E ffects of environment on source water for desalination plants o n the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia

( 1)The A1-Jubail experience with a segregated and protected coastal intake bay has been f ound to be a great success. The source water quality remained impressively good through o ut the period of study and did not show any sign of contamination either from the discharge area or from the region of the A1Jubail industrial city. (2) At AI-Jubail, the sea adjacent to the plant is s hallower than the intake basin. The drag of s eawater maintained by intake pumps and the break water walls of the bay creates an entrainment and embayment effect. (3) Whereas elevated total suspended solid load, i ncidence of planktonic blooms and ingress of b iofouling organisms have the potential of creating serious colloidal and biofouling situations in the seawater RO plant, the ingress of jellyfish and sea grass could render t he intake bar/travelling screens ineffective and decrease the efficiency and increase the cost of operation and maintenance of plants.