Environmental Impacts of Seawater Desalination

Nowadays, due to climate change and global warming, local drought conditions, population andurbanization growth, economic and industrial development, and advancement of the level of health andwelfare in different communities, the global demand for fresh water is rising rapidly. So, the desalinationtechnologies have found a vital role in the present and future life of human and the installed desalinationplants capacity worldwide is increasing continuously. Despite their high position, desalinationtechnologies like many other technologies may have negative environmental effects. Some of thesepotential environmental impacts can be considered as: the land use, ground water, marine environment,noise pollution and intensive use of energy. Especially, high salinity, high temperature, and high totalalkalinity of the brine discharge could have several negative impacts on the physical properties ofseawater. In this paper, an overview on the characteristics of the potential environmental impacts ofseawater desalination technologies and related recommendations is submitted.

Keywords:

desalination technologies , environmental effects , brine discharge management