Satisfying the Water Supply Demand of the Channel Tunnel

When Europe's largest civil-engineering construction site, the Channel Tunnel, requested a guaranteed source of water during 1988, the Folkestone District Water Company was experiencing the first signs of the drought conditions which were to prevail for the next three years. Whilst infrastructure changes allowed for supplies to be made available to the Channel Tunnel contractors, the increasing reduction of resources meant that an alternative supply of water was required.
The solution to the problem was to utilize desalination by reverse osmosis of sea water taken from the English Channel. The process design and operation of this most arduous of feed water is discussed, demonstrating the successful application of this technology.