Desalination is the process that removes minerals from saline water. Desalination of water is more costly than collecting freshwater from rivers or groundwater. Nevertheless, these sources are not always available and the depletion of these sources is a worldwide problem. According to Global Water Intel, "Currently, approximately 1% of the world 's population is dependent on desalinated water to meet daily needs, but the UN expects that 14% of the world 's population will encounter water scarcity by 2025." This shows that desalination will have a huge demand and impact on human life in the near future. There are many key issues when it comes to desalination. These issues include cost, methods used, and environmental issues. The process of desalination separates saline water into two parts. One of them, has a lot higher concentration than the original feed water known as the brine concentrate or simply as concentrate. The second part is one that has low concentration of salt (treated water or product water). There are two major types of technologies used for desalination and with that under each type, there’s 3 different types of methods used. One of the major types of technology of desalination is called thermal technology. The second type is called membrane technology. The thermal technology also known as thermodynamic is the heating of saline water. Thermal removes salts as well as other contaminants and It collects the condensed vapor distillate to produce pure water.
With the water crisis being seen around the world, even right here in the United States, we need to explore other options to supply fresh water to the residents. One State, in particular, that raises concern is the state of California. An alternative method to supply water to residents could be the process of desalination. Desalination is when fresh water is made by using either seawater or brackish and eliminating the minerals and salts as a way to make the water safe for human and agriculture uses ( Kesieme et al., 2013). In recent years, we have seen an increase the in the number of desalination plants around the United States (fig 1). However, is the process of desalination the answer for the water crisis going on in California? As a
Today, desalination is a common process that's used in seaside cities and towns worldwide. There are more than 15,000 desalination plants around the world providing freshwater from salt and brackish water alike (Planet Green 2011). This number continues to grow as researchers work to improve the process, both in terms of cost effectiveness and energy efficiency (DSE 2011). But countries such as Australia, Israel and even the United States are continually adding desalination plants of various sorts into their water-management portfolios. The facilities are common in North Africa and the Mideast, where freshwater is scarce (Chandler 2008).
A desalination plant is a possible alternative to California’s need of consumable water. There is a course cons against desalination mainly affecting the marine environment for leaving highly concentrated saline water behind through the process but we should not fear it as it is a long term solution we cannot toss aside. Kerry Cavanaugh from Los Angeles Times mentions, “2,000 an acre foot, compared to about $1,000 an acre foot for imported water” (par. 3). This means that production of water through this process is cost efficient and seems rather illogical to spend more money into producing water; instead of importing it from another major source. The process cost is not a major step forward, but the idea of reaching out to import water is rather absurd. California is an arid state; we are the ones responsible for turning it into a paradise. In order to maintain it that way a method to lower the cost of desalination can be propose as solution. The thought
The advantages of desalination represents an opportunity to use oceanic water resources. If the appropriate conditions are present, a desalination plant could potentially be used to replace an existing or future dam. As existing sources of useable water run dry, desalination is a very effective, alternative source of water. On top of that the distillation process produces one of the highest quality water, with a range of 1 to 50 ppm tds, tds is also known as total dissolved solids. With the recommended California standard being 500 ppm, this quality of water is far beyond any other water quality seen before.
Ocean water desalination is the process of making ocean water drinkable. Seventy-one percent of the world is covered in ocean water, and a significant number of people in the world live within thirty miles of an ocean. Despite the abundance of resources, a large portion of the energy and materials found in the ocean remains largely untouched. Desalination of ocean water is the only solution for countries with a limited availability of existing sources of drinking. Areas such as parts of the Middle East and Africa, where water is scarce, may use outside shipments of fresh water and techniques to purify the abundant ocean water in order to survive. Some areas in South America where water may be abundant, could be unsafe to drink due to the biological
1. There are two main sources of fresh drinking water, ground water and surface water. Ground water originates from precipitations that usually fall in the form of snow or rain. While, the surface water is also originates from precipitate that reaches the land surface and is then recharged into rivers, wetlands and lakes. Although these systems are usually reliable, in desperate time of need, a more reliable source of water is needed. The desalination plant is extremely valuable and flexible because it does not depend on rainfall. Instead, the desalination plant is the only source that relies on seawater. Using seawater in the desalination plant helps meet the community’s water needs and secures the water needs in the future. While other sources of water, such as rainwater or water from dames are not reliable enough to strictly rely
Desalination is the removal of salt and impurities from groundwater or seawater to produce fresh drinking water. Desalination is a secure water source that doesn’t depend on rainfall and has become a significant water source that has been strengthened through its decrease in production costs and related technological improvements. The process of Desalination is another means of securing Western Australia’s future water supply. Western Australia has two main plants, Perth Seawater Desalination Plant and Southern Seawater Desalination Plant, both of these plants deliver water to the Integrated Water Supply Scheme which supplies water to over 2 million people in Perth, parts of the South West, parts of the Agricultural region and the Kalgoorlie-Boulder
Desalination is the process of removing salts and solids from brackish water and in turn making it drinkable. Most Desalination technologies either use thermal or membrane separation means as their basis (CDWR, 2015). An example of a
Desalination has been used for hundreds of decades, Greek sailors heated water to evaporate fresh water away from the salt and other minerals, and the Romans used some clay filters to trap salt. Today's urbane methods still mostly use the concepts of distillation or filtration. The procedure of desalinating sea water to produce drinkable fluid has a long and gorgeous history. Nevertheless, the first significant modern desalination process to perform was multi-stage flash distillation type (MSF) it is a process that originally started during the mid-20th century in the USA (1955). Moreover, even though multi-effect distillation had been revealed and had the potential to be more effective than multi-stage flash desalination (MSF), it took a
When examining the process of desalination there are several advantages and disadvantages of the process that need to be examined, starting with the advantages. One of the major advantages of this process according to Gude (2016) is having the option to use renewable energy for the process instead of using fossil fuels. He states this is better for our environment and there will always be access to the wind, solar, or wave energy being produced compared to our fossil fuels which already are at a risk of running out. Haddad has also stated that renewable energy resources are better for our environment compared to fossil fuels, as they reduce our carbon footprint and the risk of climate change. Another advantage that can
Desalination is the process of removing dissolved salts and minerals from seawater or brackish water. (WaterReuse, Association, “What is Desalination?”) A desalination plant essentially
water and increase the amount of it. However, it thought about desalination plant. What does desalination mean? Many people do not know the meaning of desalination and it is important to know the meaning to confident them when they use the water after desalination. It is the process of removing salt and any gas from seawater to be valid for drinking, watering, manufacturing and so on. The desalination plant has major challenges, which is the high cost because they need to use a high-level technological to remove the gas and the salinity of the water. In addition, the water after the process needs to test to be sure about the validity of using it. The UAE has desalinated seawater because they cannot use the water directly, it consists salt and
There are many methods of desalination, however research shows that the most popular method is called multi-stage flash distillation (MSF), which accounted for 84% of desalination as of 2004 (Heimbuch, “How Desalination Works”).Multi-stage flash distillation uses energy from heat to evaporate salt water, and separate the water from the salt. This method of desalination can be very energy intensive, but fortunately multi-stage distillation can utilize solar power, making it a more environmentally friendly method of desalination. Other methods of desalination include forward osmosis distillation, reverse osmosis distillation, and low temperature thermal desalination (LTTD). The global need for more water in combination with emerging methods such as multi-stage flash distillation that utilize solar power, has the potential to evolve into a worldwide progression towards more environmentally friendly ways of
748 million people in the world do not have access to safe water. This is roughly one in ten of the world 's population. Every year, around 60 million children are born into homes without access to sanitation. Every year, around 60 million children are born into homes without access to sanitation. People -- especially those in water-starved parts of the world -- have been searching for fresh water solutions for centuries. Even in modern times, entire populations struggle with a cruel irony; they are surrounded by salt water, but lack drinking water. Desalination, desalinization, and desalinisation refer to any of several processes that remove some amount of salt and other minerals from saline water. Desalination/distillation is one of
Imagine a world where seawater is the primary source of drinking water for almost all countries. This water could provide towns and cities with safe, regulation-abiding nourishment, equipped with all the minerals and purifiers added to modern drinking water. Of course, drinking straight seawater day after day would not only taste unpleasant, it would be harmful to a person’s body. The briny mixture would have to be filtered and treated in processes similar to how wastewater is treated. But wastewater does not contain nearly as much saline as seawater, so an additional process must be put into place to fully treat seawater that is to be turned into safe drinking water. This process is called desalination, and it is already being put into practice in several different areas around the world. It has helped pull countries out of droughts and other natural disasters. Desalination is not flawless, however, and more research on cost, environmental impacts, and energy efficiency, needs to be conducted before considering it a sustainable drinking water system that the entire world can rely on.