TUCSON, Ariz. — Several viewers reached out to KGUN 9 On Your Side after our coverage Monday of the $5.5 billion desalinization plant deal our state is considering to feed our dwindling water supply.
Another viewer has a plan for a solution closer to our state, with proposals already in motion. That viewer, Mark Witten, has served the Tucson area with his research since 1983. He was on the Advisory Council for the Pima County Department of Environmental Quality and was professor in pediatrics at the University of Arizona.
During his research, he worked with an isolated biofilm from the lungs called surfactant. He noticed the surfactant had a different reaction to salt. So he made the connection that he could potentially desalinate water. In April, he’ll propose to water authorities in Southern California his idea to build a desalinization plant in Colorado.