South Africa and Iran have partnered to develop desalination plants along their respective countries’ extensive coastlines.^[1]  Both nations are in the midst of intensive drought. 

South Africa is dealing with its most severe water shortages in 30 years.  While the South African Weather Services identifies the source of the drought as El Nino, climate change is also a contributing factor in the lack of rain.  Farmers are losing business, food prices are increasing, and the government has declared 5 of its 9 provinces as “...

Later this month, Dubai’s first solar desalination plant is set to open at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park.  A photovoltaic array powers the plant, which will produce 50 cubic metres of water per day.  This initiative bolsters the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050, which aims to provide 7 percent of the city’s energy from clean energy sources by 2020—and 75 percent by 2050.^[1] 

The managing director and chief executive officer of the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, has stated that...

San Diego currently imports 57 percent of its water supply—compared to 95 percent a quarter of a century ago.^[1]  As reported in the Wall Street Journal, San Diego transformed from being “one of the most vulnerable areas” during drought in California—to “one of the best prepared.”  Rather than transporting water hundreds of miles from Northern California and the Colorado River, the city now relies on treated water.  Although this has come at a great cost.  Water officials have managed more than $2 billion in investments,...

In Paphos, an ancient coastal city in southwestern Cyprus, the fate of an idle desalination plant is mired in a standoff.  According to a Cypriot paper, the government’s Water Development Department is “calling for the demolition of the temporary desalination plant” built on government land—“but the operator is refusing to flatten the area and wants to sell it instead” at a cost of 5 million (USD $5,650,500).^[1]  The plant went online in 2011, and was operational for only four months.  It was constructed in response to a...

In the Philippines, two Christian groups have offered desalination equipment to the Cebu Provincial Government, home to the country’s “second city.”^[1]  Cebu, which was Spain’s first Filipino settlement in the sixteenth century, is the country’s second most populous metropolitan area after Metro Manila.  The desalination facilities, made by Operation Blessing Foundation Philippines and The Church of the Latter-Day Saints, will alleviate some of the intensive water shortages that plague the region.  As reported in CNN, on April...

In Zambia, climate change has brought about a severe drought that threatens the viability of the hydroelectric Kariba Dam—one of the largest in the world. As reported in the New York Times, when drought previously took hold in the country, the Kariba Dam remained “a steady, and seemingly limitless, source of something rare in Africa: electricity so cheap and plentiful that Zambia could export some to its neighbors.”^[1]  The Kariba allowed Zambia’s economy to grow, and also contributed to political stability.  However, the severity...

California’s South Coast Water District wants to build a new desalination facility that may produce up to 56,780 cubic metres of water a day.  The Water District endeavours to construct the facility on its property in Dana Point (121,406 square metres in size), near San Juan Creek.^[1]   Late last week, water district officials announced their intent to carry out an environmental impact report for the facility.

Currently, the South Coast Water District is the only agency that supports the Doheny Ocean Desalination Project. ...

In Aurangabad, India, the state government is pursuing the possible construction of a desalination plant near Mumbai to ameliorate the “perennial water scarcity” in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra state.^[1]  Years of limited rainfall, crop failure, and insufficient social support services has spurred a suicide epidemic among Marathwada’s farmers.  In 2015—when Marathwada reported the highest post-Monsoon rainfall deficit in India—more than 1,100 farmers committed suicide across the region’s eight districts (among 3,000...

In San Luis Obispo County, local officials support the proposal to expand the desalination plant of Diablo Canyon Power Plant.^[1]   The power plant produces 7 percent of the California residents’ electricity needs, and its desalination facility is capable of producing 5,678 cubic metres of water a day—although it currently produces 40 percent of its full capacity.  After the proposed expansion, the desalination plant would supply up to 1,604,000 cubic metres of water a year to South County residents. 

This week, San Luis...

In Baja California, the Mexican company NSC Agua is hoping to build a ground-breaking desalination project that would become the largest desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere.^[1]  However, as reported in the San Diego Union-Tribune, the two groups that jointly proposed to build the plant are suing each other in U.S. and Mexican courts.

Since June 2015, San Diego resident Gough Thompson has been seeking legal redress against his partners for illegally pushing him out of the project in February 2012 “without his knowledge or consent...

In southeastern Australia, state government officials have ordered 50 million cubic metres of water from the Wonthaggi Desalination Plant.^[1]  The order will add roughly $12 AUD ($8.98 USD) to customer bills over the course of the year—amounting to a yearly total of $27 million AUD ($20,206,800 USD)—in addition to the $608 million AUD ($455,118,400 USD) cost of plant maintenance.^[2]  Steady drops in Victoria’s water storages triggered the order, with Melbourne’s dams dipping just below the 65 percent benchmark that is identified as...

At MIT, researchers are making good progress with their development of a solar-powered desalination system that can drastically increase groundwater in Indian villages.  After two years of “detective work,” Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Amos Winter, MIT PhD candidate, Natasha Wright, and a team of researchers developed a prize-winning, solar-powered, electrodialysis desalination system to address water shortages across India.^[1]

After winning USAID’s Desal Prize in April 2015, Professor Winter reports that the...

In the small coastal city of Manhattan Beach, in southwest Los Angeles, the City Council has opposed the construction of a seawater desalination plant.  The West Basin Municipal Water District proposed the construction of a $300 million (USD) plant that would produce between 75,710 and 227,100 cubic metres water a day for the West Basin’s service area, which encompasses 17 cities that are located mostly in South Bay.^[1]

The West Basin Water District is currently preparing an environmental impact report for the plant, which will be...

In California this week, state legislators introduced legislation that would require the California Coastal Commission to “disclose the use and payment of professional lobbyists.”^[1]  The intent of the bill is to ensure that the agency’s relationships with interest groups are transparent to the public:  this means that the 44-year old coastal agency would be subject to the same reporting requirements of government agencies.^[2]

Assemblyman Mark Stone, a co-author of the bill, stated that the influence of “certain lobbyists” on the...

The Japanese industrial and engineering firm, Hitachi Zosen Corp., has designed a desalination system that uses heat from waste incineration.^[1]  Hitachi Zosen developed this desalination system with a view towards promoting its use in the Middle East.   The system desalinates water through reverse osmosis and distillation.  The burned waste enables the production of water, either by turning a turbine to generate electricity for the reverse osmosis process; or, by directly providing heat for a distillation process. ...

The government of the dual-island nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis may use seawater desalination to offset water shortages.  The Caribbean nation’s Minister of Public Infrastructure, Ian Liburd, has revealed that the government may reactivate an existing reverse osmosis desalination plant at La Valle.  Liburd indicated the government is examining the cost of relocating the La Valle plant to a more suitable location in the Basseterre area; and it is also discussing the use of mobile reverse osmosis plants.^[1]

The Indian...

India’s Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in Mumbai has rejected a proposal to create desalination plants to deal with the city’s water crisis.  BMC has explained that steep costs and a lack of land prohibited such a venture.^[1]  The BMC arrived at its decision after it appointed a committee to examine measures for setting up desalination plants in Mumbai.  The committee recommended the installation of two pilot plants of 100 million litres daily capacity each, one for the city, and another for suburbs and metropolitan...

 The Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA) has granted Cape Verde a $930,000 (USD) grant to develop the “world’s first wave-driven desalination system.”^[1] SEFA is a multi-donor trust fund that is rooted in a $60 million (USD) grant made by Denmark and the United States—to support renewable and efficient energy projects in Africa.^[2]  The plant, located in Praia Grande, Cape Verde, will operate off the grid, supplying up to 4,000 cubic metres of water a day to more than 48,000 people.^[3]  Resolute Marine Energy (RME) Cape...

This week, the renovated Broken Hill Desalination Plant in New South Wales, Australia will resume operations.  The plant has been undergoing a capacity increase and equipment upgrades that will enable the use of high-recovery reverse osmosis technology.^[1]  Meanwhile, by early next week, the city of Broken Hill will no longer draw water from Copi Hollow.  Instead, it will rely on Weir 32 at Menindee Lakes.^[2]  The shallow, freshwater Menindee Lakes is the main water source for residents of the city as well as New...

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] ...