Wind power to help West Texas town desalinate groundwater
A pilot project utilizing wind power to desalinate brackish groundwater in West Texas will get a jump-start thanks to a $500,000 grant from the Office of Rural Community Affairs (ORCA) in Austin.

Announced today, the grant to the City of Seminole (Gaines County) from ORCA’s Renewable Energy Demonstration Pilot Program will help fund the $1,075,000 project.

The project holds great promise for rural communities in West Texas and the Panhandle needing to develop new sources of drinking water, said Charles S. (Charlie) Stone, ORCA executive director.

“This project could be a roadmap for how our rural communities can use wind power to help meet future water needs,” Stone said.

The project would be the first in the United States to use wind power to desalinate drinking water for an inland municipality, as opposed to a town located on a coastline.

Seminole’s proposal to ORCA calls for groundwater to be pumped from the deep, brackish Santa Rosa aquifer. A 50-kilowatt wind turbine will help power a reverse osmosis plant that will make the water drinkable for the town’s residents.

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