Regulatory Concerns About Concentrate and Permitting for Concentrate Disposal

Water treatment using membrane technology will always generate a coninuous flow of concentrate which must be discharged or the water treatment process will stop. Discharge can be treatment of the concentrate to a solid or ZLD but currently at a relatively high cost. The concentrate will contain only the elements present in the raw water, or contaminants depending on the viewpoint, at much higher concentrations. Ideally the concentrate is a resource somewhere or to someone which makes an ideal disposal resolution. This presentation will outline the issues associated with concentrate discharge.