Environmental impacts of seawater desalination

Having lived in UAE for long- where in arid desert conditions, the sea is the main source of water, and desalination is a required process for getting potable water, I give due importance to desalination and the significance of its impact on the environment. Through this report I am trying to present this topic for all members.

What is desalination?

The process of desalination involves removing salt and minerals from seawater, to turns it into a potable resource. At times, Desalination is invaluable to provide clean drinking water in areas with water scarcity. It serves as a long term solution to the water crisis.

However, while experts do believe that desalination can be the key to ensuring drought proof communities, there are a number of environmental risks related to the process as well.

1. Brine Disposal

When seawater is being desalinated only half of the water will end up as fresh water. The rest will be a toxic chemical mixture of brine. It has been found that desalination plants can produce over 141.5 million cubic meters of brine per day. Disposing this brine solution is not only costly but also harmful to marine life if disposed in the ocean.

However, modern technology is constantly being improved and improvised to ensure that a sustainable and environment friendly use of brine or a green way to dispose the substance will be found in the near future. This can also create new economic opportunities when it comes to brine.

2. Danger to Marine life

Another part of the process that is considered harmful is the intake of the seawater. Marine life can also get sucked in when the water from the ocean is taken in. These animals then die (impingement). When the treatment process is going on, smaller animals like smaller fish or plankton can also be affected and die (entrainment).

However, even with this problem, experts believe that technology and better placement will ensure that there is an environment friendly way to improve the intake process. These include using natural filters from the ocean bed rather than the ocean surface or using better quality filters and mesh's.

3. Energy consumption

Another big problem that the industry needs to resolve is related to energy consumption. This is a concern in any industry but it has been proven that there is over 200 million kilowatt-hours of energy per day when it comes to the desalination industry. Up to 55% of a plants operating costs go to energy. Researchers have still not found an eco friendly and cheaper alternative till now but they believe using solar power will be a possible method.

Bottom Line

Desalination has some drawbacks but researchers are finding ways of implementing the system without any negative environmental effects. These solutions include updated filtration, safe intake systems and solar energy.

It is said that future wars will not be over oil but over water. In the times to come, desalination can perhaps prove to be a valuable means to end water scarcity with due attention to minimising the environmental impact of the processes.

Sources and references

https://www.ecomena.org/environmental-impacts-of-seawater-desalination/