Does water reuse complement desalination or compete with it?
* Unlike desalination, recycled water does not generally go into the public water supply, so there has always been a degree of separation between the two markets. However, there seems to be a swing away from desal and towards reuse in two important markets. In Spain, insiders suggests that only one more project in Acumeds former flagship desalination programme will be tendered, and then the rest will be abandoned as the reuse programme moves up a gear. In China our correspondent reports that desal projects are facing long delays as the authorities revisit how desal water is to be paid for. Reuse is moving ahead however (see Desal Tracker p39 and Water Reuse Tracker p49). * Experience suggests that when governments decide to postpone desalination projects, they usually end up needing twice as many of them later. The main beneficiary of such poor planning will be mobile desalination suppliers. It looks like Al Fatah Water and Power will be well placed. It has a 75,000m3/d temporary plant
