Desalination produces more toxic waste than clean water

Yahoo – AFP, Marlowe HOOD, January 14, 2019

More than 50 billion cubic metres of brine is produced worldwide every year
(AFP Photo/Jaime Reina)

Paris (AFP) - More than 16,000 desalination plants scattered across the globe produce far more toxic sludge than fresh water, according to a first global assessment of the sector's industrial waste, published Monday.

For every litre of fresh water extracted from the sea or brackish waterways, a litre-and-a-half of salty slurry, called brine, is dumped directly back into the ocean or the ground.

The super-salty substance is made even more toxic by the chemicals used in the desalination process, researchers reported in the journal Science of the Total Environment.

Copper and chlorine, for example, are both commonly used.

The amount of brine produced worldwide every year -- more than 50 billion cubic metres -- is enough to cover the state of Florida, or England and Wales combined, in a 30-centimetre (one-foot) layer of salty slime, they calculated.

"The world produces less desalinated water than brine," co-author Manzoor Qadir, a scientist at the Institute for Water, Environment and Health at United Nations University in Ontario, Canada, told AFP.

"Almost all the brine goes back into the environment, mostly in the ocean."

All that extra salt raises the temperature of coastal waters, and decreases the level of oxygen, which can create "dead zones".

"It is difficult for aquatic organisms to breathe in these conditions -- they need O2 to survive," said Qadir.

Desalination plant production (desalinated water and brine) by region
(AFP Photo/Simon MALFATTO)

More than half of the brine comes from only four countries: Saudi Arabia (22 percent), United Arab Emirates (20.2 percent), Kuwait (6 percent) and Qatar (5.8 percent).

North Africa, the Middle East, and water-starved small island states in the Pacific and elsewhere also rely heavily on desalination to provide safe drinking water, which accounts for nearly two-thirds of consumption.

The rest is used in industry, as a coolant in energy production, and in agriculture.

Around one in four people live in regions where water resources are insufficient during part of the year, and half-a-billion experience water scarcity year round, according to the United Nations.

Water scarcity

Since 2015, the World Economic Forum's annual Global Risk Report has consistently ranked "water crises" as among the global threats -- above natural disasters, mass migration and cyber-attacks.

Water scarcity is caused by many things, starting with a global population closing in on eight billion.

Major rivers no longer reach the sea, aquifers are being sucked dry, and pollution is tainting water above ground and below.

With climate change, the situation will get worse.

More than 90 percent of desalination plants are in wealthy economies

(AFP Photo/HAVEERU)

For each degree of global warming, about seven percent of the world's population -- half-a-billion people -- will have 20 percent less freshwater, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

"Desalination technology has benefited a large number of people," said Qadir. "But we cannot ignore the production of brine, which is going to become an even greater problem in the future."

Industrial-scale technology for removing salt from water has been around since the 1960s. By 1990, there were already 3,000 plants in operation around the globe.

On current trends, the sector will see a total of at least 17,500 plants by 2025, Qadir said, noting that one large plant can produce as much fresh water -- and brine -- as 200 or 300 small ones.

More than 90 percent of desalination plants are in wealthy economies. This reflects the fact that the technology remains expensive, especially in energy costs.

But it also means that rich nations have the capacity to develop ways to dispose of toxic brine that are less harmful to ocean and land environments, he added.

Some pilot projects have even shown that modified brine can boost yields of certain fish species in aquaculture.

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“…  4 - Energy (again)

The natural resources of the planet are finite and will not support the continuation of what you've been doing. We've been saying this for a decade. Watch for increased science and increased funding for alternate ways of creating electricity (finally). Watch for the very companies who have the most to lose being the ones who fund it. It is the beginning of a full realization that a change of thinking is at hand. You can take things from Gaia that are energy, instead of physical resources. We speak yet again about geothermal, about tidal, about wind. Again, we plead with you not to over-engineer this. For one of the things that Human Beings do in a technological age is to over-engineer simple things. Look at nuclear - the most over-engineered and expensive steam engine in existence!

Your current ideas of capturing energy from tidal and wave motion don't have to be technical marvels. Think paddle wheel on a pier with waves, which will create energy in both directions [waves coming and going] tied to a generator that can power dozens of neighborhoods, not full cities. Think simple and decentralize the idea of utilities. The same goes for wind and geothermal. Think of utilities for groups of homes in a cluster. You won't have a grid failure if there is no grid. This is the way of the future, and you'll be more inclined to have it sooner than later if you do this, and it won't cost as much.

Water

We've told you that one of the greatest natural resources of the planet, which is going to shift and change and be mysterious to you, is fresh water. It's going to be the next gold, dear ones. So, we have also given you some hints and examples and again we plead: Even before the potentials of running out of it, learn how to desalinate water in real time without heat. It's there, it's doable, and some already have it in the lab. This will create inexpensive fresh water for the planet. 

There is a change of attitude that is starting to occur. Slowly you're starting to see it and the only thing getting in the way of it are those companies with the big money who currently have the old system. That's starting to change as well. For the big money always wants to invest in what it knows is coming next, but it wants to create what is coming next within the framework of what it has "on the shelf." What is on the shelf is oil, coal, dams, and non-renewable resource usage. It hasn't changed much in the last 100 years, has it? Now you will see a change of free choice. You're going to see decisions made in the boardrooms that would have curled the toes of those two generations ago. Now "the worst thing they could do" might become "the best thing they could do." That, dear ones, is a change of free choice concept. When the thinkers of tomorrow see options that were never options before, that is a shift. That was number four. ….”

"2013 - What Now ?" – Jan 6, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Text version)

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