Desalination is the procedure used to eliminate the dissolved mineral salts from water. Currently, one of the most popular methods for obtaining pure water for use in agriculture or human consumption when applied to seawater. The issue is that it takes a lot of electricity to desalinate water. When salt is dissolved in water, it forms strong chemical bonds that are challenging to separate. Desalinating water can be quite pricey because both the energy and the technology required are pricy.

1. PERSPECTIVEs OF
DESALINATION

2. WHAT IS
DESALINATION?
Desalination or desalinization refers
to any of several processes that
remove the excess salt and other
minerals from water in order to
obtain fresh water suitable for
animal consumption or irrigation,
and if almost all of the salt is
removed, for human consumption,
sometimes producing table salt as a
by-product.

4. There are two main types of desalination
technologies – membrane (RO) and thermal
(MED, MVC and MSF) desalination. Reverse
Osmosis (RO) desalination uses the principle
of osmosis to remove salt and other
impurities, by transferring water through a
series of semi-permeable membranes.

5. DIAGRAM SHOWING REVERSE OSMOSIS
(RO)

6. DIAGRAM
SHOWING
THERMAL
DESALINATION

8.  Desalination is a proven technology.
We know that the desalination process is an
effective way to create safe, usable water for
large populations when the work is performed
correctly. You can also use this technology on
a personal level to create usable emergency
water for the times when utility or municipal
systems are unavailable for some reason. That
means there are large-scale and small
solutions that can fit almost any need, whether
you want to create a viable water source at
two pints per hour or two gallons per second.

9.  More usable water means we can
eliminate problems in the food supply
chain.
Famine can create numerous hardships
on significant population centers. It results
in undernutrition, chronic hunger, high
mortality rates, and creates an urgent
need for help. In 2011, the United Nations
announced that Somalia was dealing
with this issue and that up to 750,000
people were in danger of imminent
starvation. About 260,000 people died in
a two-year period afterward because
there were minimal food supplies,
restricted water access, and a lack of
activity from the international community.

10.  Communities could have more water
independence.
Most communities purchase water from others
as a way to create a municipal supply. This
process happens for big cities and small ones.
A lot of rural communities also lack proper
water supplies, hence, they have use rivers,
ponds, lakes etc. for bathing and washing.
Persons who do not have much access to
rivers then have to buy water from water
trucks. Desalination will reduce this problem
dramatically.

12.  There are significant chemical waste
disposal needs to consider.
Desalination creates several byproducts which
require specific disposal steps that must be
followed to keep people and the environment
safe after making fresh water for use. There
are pre-treatment and cleaning steps that
help to make the process more efficient than
a simple strainer. Most facilities use hydrogen
peroxide, chlorine, and hydrochloric acid to
prepare the water for this process. Once the
chemicals are used, then must be disposed of
correctly to prevent them from entering the
water table.

13.  There are health concerns to manage with
desalination.
Although desalination can provide a significant
portion of the water supply to some countries,
especially those in the Middle East where the
climate is challenging, it is not a perfect
technological solution. There are times when the
water released by the facility is harmful to human
health as well. The chemical byproducts can
leech into the system, exposing people and
plumbing systems to the acidic nature of the
purification process. If the pH balance is off, then
the lead and other problematic elements in
some plumbing systems could literally poison you
at the same time you think that you’re drinking
something safe.

14. WASTEWATER TREATMENT

16. QUESTIONS INDIVIDUALS MAY ASK
ABOUT DESALINATION
1. Is Desalination safe? YES
2. Is Desalination sustainable? “AN EVEN
BIGGER YES”