Let’s assume you sign a new desalination plant tomorrow.
Congratulations. The headache starts today.
You have a budget and a schedule — let’s say 24, 28, or 34 months…
Let’s assume your plant needs to produce 300,000 m³/day of freshwater.
To produce freshwater, you first need seawater.
So, I would divide any desalination project into two very clear phases:
before and after the day when you have seawater flowing through your intake into the intake pump station, ready to be used for the sequential testing and commissioning of all the plant’s systems.
From Day 0, you are therefore in a race against the clock to reach that date.
Let’s assume you have a project schedule of 28 months. Let’s fix that critical milestone in month 21.
And again, I would divide this 21 months race into two clear stages.
A before and an after in the day you reach what you see exactly in the picture below is a turning point.
If you invite me to your desalination plant, and you show me the status of this hole, I can probably tell you whether you are on track — or whether you are likely to struggle with the rest of the project.
So, today’s publication is about the key steps you will follow in every single desalination project — whether it is in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, the UK, or your own neighbourhood — from Day 0 until the moment you get seawater flowing into your intake chamber.
📢 This publication is sponsored by… The Water MBA.
Coming next: Desalination Crash Course for Beginners.
Our AI in Water course is underway. Right after it comes Desalination, where we’ll work through exercises like the one in today’s essay. It’s a must for anyone working in the field.
Register your interest and you’ll be the first to know when the content shall be available.
What matters. What does not. The key decisions you will have to make. The main pitfalls you need to avoid.
And what can make the difference between getting there on time or losing months along the way.
Last but not least, at the end of the publication, you can download completely FREE, in Excel format, the key coordination checklist I’ve used in my projects, covering the main points I need to address at each stage of this major civil infrastructure project.
