The Coastal Regional Commission heard multiple presentations on important issues at its September meeting on Wednesday morning. Two particularly noteworthy talks addressed desalinization (removal of dissolved salt) from the aquifer caused by the leaching of sea water into the aquifer. 

The aquifer is the underground fresh water table from which we extract well water for drinking and other personal use. In many coastal areas, the leaching or “seeping” of salty ocean water into the aquifer creates “brackish” water. While brackish is common and normal in nature, especially in coastal areas, it is considered a form of contamination when it comes to drinking water. It renders well water unsuitable for human consumption and use. This problem grows exponentially as more development occurs along the coast. As more and more new dwellings need to access the aquifer, large-scale desalinization is becoming necessary.

Ali Kalantar, senior vice president of sales & marketing at the Chester Engineers Group and president of Chester International, presented on the various cost-benefit details of his company’s various methods of large-scale desalination systems. The Pittsburgh-based company, founded in 1910, deals with a wide array of water purification systems that includes desalinization and purification of waste water as just one facet of their multi-service engineering services.

Kalantar presented on the various “Membrane Processes” his company uses in water purification, including Reverse Osmosis and a variety of high-pressure filtration systems. When asked about the cost differences per thousand gallons, the common measurement of water costs, Kalantar said the cost of desalinization technology could drive the price of purified water up three-fold. Also presenting was Kalantar’s colleague, Tony Bridge.

CRC also heard from one of its own, Hunter Key, GIS manager. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a rapidly-growing technology tool for gathering and providing real-time information on virtually every important happening in a given locale. The GIS technology is available through the various 12 regional commissions in Georgia, and is based on a Java software program that makes it accessible on nearly all devices, from desktop computers to smart phones, and everything in-between. While GIS is available to the public, it is most useful to governments, real estate professionals and crisis management agencies. GIS is modular, meaning that it can focus on specific information that is useful to each entity. Learn more by going to: http://www.crc.ga.gov/departments/planning/GIS.html

The CRC also discussed a recent state audit of its services that compares the CRC to the other 12 regional commissions in Georgia. The audit found CRC to be the worst among the 12 RCs. However, Allen Burns, executive director of CRC pointed out huge flaws in the process, sampling and reporting of information by the auditors, as well as recognition of many things that are already in place and operating well at CRC that the auditors said were not present. More on this audit and CRCs strong response to the auditors tomorrow.