BRIGHT FUTURE OF WATER USING DESALINATION AS AN UNCONVENTIONAL WATER SOURCE IN THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN

Because of human activities, the globe as a whole is at risk of being challenged by water scarcity for present and future generations. Phenomena such as population growth and urbanization, increased water consumption for sanitary purposes, development of irrigated lands, noncompliance with the cultivation pattern, excessive water consumption in agriculture, and widespread changes in rainfall rates and climate change as a result of global climate change causes a decrease per capita resources Water has been renewable, yet demand for water has increased. Finding the techniques for consumption control and water resource conservation, as well as the discovery of new water resources to manage production, have become an unavoidable necessity due to limitation of conventional water resources available. The utilization of unconventional water sources such as rainwater, humidity, deep water, urban, industrial, and agricultural effluents, and brackish water is one of the most successful solutions based on sustainable development with the goal of closing the gap between demand and supply in many sectors. Among the unconventional water sources, desalination has been introduced as one of the most effective solutions to deal with the water shortage crisis and drinking water supply by ۲۰۵۰. Unlike river and groundwater, salty water sources are unaffected by climate change, and given the vastness of saline water on the planet, desalination can be the most obvious source of water supply, particularly in coastal towns. Because of the scarcity of water resources, many countries, including the occupying regimes in Jerusalem, Egypt, southern Europe, the United States, and Australia, have pursued water desalination and the development of desalination technologies suitable for coastal, rural, and remote areas. Between ۱۹۹۰ and ۲۰۱۵, the occupying regime in Jerusalem increased its production capacity of fresh water from brackish and seawater sources ۶ times. On the other hand, In Iran, per capita renewable water has increased from almost ۱۳,۰۰۰ cubic meters per person in ۱۹۲۱ to fewer than ۱۷۰۰ cubic meters per person in ۲۰۲۰. (Below the limit of water stress according to the Falcon Mark index), and it's estimated that by ۲۰۵۱, it'll be less than ۱۰۰۰ cubic meters per person per year (below the water crisis, according to the Falcon Mark index), thus conserving water resources and devising a reasonable plan for managing the development of water resources like desalination will be critical.The current capacity of desalination units in the countryis more than ۴۲۳ thousand cubic meters per day, with a capacity of more than ۵۴۳ thousand cubic meters per day predicted with the capacity of units under construction. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia's present desalination capacity is more than ۱۰ million cubic meters per day, and Kuwait's capacity is more than ۲.۵ million cubic meters per day. When comparing the capacity of Iran and the Persian Gulf countries to produce drinking water from the sea using desalination technology, it can be concluded that Iran, with ۵۶.۵ percent of the Persian Gulf-Maritime border, has a very little portion of this industry. To develop desalination in the country, strategic, technical, applied, economic, and other dimensions of this technology should be identified in the country, and private sector investment should be made, based on the current state of the country's water resources and the production capacity of drinking water from desalination. The use of innovative desalination technologies, the reduction of operational expenses, particularly energy costs in desalination systems, and the reduction of saline effluent disposal effects, particularly in inland desalination units, should all be on the table. In this regard, and considering the challenges of the country's desalination industry (as outlined in the desalination technologies roadmap, Water Research Institute, ۱۳۹۸) effective measures in this industry include the creation of a national desalination center, reforming the process of guaranteed water contracts from desalination units, and providing incentive facilities for domestic and foreign private investors.