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Desalination is a process that removes mineralsfrom saline water. More generally, desalination may also refer to the removal of salts and minerals,[1]as in soil desalination, which also happens to be a major issue for agricultural production.[2]

Salt water is desalinated to produce fresh water suitable for human consumption or irrigation. One potential by-product of desalination is salt. Desalination is used on many seagoing ships and submarines. Most of the modern interest in desalination is focused on developing cost-effective ways of providing fresh water for human use. Along with recycled wastewater, this is one of the few rainfall-independent water sources.[3]

Due to relatively high energy consumption, the costs of desalinating sea water are generally higher than the alternatives (fresh water from rivers or groundwater, water recycling and water conservation), but alternatives are not always available and rapid overdraw and depletion of reserves is a critical problem worldwide. Quoting Christopher Gasson of Global Water Intelligence, "At the moment, around 1% of the world's population are dependent on desalinated water to meet their daily needs, but by 2025, the UN expects 14% of the world's population to be encountering water scarcity. Unless people get radically better at water conservation, the desalination industry has a very strong future indeed."[4]

Desalination is particularly relevant in dry countries such as Australia, which traditionally have relied on collecting rainfall behind dams to provide their drinking water supplies. According to the International Desalination Association, in June 2011, 15,988 desalination plants operated worldwide, producing 66.5 million cubic meters per day, providing water for 300 million people.[5]This number has been updated to 78.4 million cubic meters by 2013,[4]or 57% greater than just 5 years prior. The single largest desalination project is Ras Al-Khair in Saudi Arabia, which produced 1,025,000 cubic meters per day in 2014,[4]although this plant in Saudi Arabia is expected to be surpassed by a desal plant in California.[6]The largest percent of desalinated water used in any country is in Israel, which produces 40% of its domestic water use from seawater desalination.[7]

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Q: Why would countries use the desalination process?
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Where did Qatar get water from?

From the Arabian sea through a process called desalination. They use Gas to power the generators which powers the desalination process


What countries use desalination plants?

Perth and Melbourne use it in Australia because they are near the sea, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and several Persian Gulf countries use desalination plants as well given the amount of desert they contain.


How does the process of desalination work?

desalination; the process is: They take the sea water, boil it and let the steam cool. The condensed water is then filtered and treated to make if fit for human consumption, washing and industrial use.


Why are desalination and dip irrigation not used more in Southwest Asia?

it sounds like a simple solution right, that's what i thought but its not. desalination systems are very costly and with the recession right now, its not the first thing on peoples lists. Since south west Asia isn't one of the most richest countries, its very costly to install a new desalination system, which other countries such as North Africa have others to come in and pay for it. for example, Hyflux won US$100m to install a new one there. If they had someone pay for theirs too, i bet they would use it more...


How do you use desalination in a sentence?

Desalination is the removal of salts from solutions in water. There are many ways to use it. An example is: "The ocean water was sanitized and purified by desalination, boiling, and filtration to prepare it for drinking."


How do countries use desalination and irrigation to offset the problems faced by the Sahara desert?

Does the Sahara desert face problems? I don't think so.


Why would one use a desalination service provider?

There are many reasons one would need desalination services. If one has a fish tank or aquarium with freshwater fish the fish can die if there is too much salt and would need to have the salt removed.


How could you use the word desalination in a sentence?

Wow, I can't find a sentence that includes the word desalination in it.


Why can't you use the sea water for cultivation?

Because without desalination the salt in the water would kill the plants.


What are process during desalination of sea water osmosis reverse osmosis use of sodium aluminium or none?

Generally distillation or evaporation/recrystallization are important methods.


What is one disadvantage of using distillation as a means of desalination?

When poorer countries need to get water, they use distillation. This is basically purifying water, using large amounts of electricity and money.


What is one disadvantage of using distillation as a mean of desalination?

When poorer countries need to get water, they use distillation. This is basically purifying water, using large amounts of electricity and money.