New Mauritius Hotels Ltd

Installation and Operation of a

Desalination Plant at Trou aux
Biches Hotel
Environmental Impact Assessment
EIA/2685/DPTAB/001
Issue | J une 2011


















This report takes into account the particular
instructions and requirements of our client.
It is not intended for and should not be relied
upon by any third party and no responsibility is
undertaken to any third party.

J ob number 2685
Arup SIGMA Ltd
19 Church Street
Port Louis
Mauritius
www.arup.com
New Mauritius Hotels Ltd Installation and Operation of a Desalination Plant at Trou aux Biches Hotel
Environmental Impact Assessment

EIA/2685/DPTAB/001 | Issue | 23 J une 2011
J :\CURRENT PROJ ECT\2685 - TROU AUX BICHES CIVIL INFRASTRUCTURE\REPORTS\DESALINATION EIA REPORT\EIA - DESALINATION PLANT AT TROU AUX BICHES-
FINAL.DOCX Page i
Executive Summary
NEW MAURITIUS HOTELS Ltd (herein after referred to as NMH) proposes
to install and operate a seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination plant for
its newly reconstructed Trou aux Biches Hotel (TAB). The reconstruction of the
Hotel was the object of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study in
2007.
The amount of potable water demand for the hotel was estimated at an average
480m
3
/d, this demand is the same to the demand from the previous TAB Hotel
before its demolition.
Potable water supply from the public network has been very erratic, particularly
during the dry season. The water supply deficit from the public networks is
exacerbated by the ongoing rapid urban and tourism development in the northern
districts.
Mobilisation of additional water resources to meet the growing local demand in
the northern districts is not foreseen in the short to medium term.
NMH proposes to install and operate a desalination plant of the reverse osmosis
type using saline water from a drilled borehole. The plant will have a design
production capacity 450m
3
/d of desalinated water. The water intake will be from
one drilled bore hole located within the premise of the hotel.
The operation of the desalination plant will produce a waste brine stream with a
salinity of about 66 000mg/l. The brine stream will be injected in the aquifer after
dilution through an injection borehole located on the sea ward side of the hotel
and about 900metres from the intake borehole.
The SWRO desalination plant will be located in the Technical Yard of TAB
Hotel. Location of this site is due to its close proximity to electricity supply and
standby power plant.
Chemicals will be used in the desalination plant and some of which will reappear
in the concentrated brine. These chemicals are added in very low concentration
and reported evidence from overseas plant indicate that these have no adverse
effects on the environment.
Low Electricity Consumption
Based on a flow of desalinated water 18.75m/h (450m
3
/d), this gives an expected
specific consumption of 4.5 kW/m (including borehole, raw water feed pumps
and brine rejection pumps). For the RO plant alone, the specific consumption
2.9kWh/m.
The Environmental Impact Assessment reviews the probable impacts of the
proposed desalination plant on the natural and built environments. The main
conclusions are:
No Impacts
The Project will have no or minimum impacts on the Built Environment for traffic
and electricity supply. As the desalination plant infrastructure has already been
constructed during hotel reconstruction, there will be no impacts associated with
the construction phase of the desalination project.
New Mauritius Hotels Ltd Installation and Operation of a Desalination Plant at Trou aux Biches Hotel
Environmental Impact Assessment

EIA/2685/DPTAB/001 | Issue | 23 J une 2011
J :\CURRENT PROJ ECT\2685 - TROU AUX BICHES CIVIL INFRASTRUCTURE\REPORTS\DESALINATION EIA REPORT\EIA - DESALINATION PLANT AT TROU AUX BICHES-
FINAL.DOCX Page ii
Air Pollution
There will be no additional gaseous emissions associated with the operation of the
SWRO Plant due to the operation of the existing standby generator located in the
technical building. The gaseous emissions rate for standby plant takes into
account the electricity demand of the proposed desalination plant. Furthermore the
sand by plant will operate only during failure in the national grid. It is estimated
that the plant will operate 10days (continuously) over one year. Gaseous
emissions and ambient air quality standards will not be exceeded.
Potential Negative Impacts and Mitigating Measures
Noise Pollution
During the operational phase, noise generation will be from the operation of the
high pressure pump principally. As the desalination plant will be inside a closed
building, the noise level shall not exceed those prescribed by regulations.
Furthermore inside the building, the high pressure pumps will be enclosed inside
canopies to reduce noise emissions.
Waste waters
Wastewaters from the process, namely cleaning of the RO membranes will be
generated at a rate of about 300litres every month. This wastewater contains low
load of pollutants and will be sent to the existing wastewater treatment plant
(design capacity: 450m
3
/d). This load will have no impact on the wastewater
treatment plant.
Discharge of brine
To produce 450m
3
/d of potable water, the desalination plant will generate
700m
3
/d of brine at a concentration of 65 076mg/l which is approximately 63%
greater than that of the aquifer saline water.
Water with higher than normal salt concentrations could potentially affect marine
biota not tolerant of elevated salt levels.
Three options were considered for the disposal of the concentrated brine:
Option 1: An outfall in the lagoon;
Option 2: Injection of the concentrated brine into the underground water
through an injection borehole; and
Option 3: Dilution of the concentrated brine prior to its disposal through an
injection borehole
It was concluded that option 3 is associated with the least negative impacts.
Chemicals Use at Operational Stage
The desalination plant will require four types of chemicals:
Sulphuric acid for pH adjustment of feed water to the desalination plant
Anti scalant for RO process
Sodium/calcium hypochlorite as disinfectant
Calcium carbonate for stabilisation of desalinated water
Assessment of the chemicals used during the operation of the desalination plant,
knowing their fate and breakdown, indicates that there should not have any
New Mauritius Hotels Ltd Installation and Operation of a Desalination Plant at Trou aux Biches Hotel
Environmental Impact Assessment

EIA/2685/DPTAB/001 | Issue | 23 J une 2011
J :\CURRENT PROJ ECT\2685 - TROU AUX BICHES CIVIL INFRASTRUCTURE\REPORTS\DESALINATION EIA REPORT\EIA - DESALINATION PLANT AT TROU AUX BICHES-
FINAL.DOCX Page iii
significant effect on the water quality of the aquifer saline water including nitrate,
nitrogen or phosphate levels of these waters. Furthermore these chemicals do not
have the potential for bioaccumulation in nearby sediments of both aquifer and
lagoonar waters. The described chemicals are not a threat to the underground
seawater and marine biota. Moreover the quantities of their usage are low.
Positive Impacts
Positive impacts associated with the proposed desalination plant are summarised
below:
The desalination plant will alleviate the shortage of potable water supply to
the Trou aux Biches Hotel;
Reliability in the water quality and quantity for the Hotel;
Significant decrease of water demand by TAB Hotel to the public networks;
Avoidance of traffic induced by lorry tankers supplying water to the hotels to
meet potable water shortfall from the public network.
The Project will enable Trou aux Biches Hotel to meet its potable water
requirements all year round and simultaneously allows CWA, the parastatal
organization responsible for water supply to the public, to improve potable water
supply to the local inhabitants. A do-nothing policy therefore, does not appear to
be justified.


J ean-Pierre WAN
Project Manager
New Mauritius Hotels Ltd




Dr. Alan SAM-SOON
BSc (Chem Eng), Ph.D
Water & Wastewater Management
Specialist
Consultant
Dr. Patrick HAREL
M.Sc Eng, Ph.D.
ArupSIGMA Ltd