Pathbreaking climate talks in Paris inspired the creation of the Global Clean Water Desalination Alliance – H₂0 minus CO₂.  The alliance includes more than 80 signatories in government and the public and private sectors from around the world—including Australia, Belgium, China, France, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, the U.K., and the U.S.   

By 2040, the alliance seeks to reduce approximately 270 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year from desalination plants.^[1]  The alliance has reportedly urged is members to undergo several changes to support reduced emissions, including: the upgrade of existing plants, more research and development, greater support and promotion of new technologies, and stronger regulatory frameworks and policies.^[2]

Jordan and Israel are in the midst of consolidating their World Bank sponsored $900 million project (USD) for “cross-border water swapping.”^[3]  The project will build a desalination plant in Jordan’s Gulf of Aqaba as well as a pipeline.  The plant will produce 65,000 million litres of water a year, while the pipeline will carry the plant’s by-product of brine 180 kilometres from the Red Sea to the depleted Dead Sea.  Nearly two weeks ago, Israel’s Interior Minister Silvan Shalom and the Jordanian Water and Irrigation Minister Hazim El Naser issued a joint international tender of documents for the project (in February, both countries signed a bilateral agreement to exchange water and transfer Red Sea desalination brine to the Dead Sea).^[4]    The tender process sets the terms for a build, operate, transfer project (BOT) for the desalination plant; and, among other terms, specifies that the winning bidder must be from the private sector, and capable of providing all financing without any support from Jordan’s Water and Irrigation Ministry (although the ministry will apply to finance institutions for grants that will support the brine disposal and water transfer element of the project).^[5] 

As of last week, local planners in Israel overruled the proposal of Israeli national water company, Mekorot, to build the pipeline that carries water to the Dead Sea.  However, is most likely that the local planners’ decision will be appealed.^[6]

In Texas, the Water Development Board (TWDB) is supporting a $2 million (USD) loan to finance a study into “site and transport options for a power and water project” that will include a desalination plant along the state’s expansive Gulf Coast.^[7] The water board is receiving assistance from the State Water Implementation Fund for Texas (SWIFT)—a newly developed program that provides financial assistance to public utilities, state agencies, and water districts for projects in the State Water Pla^n.[8]   The Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority will implement the newly financed study, and it will identify “site, transmission, and delivery options” for the project, which will process and transfer water from the Gulf of Mexico towards the central and coastal regions of South Texas.^[9]

The Gulf State of Oman will build a new desalination facility that is to be operational by spring 2018.  The facility will have three different sites that will have a combined capacity of 240,000 cubic metres per day of water.^[10]  The Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP) is planning this multi-site facility and has floated a request for qualification (RfQ) tender, seeking applications from multinational developers (until mid-January 2016).

Times of Oman reports that OPWP’s new water project follows developments in similar facilities located in Barka, Sohar, Salalah, and Sharqiya.  The Barka and Sohar desalination projects, located on the Batinah Coast, have a combined capacity of 531,000 cubic metres per day; and both plants recently selected developers.  In Salalah, the subtropical capital of the Dhofar region, the desalination plant will have the capacity to produce about 90,000 cubic metres of water per day, which will contribute to mitigating projected increases in the city’s water demand (between 2013 and 2020, demand is set to increase 8 percent from 75,000 cubic metres of water per day to 132,000 cubic metres per day).^[11]  More broadly, the demand for potable water in the northern reaches of Oman will increase by 6 percent each year—from 238 million cubic metres of water in 2013 to 349 million cubic metres in 2020.