Water scarcity has increased the necessity for water re-use utilization of poor quality water and operating systems at higher cycles of concentration (COC). High silica content make-up water is a major obstacle to cost-effective treatment programs for cooling systems operating at high COC. The approach most often used for silica limited cooling systems involves using a base treatment program with an overlay or supplemental treatment such as high polymer concentrations in combination with phosphonate(s) to control silica concentrations approaching 300 mg/L. However this approach leads to very expensive treatments. This study presents a novel treatment program that incorporates a cost-effective silica polymerization inhibitor in combination with current corrosion control technology. The study compares the performance and relative cost effectiveness of this novel treatment program with currently available technologies.