Water Desalination

¿What is water desalination?

Desalination is a process that removes the salts and minerals from seawater, making it safe for human consumption or irrigation. It can also refer to soil desalination, a method used in agriculture.

Water desalination has been used on ships and submarines for some time, but there has been a growing interest in desalination plants on land. These large desalination plants are a solution to providing freshwater in many arid, seaside communities.

While desalination is an energy-consuming process, it is often the only feasible alternative for areas that lack freshwater sources such as rivers or groundwater. While only  one percent of the earth’s water is liquid freshwater, ninety-seven percent is contaminated with salt, making access to clean drinkable water a problem for many densely populated coastal areas.

The first synthetic reverse osmosis membrane,  one of the most popular methods of desalination these days, was  invented at the University of California. In addition, the first commercial desalination plant using reverse osmosis was built  not far from there in Coalinga, California. The popularity of reverse osmosis is due to its reliability and the fact that it is the most energy-efficient method available.

¿How many desalination plants are over the world?

According to the International Desalination Association, over 18,000 desalination plants are operating worldwide, providing water to 300 million people.

Out of the 235 water treatment plants that we have built around the world,  XXX are desalination plants. One of our most noticeable projects is Europe’s largest desalination plant (third largest in the world) located in the region of Rambla de Valdelentisco in Mazarron, Spain. This $84 million plant, which uses reverse osmosis technology, has a production capacity of 57 Hm3/year and 70,000 m3/day.

Besides the plants in Spain, we have built desalination plants in Oman, UAE, Jarvis Island, Tunisia, Cyprus, and Morocco.