ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Research in the areas of desalination and removal of arsenic in water will step up at the National Nuclear Security Administration's Sandia National Laboratories over the next few years, the result of a $6 million allocation in the FY2004 federal Energy and Water Development Appropriations bill.

The allocation will include $3 million for desalination and $3 million for arsenic cleanup. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., secured the funding as chairman of the Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee.

"Water issues are some of the most pressing and ominous facing New Mexico and the West, and that is not likely to change anytime soon," says Domenici. "I have worked to provide the resources needed to harness the expertise at Sandia and other agencies to find better, more affordable ways to provide new resources of affordable potable water."

Desalination

Tom Hinkebein, manager of Sandia's Geochemistry Department and author of the Desalination and Water Purification Technology Roadmap released last year, says the desalination program will focus on advanced research projects. Some of these projects will be tested at the Tularosa Basin National Desalination Research Facility in Alamogordo, now in the early stages of construction. In 2002 Congress appropriated funds to Sandia and the Bureau of Reclamation to develop a conceptual design for the facility. The Bureau has been responsible for the engineering design and construction.

Desalination facility groundbreaking Tuesday

News media are invited to a groundbreaking ceremony for the Tularosa Basin National Desalination Research Facility in Alamogordo on Tuesday, June 29, at 9:30 a.m. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., will give remarks. Also speaking will be Sandia VP for Energy and Information and Infrastructure Surety Les Shephard, Bureau of Reclamation Deputy Commissioner Mark Limbaugh, and Alamogordo Mayor Don Carroll. The facility
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Contact: Chris Burroughs
coburro@sandia.gov
505-844-0948
DOE/Sandia National Laboratories
28-Jun-2004

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