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TitleSafe drinking-water from desalination
Publication TypeMiscellaneous
Year of Publication2011
AuthorsWHO -Geneva, CH, World Health Organization
Paginationiv, 28 p. : 1 fig., 3 tab.
Date Published2011-01-01
PublisherWorld Health Organization (WHO)
Place PublishedGeneva, Switzerland
Keywordschemical treatment, desalination, disinfection, sdiwat, water distribution, water storage, water treatment
Abstract

Desalination is increasingly being used to provide drinking-water under conditions of freshwater scarcity. Water scarcity is estimated to affect one in three people on every continent of the globe, and almost one fifth of the world’s population live in areas where water is physically scarce. This situation is expected to worsen as competing needs for water intensify along with population growth, urbanization, climate change impacts and increases in household and industrial uses. Desalination may be applied to waters of varying levels of salinity, such as brackish groundwater, estuarine water or seawater; in some regions, it forms the primary source of drinking-water. At its origins, desalination technology was primarily thermal, by flash distillation, but as a result of technological advances, membranes have become a more cost-effective alternative that is increasingly being selected for new systems. Many thermal plants remain in use. [authors abstract, part of introduction]

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