DESALINATION

ELSEVIER Desalination 141 (2001) 223-236

www.elsevier.com/locate/desal

Desalination and the environment

Nicos X. Tsiourtis
Water Development Department, Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment, Nicosia, Cyprus Tel. +357 (2) 803128/100; Fax +357 (2) 675019; email: tsiourti@dial.cylinkcom.cy

Received 4 May 200 1; accepted 15 May 200 1

Abstract

Water, a limited finite resource, vital for the very existence of life on earth and a necessity for economic and social development and for environmental sustainability, is becoming a scarce commodity. This is caused by the population growth, the change of lifestyle, water pollution caused by human intervention, inefficient use of water and climatic changes with more Ii-equent extreme events such as droughts and floods. Where the availability of water cannot be increased by using conventional resources or by recycling or cannot be made available by demand management methods, the desalination of sea or brackish water offers an alternative solution. The desalination of water has been practiced since ancient times but was not widely used due to technological limitations, the prohibitive high capital costs, high-energy consumption and finally very high unit cost when compared to conventional water. New technological advances in the last 30 years tremendously reduced the capital cost and the energy consumption so that desalination projects can be considered as alternative solutions to water development. However, desalination projects are still not very cheap to be easily accommodated by the economies of many countries, energy consumption is still comparatively high, and acceptance of such projects is questioned by environmentalist, politicians, engineers and other groups of the population on economic, social and environmental issues. The present paper outlines the growth of desalination worldwide, the reasons why it is growing, whether it is a solution to the water scarcity problem, and what are desalination and desalination and the environment. It also considers the social acceptance of the plant, steps for scientific, engineering, social and environmental acceptance and environmental mitigation measures and the energy demand and alternative sources of energy. Environmental effects on the sea environment, the air, land and on the region as well as on the regional development plans are to be minimized. Finally the costs are to be considered including the effects on the total economy of the country and the financing options.
Keywordr: Desalination; Environment

Presented at the European Conference on Desalination and the Environment: 28-31 May 2001.
0011-9164/0x/$See front matter 0 200x Elsevier Science B.V. All

Water Shortage. Lemesos, Cyprus,

rights reserved

PII:SOOll-9164(01)00407-6

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1. What makes desalination

grow?

Desalination of brackish and seawater is expanding rapidly, primarily to support urban and industrial developments in arid and semi-arid areas and in remote areas where water is not available or it is too costly to transfer or develop. The market is driven by the water scarcity created by the limited water supply, population growth, improvement of lifestyle which increases water demand and climatic changes and human intervention that reduce water availability. The market is also driven by the falling costs of desalination, which are due to the technological advances in the desalination process. 1.1. Growth of desalination capacity worldwide According to the IDA Report No. 16 [ 12??], more than 120 countries in all regions of the world used desalination. There are more than I,.600 desalting units with a capacity of 100 m3/d and more, with an installed capacity more than 26 MCM/d. Fig. 1 shows the capacity ofthe landbased desalination plants vs. the contract year in which it is seen that during the years 1997-1999 the total capacity contracted was around 4 MCM/d or 15.4% of the total installed. From estimates in the next 5 years, the total capacity will increase by approximately 20 MCM/d with
2.500 2.000

an investment around US $20 billion. Further, Fig. 2 shows the total daily cumulative capacity of all land-based desalting plants and the total daily output of all operational plants. From the graph it is seen that the total installed capacity has more than doubled in the last 12 years. Assuming that the daily output is 90% of the installed capacity, the average annual production of desalinated water is 8.5 BCM, representing only around 2.2 per thousand of the globally abstracted water or 2.43% of the total water abstracted for domestic use. 1.2. Water scarcity and desalination capacity by region One of the main reasons for desalination growth is the water scarcity faced in many countries. Today more than 20 countries situated mainly in the Middle East and North Africa face a water scarcity due to structural and periodic water shortages. These, combined with high population growth rates and human intervention, caused water scarcity at levels much below the 1500 m3/cap set by the United Nations as the minimum for sustainability. Fig. 3 shows the water scarcity change in the years 1970-2000 in the different regions of the world. With a global

Fig. 1. Capacity contract year.

of land-based

desalination

plants vs.

Fig. 2. Cumulative plants.

capacity

of land-based

desalination

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225

1950

1960

1970

1980

2ooo

War
Fig. 3. Water availability in the world by region.

ME0
u) 2000

Electrodialysis 6% I MSF 44%

4%

.o

E 1500 1000
500

3
0

0 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1985 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 Year

42%

Fig. 5. Installedcapacityby process. countries is less than 1000 m3/capita and in some it is much below 500 m3/capita. Water scarcity impedes economic, social and environmental development of many countries, but desalination offers an alternative for augmenting the availability of water. The Middle East countries, mainly the Gulf Cooperation Council States, are the biggest users of desalination technology with more 50% of the worlds capacity, followed by the Americas with 19%, then Europe with 13%, Asia with 12%, and Africa with 6%.

Fig. 4. Waterscarcity in the Mediterranean countries for

the period 1970-2025.

average availability of 7000 m3/capita, which is more than enough to meet the demands, the regional availability varies from 3500 m3/capita in Asia to 12,000 m3/capita in Latin America, which shows that distribution is unequal. The variations are even worse at regional levels, as shown in Fig. 4, where the water scarcity for a number of Mediterranean countries is shown, Water availability in almost all Mediterranean

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IS88 ES 3.5

1990 ES 10

II
1990
ES 10

1990

1991 CY 20

U.S.A 25

II
CY 40

1995

1995 BAH 100

1998 U.S.A. 75

1998 W.INO 2.3

1998 CY 40

1998 CY 20

II
CY TAMPA 20

1998 1999

2000

TRIN. 109

Fig. 6. Historical evolution of cost

f desalination waf:e

1.3. Reduction of desalination

cost

Historically, due to its high cost, desalination was limited to applications as a source for potable water and for high-quality water for industrial uses. However, technological advances in the last 30 years have driven down the cost of desalinated water due to reductions in the price of equipment, reduction in energy demand and know-how on water treatment. Technological advances were made on the multi-stage flash (MSF) process (materials and process) and on reverse osmosis (RO), with improvement on the membranes and the energy recovery equipment. Fig. 5 shows the share of installed desalination by process and Fig. 6 the trend of total cost of the desalinated water since 1988. The figures show that RO and MSF are the most widely used processes, and that the cost of water is decreasing with time. In 1988 the total cost was around US $1 .7/m3 where in 2000 it had been reduced to around US $0.7/m3.

I. 4. Increase development

of cost of conventional

water

The growth of the desalination is also due to the increase of the cost of development of the conventional water because of water shortage, fewer and not suitable dam sites with higher development costs, deeper aquifers and water quality deterioration.

2. Is desalination the solution for the water scarcity problem? Water development in various countries has followed the classical pattern. Spring water and river flows were developed first. This was done by abstracting water directly from the spring or diverting or even by impounding it to smallcapacity reservoirs at a relatively very low cost. Most ancient civilizations such as Mesopotamia and Egyptian developed and flourished around rivers.

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Shallow groundwater was developed by digging wells and abstracting water, initially by buckets and then by chains of buckets. With the invention of drilling machines and turbine pumps, deeper wells or boreholes were drilled and large quantities of water started being pumped. With the full exploitation of groundwater and the development of technology for building high dams, the development and utilization of surface water flowing in rivers started. All these developments were made in accordance with existent technology. With almost all natural water resources fully developed and utilized, man started looking for the reuse of the treated domestic effluents and the desalination of brackish and seawater. The reuse of treated wastewater and the desalination of sea or brackish water were the result of technological advances, which offer to the water industry alternatives for water production. Desalination requires saline water, which is abundant in the oceans and the seas, and energy, which is limited and relatively expensive. Thanks to the advancement in desalination technology, seawater and brackish water can be desalinated for domestic and industrial purposes and provide enough water for development in areas where in the past this could not be done. The desalination alternative is now available, and it is up to engineers and planners to use it wisely and effectively for the supply of water so crucial for the sustainability of life and the environment and the socioeconomic development. Desalination is becoming a solution for water scarcity in most arid countries where structural water shortage is a permanent phenomenon. Such countries are the Arabian Gulf States, which have 50% of the total installed plant desalination capacity and other small islands all over the world. Countries that have exploited their limited natural water resources with no more sources to develop turn to desalination as an alternative. Such countries are Israel, Cyprus, and Jordan.

Finally, desalination is used in cases where good-quality water is required for industrial purposes and fresh water is not available. Today some 40% ofthe worlds population suffers from a water shortage, and by the year 2025 this is expected to increase to 60% due to population growth, improvement of life-style, increased economic activity and human intervention on the environment and the water ecosystem.

3. Desalination

processes

The desalination process separates nearly saltfree water from sea or brackish water. The desalinated water is recovered for consumption where the salts are concentrated in a stream of water called the brine reject, disposed either to the sea or to a saline aquifer or in evaporation ponds. The process requires energy to operate and can use a number of different technologies. A typical flow diagram of the process with inputs and outflows is shown in Fig. 7. The commercially tested desalination processes are based on thermal or membrane methods.
3. I. Thermal methods

This method mimics the hydrological cycle in that salty water is heated producing water vapor that is in turn condensed to form fresh water free
ENERGY

Brine Fig. 7. Desalination process.

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of salts. To do this economically the pressure of the water being boiled is adjusted to control the boiling point. The fresh water is mineralized to make it suitable for human consumption. The important factors to be considered for this method of desalination are the proper temperature relative to its ambient pressure and enough energy for vaporization for energy minimization and the control of scale forming. The energy needed for vaporization is reduced usually by the use of multiple boiling points in successive vessels, each operating at a lower temperature and pressure, where the scale forming is controlled by controlling the top temperature of the process or by the addition of special chemicals to the seawater. The known thermal methods are the multi-stage flash process (MSF), multi-effect distillation (MED) process, and the vapor compression (VC) distillation process. The water produced by the thermal process is very pure with almost no salts, where the feed water quality has almost negligible effect on energy consumption. 3.2. Membrane methods Membranes have the ability to differentiate and selectively separate salts and water. Using this ability but differently in each case, two membrane desalination processes have been developed and are now commercially available for desalting water. Electrodialysis (ED) is a voltage-driven process and uses electrical potential to move salts selectively through a membrane, leaving fresh water behind as product water, where reverse osmosis (RO) is a pressuredriven process, with the pressure used for separation by allowing fresh water to move through a membrane, leaving behind the salts in the brine solution. The commercially available membranes are the spiral wound and the hollow fiber and the product water is fairly pure. With a single pass the product water contains 300500 ppm of salts.

3.3. Other methods Other methods are freezing, membrane distillation, the solar humidification and solar and wind-driven processes. These processes have not achieved the same level of commercial success, but they may prove valuable under special circumstances or with further technological advances or improvements. Common elements to all processes are the need for energy and the production of a high concentrate stream called brine reject or waste stream. The energy requirements for the different processes and methods in each process are shown in Fig. 8, which shows that distillation methods are high energy consumers irrespective of salt content in the water, whereas RO has a lower energy demand depending on the salts concentration. Technological advances in heat transfer, membrane technology, energy recovery machinery, the manufacturing of water treatment chemicals and the combination of methods or processes have reduced the energy consumption per cubic meter. Co-production of water and power mainly in the thermal processes allows the use of the thermal energy exhaust from the power plants in the form of low-pressure steam to provide input to MSF or MED distillation processes. The new trend to reduce capital and energy costs further is the idea of hybrid desalting systems by combining power generation, MSF distillation plants and seawater RO plants.

4. Desalination
4. I. General

and the environment

To be able to establish the relationship between desalination and environment, further to the analysis of the process, the input and the output of the process and their relationship with the environment must be established and evaluated. Each input and output to the desalination

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229

,p-

c.i
Fig. 8. Energy requirements in kWh/m3 according to process.

Type

of Process

process has a positive or negative effect on the environment, and with the proper mitigation measures the adverse effects may be minimized where positive effects may be multiplied and increased. From a study ofthe various parameters it may be concluded that desalination and environment need not be competitive but complimentary to each in a win-win situation. 4.2. Desalination
requirements

and post-treatment of the permeate water. These chemicals must be safe for the treatment of potable water. Chemicals for anti-scaling, anti-corrosion and membrane chemical cleaning. Thermal energy for water distillation in the thermal processes and electric energy for the operation of high-pressure pumps with RO. Land for the construction of the plant. 4.3. Desalination output The desalination process has the following emissions:
l

Desalination requires the following: Saline or brackish water - must be of good quality with a low risk of pollution or contamination. Seawater may be taken either through open intakes or through beech wells depending on the geological conditions. In case of open intake, the sea environment must be away from ports or areas with a high risk of oil spillage or pollution by ships or surface outflows. Chemicals for pre-treatment of the seawater

Brine - this is the process reject and it is made up of a stream of water with high salt content. In the case of desalination of seawater with RO, the salt content of the brine is almost double that of seawater, where in thermal process the brine salt content is approximately 10% more than seawater. This

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l l

stream of water also contains membrane cleaning chemicals and other chemicals used for scale and corrosion control. Desalinated water of a specified quality Noise, produced by the high-pressure pumps and other machinery in the plant.

4.4. Selection of desalination process Selection of the desalination process must be based on the following parameters. 1. Raw water qualities-raw water qualities such as brackish or seawater taken from an open sea intake or beech wells play a decisive role in the selection of the desalination process. For brackish water and seawater from beech wells, RO may be cheaper, where for high salt content seawater requiring expensive and complicated pre-treatment the thermal process may be more suitable and cheaper. 2. Product water qualities - product water qualities are very important for selecting the type of process. Very pure water with almost zero salt content can use the distillation method or a double-pass membrane method. 3. Source of energy - availability and form of the energy play an important role in the selection of the desalination process. If excess thermal energy is available from an existing or a new power station, then the thermal process is preferable. Dual-purpose power desalination systems offer cheaper water, but planners must be able to optimize the power and water to be generated by such plants. Other forms of energy to be considered are electrical, solar, wind and nuclear. 4. Relative cost of each form of energy-the cost of energy is very important since a high percentage of the total cost of desalinated water is due to energy consumption. Energy produced at the site may be less costly than energy from the grid or steam energy from a power station may be less expensive than producing steam on an indi-

vidual basis. The tariff of supply of power from the national grid may be cheaper if it is combined with cuts or reduction of power supply during peak demand hours. Each process has its own requirements for the type of power and the steadiness of power requirements. 5. Location of the plant -Plant location with respect to the power supply source and to the type of power available in the area is a very important parameter for the selection of the process of desalination. 6. Size of the plant - Size of the plant, meaning the daily output of desalinated water, is very important for the selection of the desalination process. Small plants of the mobile type can be use RO where very large desalination plants may be combined with power production generation, thus choosing a thermal process. 7. Environmental requirements-During the preliminary studies for the selection of the process, planners must take into account the requirements imposed by the environment or local authorities. Such requirements include gas emissions to the atmosphere, the concentration of the reject to the sea or to another location, noise levels, chemical hazards during transportation and handling, public safety during construction and operation, building aesthetics meaning the architecture and landscaping, odors and air pollution, the impact on the physical environment and the impact on the biotic environment. 8. Technical know-how and capacity technical know-how and capacity to build, maintain and operate a certain type of desalination plant is very important for a country, although today with the free movement of people, services and commodities, each country can buy almost every service and equipment. Each country will make its own choice for the selection of the one or type of process, taking into consideration its own capability and its dependency on others for services, equipment and power requirements.

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4.5. Main concerns of desalination The most important concerns for a desalination plant in relation to the environment are the following: l location of the plant l brine disposal l energy considerations Below are the procedures/concerns that must be considered for the selection of the best site for the erection of the plant, the brine disposal and the selection of the type of energy. 4.5. I. Selection of the plant site The plant must be erected on a site that is accepted by the affected community, the owner and its neighbors. Since the location of the site on which the plant will be built must have the acceptance of the affected community and the affected neighbors from the social and environmental points of view, the following procedure is recommended for its selection. Set criteria for the selection of the site these criteria must be agreed upon with the affected communities and the environmentalists if possible. Based on the above criteria, select alternative sites for the erection of the plant. For these sites carry out a site location study. From the preliminarily selected sites choose the minimum number of sites (3-5) that have the highest percentage of acceptance and do not present obvious environmental problems if selected. Carry out an environmental impact assessment study (EIAS) and, according to the findings of the study, select the most suitable site from the environmental point of view. 1. Site selection criteria- the recommended criteria for the preliminary selection of alternative sites are the following.

Plant site to be out of built-up or inhabited areas or those declared as areas of environmental interest or of special importance. Since the plant may produce noise and there is a remote risk of public safety for storage and transport of chemicals, it is suggested that such plants be out of areas described above. The plant site should be close to the energy grid or energy plants, depending on the type of energy. This will reduce the cost of energy transport and will also reduce adverse environmental impact energy transportation. The plant site should be close to the raw source of water and to the brine reject area. Thus, the quality of the raw water is safeguarded and the distance of seawater and brine transfer is minimized so the risk of land pollution or contamination is reduced. Large desalination plants must be located on the coast. The seawater must be of good quality and the risk of pollution or contamination must be very remote (the intake to be away from ports or points of discharge of water of questionable quality, etc). The plant site should be close to the existing water system or to the city to be supplied with desalinated water, thus reducing the costs of water transfer and pumping and avoiding the installation of additional conveyors. 2. Location site selection study - Using the site selection criteria with the cooperation of the local authorities, a number of sites are located and marked on a map. For these sites a special study called the site selection study is carried out by a team of consultants which includes a water engineer, a rural or town planner, a geologist, a pedologist, a marine biologist, a mechanical engineer, an environmentalist, a desalination engineer and process engineer, representatives from the local administration and the local communities. The terms of reference of the consultants are prepared by the Department of

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the Environment and also include terms and conditions which safeguard the interest of the local communities. The objective of the study is to select a few suitable sites for the erection of the plant, mostly taking into consideration the topographical, social, economic and environmental interests of the local community and the area. The final selection of the site is made upon completion of the Environmental Impact Assessment Study. This study considers all environmental aspects, evaluates the impact on the environment - adverse and beneficial - and makes recommendations for mitigating measures that must taken for the protection of the environment in relation to the selected site. 4.52. Brine disposal Brine is the process reject, and it is made up of a stream of water with high salt content. In the case of desalination of seawater with RO, the salt content of the brine is almost double that of the seawater, where in case of thermal process the brine salt content is approximately 10% more than the seawater. This stream of water also contains the membrane cleaning chemicals and other chemicals used for scale and corrosion control. The reject may be sent to inland aquifers, an inland water body or to inland evaporating ponds or the sea. In all cases the disposal must have a minimum of adverse impact on the receiving water bodies or the land. 1. Disposal of brine into the sea - since the reject contains mostly the salts of the seawater with minor amounts of other chemicals used during the process of chemical cleaning of membranes or scale and corrosion control with proper disposal and dilution, no pollution or contamination problems are expected. The problems faced for disposal of the brine to the sea are mainly the disturbance of the seabed during construction and the dilution of the salt concentration as follows:

Minimize adverse effects of the seabed and marine life (fish) during construction of the sea outfall. Careful selection of the route of the pipeline and installation of the pipe without great disturbance to the bottom of the sea and to the marine environment avoiding the use of explosives can minimize the adverse effects. Minimize effects on the benthos and marine life during the operation of the plant. This concerns the concentration of salts in the surrounding area around the point of brine disposal. The location of the outfall point (depth of water, distance from the shore, elevation above the seabed and topography of the point and vicinity) and its shape play an important role on the quick mixing with the seawater and the dilution and diffusion of the salts to the larger mass body. Knowledge of the prevailing currents in the area and the area topography are very important for selecting the most appropriate point of brine disposal. A mathematical model simulating the brine disposal may be used to project the salt concentration around the point of discharge using the brine concentration, the discharge rate, the seawater concentration, the sea currents, and the geometry of the outfall and the topography of the location.

2. Brine disposal requires a special study a survey of fish and benthos life at the outfall area (within a perimeter of 200 m or more). The species of the benthos must be recorded and studied in conjunction with the results of the mathematical simulation model. The conclusions of this study in conjunction with the other findings and taking into consideration the relevant directives ofthe European Union concerning the protection of the sea must be used to define and or select the point of the reject outfall. 3. Marine environment monitoring findings of the mathematical model - The and the

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impact of the brine on the marine environment could be checked with the execution of a monitoring program during the operation of the plant. For the Dhekelia plant in Cyprus, the monitoring results carried out every 6 months for 4 years have shown that the situation around the outfall point is steady and that the effect on benthos life has been minimal and confined to an area within a radius of 200 m. 4. Disposal of brine to inland bodies disposal of the brine to inland bodies is not recommended since the adverse effects will be very great. However, if this cannot be avoided, then a special environmental study should be carried out and all mitigation measures must be taken to minimize the adverse effects. 4.5.3. Energy considerations Energy represents approximately 25-40% of the total cost ofthe desalinated water. The cost of energy is a function of the specific energy of the desalination plant and the cost of the energy supplied. The specific energy consumption is a function of the process or the combination of processes and the salt concentration in the case of RO. Since the use of fossil fuel increases the emission of greenhouse gases, great consideration should be made to minimize the energy consumption or use renewable energy. The available forms of energy that must be considered for the desalination process are the following. 1. Non-renewable energy - In this form of energy we have fossil fuel and atomic energy. Fossil energy can be in the form of thermal or electrical energy, but it has the disadvantage of producing greenhouse gases. Atomic energy can be used only in very large schemes; it does not produce greenhouse gasses but has other setbacks that must be carefully considered. All processes of desalination can use fossil and atomic energy separately or in combination. 2. Renewable energy-Renewable energy is available in the following forms: geothermal,

wind, solar ocean and hydropower. However, these forms of energy have serious limitations for application in the desalination processes and their use is at present very limited. Wind energy can be captured by wind turbines and changed into mechanical and electrical energy and can be used for electric energy production and for the desalination of water. Small desalination plants have been erected on small islands using wind energy, but further technological advances are required to reduce the cost of wind energy exploitation. The disadvantages of wind energy are the seasonal variations that make the supply unreliable both for power and water production. Solar energy is constant in some countries, but the high cost of investment and the large area for the erection of the photovoltaic cells or solar stills makes the application economically impractical unless the plant is situated in very remote areas. Other forms of renewable energy such as hydropower are in use extensively for power production, but such energy is usually not available in waterscarce areas. Energy considerations must include the availability of energy, the cost of production, its environmental effects and the desalination process. Dual-purpose power desalination systems can be used to exploit thermal energy extracted or exhausted from electric power stations for the desalination of water, thus using energy that otherwise would be lost. Further, the new trend is to use hybrid systems, which use two or more desalination processes such as MSF/RO. These systems have many advantages with regard to water quality, more efficient use of energy, common intake and extension of RO membranes life. 4.6. Environmental impact assessment study Following the site selection study carried out for a number of sites, an environmental impact assessment study (EIAS) must be carried out for the most promising sites. This study must

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consider all environmental parameters and criteria; evaluate their impact on the air, land and marine environment; and propose measures to mitigate the impact. Before carrying out this study, special studies must be carried out on the selection of the site, the brine disposal and the energy considerations as described earlier in this paper. The EISA study should contain the following: selected process and plant layout (process selected, plant location, plant area, height, size and layout, raw water supply, intake, pumping stations, land pipelines) plant emissions (brine disposal, chemicals used for pre-treatment, for post-treatment, for corrosion control, anti-scaling, anti-fouling, anti-foaming and corrosion control and heat for thermal process) environmental implications (air pollution, noise, public safety, chemical hazards, land environment, marine environment, biotic environment). energy considerations benefits (socioeconomic impact, product water, high reliability supply of water) evaluation of the impact on the environment proposed mitigation measures 4.7. Mitigation measures Mitigation measures, when implemented as instructed, will reduce or minimize the adverse effects on the environment as a result of the desalination project. The mitigation measures are made up of structural measures and operational measures. The structural measures are applied during construction of the plant, such as the depth and location of the intake of seawater and the outfall of the reject; shape and height of building; pipeline routes; pipeline depths, etc. Operational mitigation measures are those that are taken during the operation of the plant such as the prohibition for using certain chemicals or the mandatory use of certain chemicals for the

protection of the environment. The mitigation measures have to be implemented by the contractor and the client. Continuous monitoring of the environment related to the plant and the related installations is a must, and one should not hesitate to intervene with structural or operational mitigation measures to avoid an environmental disaster or a disaster to the plant itself.

5. Conclusions Desalination is a process for the production of fresh water from salty water, for meeting the pressing demands in areas of water scarcity. In the last 14 years the capacity of desalination plants has doubled from 12 MCM/d to 24 MCM from more than 13,600 desalination units in 120 countries. In the next 5 years the capacity is expected to increase by almost 20 MCM/d with an investment estimated at US $20 billion. Around 50% of the desalination installed capacity is situated in the Middle East and the Gulf area. While in the past desalination was used very rarely and only for special cases, now it is used extensively for the production of potable water and there are thoughts for using desalinated water for irrigation. Desalination continues to grow because of the increasing water scarcity in many countries of the world and due to cost reductions. Cost reductions are due to technological advances in membrane manufacture, higher efficiency energy recovery equipment, higher efficiency pumps, better control of scaling and improvements in the processes themselves. There is a lot of research on desalination with great expectations on capital cost reduction, in the energy needs reduction and improvement in the operation and maintenance of the plants. Dualpurpose desalination and power production plants prove to be more economical by using exhausted steam energy from the power plants to heat water for desalination.

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Desalination and environment are two relatively new words in our vocabulary, introduced 50 years ago. Both water and the environment are two important factors in our life that enable us to continue living and developing with a good quality of life. Human beings for their existence and well being require water, but the environment for its sustainability and for the preservation of other forms of life also need water. Desalination mimics a natural process, and it is a part of the water cycle. Nature, using seawater and other water evaporating from the earths surface, and solar energy coming from the sun and the earths chemical and physical properties, is desalinating and treating water for consumption by every living organism. The desalination process mimics part of the hydrological cycle using renewable and non-renewable energy resources and applying man-made chemicals and human skills and know-how. Three environmental issues are raised when considering the development of a desalination plant: the selection of the site for erecting the plant, the energy consumption and the disposal of the reject. The first is related to the social acceptance of the desalination solution where the second is related to greenhouse gas emissions and the third with the pollution/contamination of the area or ecosystem where the brine shall be disposed. The first one is a local government problem to solve, the second is a global problem and it is up to the individual country to use the most economical desalination system and to make the choice as to where to save energy. The third is again a local problem and can be dealt with mitigation measures. In conclusion, it can be stated that desalination and the environment are not rivals but complementary to each other. Desalination can be put into operation in a win-win situation with the environment with the objective to serve man and the environment. Desalination cannot be considered the only solution to the water

problems of the countries suffering from water scarcity. Desalination is one of the alternatives that planners and engineers must consider for water resources management. It is also important to note that desalination offers solutions to serious water problems that in the past seemed impossible to solve. Finally, countries may use desalination to solve their problems arising from water claims. Desalination also makes the pessimistic prophesy that the next wars will be fought on the problem of water sharing far from realistic since water can be desalinated at a relatively low cost.

Bibliography
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