this time, I see additional needs for direction on a large demonstration plant program, in rapidly progressing distillation and membrane research, and in geothermal desalination to assure their economical development. May I, therefore, respectfully urge favorable consideration of the Office of Saline Water and all possible financial support for their program. Yours sincerely, ALAN D. K. LAIRD, Director. TEXAS WATER DEVELOPMENT BOARD, Hon. WAYNE N. ASPINALL, Chairman, Interior and Insular Affairs Committee, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. DEAR MR. ASPINALL: As you are well aware, the State of Texas has its share of water problems and water needs. Recent years have seen extensive efforts put forth here at the State level in cooperation with Federal entities and local interests in seeking to solve many of the problems and meet most of the needs. Looking back on State efforts during the last few years, it is refreshing to note the exceedingly excellent relationship which this agency has enjoyed with the Office of Saline Water of the U.S. Department of the Interior. We have participated in several ventures jointly with OSW, and we feel that all of these have been highly successful. Because of our past excellent experiences with OSW and also because of a very specific Texas need which their program can help meet in the very near future, I would like to solicit your complete support for authorization of the OSW program for this coming fiscal year. The specific need to which I refer relates to the proposed construction of a single purpose hybrid distillation seawater desalting plant for Brownsville. There is an intensely desperate need for the product water, an estimated 8 million gallons per day, which this plant could provide. Also there is substantial and demonstrable local interest in seeing this plant constructed. Our agency has approved an application by the Rio Grande Valley Municipal Water Authority for State financial assistance totaling $7,610,000 for the non-federal portion of funding that will be required for construction of this plant. I believe this speaks strongly of the genuine interests that both the local officials and the State of Texas have in this important facet of the OSW program. Favorable consideration by your Subcommittee and by the Committee as a whole for authorizing the OSW program for this coming year in its entirety, I most earnestly believe and respectfully submit, would be an appropriate and soundly deserved indication of approval for an agency program that is showing some definite accomplishments in the area of providing actual solutions to problems of water need. Sincerely, W. E. TINSLEY, Chairman. Hon. WAYNE N. ASPINALL, ENVIROGENICS CO., Washington, D.C., February 1, 1972. Chairman, Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, Washington, D.C. DEAR CHAIRMAN ASPINALL: The 1973 Fiscal Budget for the Department of Interior's Office of Saline Water will be presented shortly to your committee. I would like to express my support of this budget. As you may know, Envirogenics Company-both as Envirogenics and as Aerojet-General Corporation-has participated extensively in the United States desalination program. Our work involved programs we have conducted on an independent basis and contracts we carried out for the Office of Saline Water. We therefore have been in an excellent position to observe and to be a part of the significant technological progress the United States has made in desalting over the past several years. Office of Saline Water (OSW) Research and Development programs have resulted in several major recent advances. Our experience involves a few of these advances. In the field of distillation, for example, we based our decision to embark on the Verticle Tube Evaporator (VTE) system largely as a result of early OSW investigations covering this advanced distillation technology. The VTE design is now a key element of the Department of Interior's Orange County Water District project called Water Factory 21. This facility will provide water for Orange County, California and also technical verification of the VTE system as the most economical method for desalting plants producing as much as 200 million gallons of fresh water daily from the sea. VTE technology is such a superior method of desalting that a VTE plant we have built is one of the few major items in Japan now bearing the mark "made in the USA". The plan is in operation on Innoshima Island producing fresh water for the Hitachi Ship Building and Engineering Company. VTE technology is not limited in application to desalting seawater. It can also be used to treat industrial waste water. A large VTE system of ours is now processing industrial waste water at the General Tire & Rubber Company synthetic rubber plant in Odessa, Texas. Half a million gallons of clear water are returned to the plant for reuse daily. This project was supported in part by a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It clearly demonstrates the by-product applicability of OSW programs to other environmental problems. Research carried out by OSW has resulted in engineering and development programs providing reliable Reverse Osmosis systems. Reverse Osmosis (R.O.) systems are used daily to desalt brackish water. R.O. now shows definite potential for the treatment of industrial and other waste waters. Moreover, the application of R.O. to seawater desalting is now more promising because of recent progress made by the OSW. In summary, the OSW program is providing the leadership and direction needed to keep the United States desalination industry out in front around the globe. The need for fresh water is becoming more and more acute. Therefore, the importance of continuing the support needed to advance desalination technology becomes all the more critical. The work currently being pursued by the OSW can contribute measurably to meeting this need. I urge your support of the OSW budget for FY 1973. Hon. WAYNE N. ASPINALL, DR. E. R. ROBERTS, President. COLT INDUSTRIES, INC., Washington, D.C., February 1, 1972. Chairman, Interior and Insular Affairs Committee, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. DEAR MR. ASPINALL: We note that the Hearings for the annual authorizations of the Office of Saline Water have been scheduled for February 7–8, 1972. Colt Industries has had the opportunity to work cooperatively with the Office of Saline Water for a number of years on the development of an effective freezing process for desalination of sea and brackish waters. We have recently expanded our efforts to also include the manufacture and sale of small distillation units. Through our association with OSW and our experience in the market place, we are fully cognizant of the significant role performed by OSW in the past to |