11. Desalinated Water

As desalination technology advances and water scarcity becomes prevalent in most arid and semi-arid coastal regions of the Middle East, North Africa, North America, Australia and Europe, policy makers around the world are adopting desalination as a long-term solution for closing the gap between water supply and demand in future years. Large-scale desalination plants are widely accepted as an economically viable alternative source of water supply for coastal urban centers worldwide. At present, 107 million m³ per day of desalinated water is used to supply to approximately 5% of the world’s population. It is projected that the worldwide production capacity of desalination plants will double by the year 2030 and cost of desalinated water will be reduced by half. Ocean-brine mining has been gaining momentum over the last five years and is expected to yield commercially viable products that are likely to completely offset the cost of desalinated water production in the next decade. This chapter provides an overview of the status of desalination and discusses key barriers and solutions associated with its wider adoption as an unconventional water supply alternative, including technological advances, freshwater production costs, energy use, environmental impacts, and institutional challenges.