EP Electric has identified two new methods to treat its cooling water. Alternative I (for inflow) would treat the raw water with a conventional reverse osmosis system so that the cycles of concentration could be increased from 5 to 20. This will result in water cost savings of $360,000 per year and chemical cost savings of $56,000 per year. The initial cost of the equipment will be $2.3 million with an operating cost of $125,000 per year.

Alternative B (for blowdown) will treat the cooling tower blowdown water using a highpressure seawater reverse osmosis system to recover most of the water that is sent to an evaporation pond. This option will result in water savings of $270,000 per year. The cost of the system will be $1.2 million with an operating cost of $105,000 per year. Assuming one of the two methods must be installed, determine which is preferred on the basis of the incremental ROR value using MARR of 5% per year, which is a typically low return expected of government projects. Use a 10-year study period with no salvage value for either system.