A Maryland company has filed for a permit with the Army Corps of Engineers to test a barge-based desalinization system.
Murtech has been exploring the idea for several years as a way to deal to deal with emergency events in coastal areas that lose fresh water after hurricanes or other events.
Click here to see notice of application from the Army Corps of Engineers.
According to the permit, the Glen Burnie company wants to place a barge off the coast of Delaware and will install a pipeline from shore to the barge in order to bring drinkable water from the barge to the shore. Wave action will be used to move saltwater through the system.
This Philadelphia office previously issued a permit for the project in 2014 to test the technology, with the company now ready to test the ability to generate drinkable water.
The barge would be located about three-quarters of a nautical mile east of the Delaware Coastline in the Indian River inlet area.
The articulating vessels will pump the saline water through a reverse osmosis filter to create potable water.
Excessive salt would be pumped back into the surrounding ocean water.
The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control has determined that the project and putting salt back into the ocean would not have a negligible effect on sea life.
Comments on the proposed work can be submitted, in writing, within 15 days to the District Engineer, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Philadelphia District, Wanamaker Building, 100 Penn Square East, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19107-3390.
