Abstract
Desalination produces fresh water from seawater. Given that seawater accounts for 97% of water on the earth, it is the most reliable source of fresh water production, especially for water-stressed countries on the coasts. Middle East is an example for that since it faces arid climate and relies on desalination for fresh water supply. However, heavily relying on desalination as a nation makes it vulnerable. In the case of a disaster, countries like Qatar would have only 48-hours emergency water supply for its 2.4 million population. Therefore, the capacity to recover quickly from failures is vital to this industry. This chapter will highlight the most recent and proactive approaches to resilience by evaluating the possible vulnerabilities and measures for desalination plants. Technological diversification will ensure it can maintain its constant water supply without relying on fossil fuel-based desalination plants. The outlook of national programs in the region looks positive as they are already on the path towards a resilient and sustainable society as realized by the ongoing projects such as Mega Reservoirs, and research programs in solar desalination and pretreatment techniques. The chapter will focus on these issues related to resilience and sustainability dimensions applicable to desalination plants.
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Abbreviations
- AC:
-
Activated carbon
- AVC:
-
Absorption vapor compression
- CAPEX:
-
Capital expenditure
- DAF:
-
Dissolve air flotation
- GCC:
-
Gulf Co-operation Council (Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman)
- GW:
-
Giga watts
- HABs:
-
Harmful algal blooms
- ICBA:
-
International Center for Biosaline Agriculture-UAE
- MF:
-
Micro filtration
- Mm3/y:
-
Millions cubic meter per year
- NF:
-
Nano filtration
- PR:
-
Performance ratio (fresh water produced with unit kg of steam supply)
- RO:
-
Reverse osmosis
- SFLA:
-
Shuffled frog leaping algorithm
- SWCC:
-
Saline Water Conversion Corporation (Saudi Arabia)
- SWRO:
-
Sea water reverse osmosis
- TD:
-
Thermal desalination
- TSE:
-
Treated sewage effluent
- TVC:
-
Thermal vapor compression
- TWW:
-
Treated waste water
- UAE:
-
United Arab Emirates
- UF:
-
Ultra filtration
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Tahir, F., Baloch, A.A.B., Ali, H. (2020). Resilience of Desalination Plants for Sustainable Water Supply in Middle East. In: Khaiter, P., Erechtchoukova, M. (eds) Sustainability Perspectives: Science, Policy and Practice. Strategies for Sustainability. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19550-2_15
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