Worldwide, approximately 16,000 desalination plants transform inedible salt water into drinking water.
Significantly more problematic residues, however, as adopted, is reported by an international team of researchers in the journal “Science of the Total Environment”.
“About 1.5 to 2 billion people live in areas with a shortage of water, in which at least Parts of the year, the available resources are not sufficient to cover the demand,” says Vladmir Smakhtin, one of the scientists involved.
In addition, the researchers tested how much drinking water these systems produce and what quantities of residues which are thereby incurred.
It also contains chemicals and dissolved metals.
What happens to this salt solution, depends on, among other things, the location of the desalination plant.
This can cause damage to the relevant Ecosystems significantly, the researchers write.
The Brine-inflow of lowering the oxygen and reduces the proportion of dissolved oxygen in the waters, explained the scientists involved in Edward Jones.
“A high salt content and decreased Dissolved oxygen content can have a significant impact on the living creatures in the waters; the resulting ecological effects on the entire food chain.” In this case, the waste product also provides economic opportunities, stress the researchers.
“This is especially important in countries with a large amount of Brine to produce with relatively little efficiency, such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar.” another disadvantage of the currently operated desalination plants: they are considered to be very energy-intensive.