Feasibility of groundwater desalination in the northeast of Brazil

Abstract

Seasonal droughts occur in Northeast of Brazil by centuries, due to water shortage caused by the 2012-2018 severe drought, state governments have declared a state of emergency for most of the municipalities. As most of the municipalities depend on surface waters for the urban water supply system and the majority of water reservoirs in the Northeast being in a critical situation, the desalination of groundwater would be a feasible solution. This paper aims to identify municipalities in the state of emergency in the states of Ceará (CE), Rio Grande do Norte (RN), Paraíba (PB) and Pernambuco (PE) feasible for an implementation of a distillation desalination plant powered by a renewable energy source. In this context, the method used to discover the best locations was to apply six criteria (Being in a state of emergency due to water shortage; Need in investment in the water supply system; Surface waters as the main source of water supply; Population number between 4,000 and 25,000 people; High level of total solids dissolved in groundwaters; Great potential for solar and wind energy production), crossed them in GIS software and classified into “Most Feasible” and “Feasible”. The result obtained identified RN with the bigger number of “Most Feasible” municipalities and PE with the bigger number of “Feasible” municipalities for groundwater desalination.
 Key Words: Semi-arid; Water Supply System; Renewable Energy.