| Management of the concentrate is a major concern for the construction of desalination plants. This study generated baseline water quality data as an initial step for evaluating the potential impacts of using the concentrate discharge from the brackish groundwater desalination plant near Brownsville, Texas as supplement water for the reflooding of the Bahia Grande wetland. Samples were collected from the discharge, the drainage ditch that receives the discharge, the Bahia Grande, and adjacent water bodies. The samples were analyzed for dissolved oxygen, total dissolved solids, phosphorus, and arsenic. The study results showed that the discharge did not have an adverse impact on the salinity of the receiving waters. However, the results also indicated that the concentrate had elevated arsenic and phosphorus concentrations (due to arsenic in the groundwater and the use of an organo-phosphonate antiscalant, respectively) that could potentially represent a long-term concern. |
