An SIDES must also contemplate an environmental monitoring program that allows for comparative measurements, between the before and after the start-up of the project, in order to corroborate the correct functioning of the purification system according to the variables and design results This environmental monitoring program represents the guarantee of a system that was designed to work correctly, since even if optimal results are not achieved, the responsible party would be forced to make improvements in the system to achieve the desired results.

A water tap works in a simple way, an example can be seen in the model of “Seawater intake by Communicating Vessel System”. It consists of a pit built on land below sea level, which is connected to the marine environment through an HDPE pipe and a filter that prevents the entry of particularly thick; over the pit of communicating vessels is a pump that sucks salt water to be stored in a tank or to be directly used in the intended application.

For the calculation of the pipeline, the bathymetry studies and marine currents of the area where the system will be installed must be counted; with the purpose of calculating the stability of the pipeline on the seabed and guaranteeing a water quality at the point of capture (low of particles in suspension). The intake pipe is constructed in several long stretches (for example, 300 m long) and reinforced concrete weights, attached to the pipe, are placed to interconnect them in the sea; finally it is necessary the ditching of the pipe in such a way that it remains buried in the seabed, especially in depths less than 10 m.

The applications of the model of “Taking of Sea Water by Communicating Vessel System” are diverse, and can be found mainly in:

Feeding of desalination plants.

Cooling of thermoelectric plants.

Feeding complexes of saltwater pools.

Air conditioning systems cooled by seawater (SWAC acronym in English).

Ocean thermal energy production systems (OTEC acronym in English).

The transport is carried out from a reservoir located on the mainland, crossing an aquatic area, which is built with a system of HDPE pipes with reinforced concrete counterweights that are installed in a solidary way along the pipeline. These subsea aqueducts must be constructed by means of long stretches of continuously welded pipes with their flanged ends, of approximate lengths between 300 and 500 m, which are prepared on land and subsequently floated to the installation area to sink them on the seabed.

The long sections are connected to each other by means of flanges, stainless steel fasteners and high pressure gaskets, which allow to ensure the tightness of the system. To ensure adequate protection of the aqueduct, it is necessary to make a submarine ditch to bury the pipeline and leave it out of reach of marine currents and possible collisions with anchors or trawls with fishing nets, especially at depths below 10 m where higher magnitudes of marine currents are reached capable of affecting the stability of the system.

For the design of an underwater aqueduct, current and bathymetry studies should be available to provide detailed information on the variables needed to perform structural calculations and choose the most appropriate route to position the pipeline on the underwater bed. Particularly in submarine aqueducts (unlike submarine outfalls), it is necessary to have shock absorber systems, which are part of the concrete counterweights to limit the forces that may be produced by the expansion of the pipeline as the internal pressure of the system increases.