The management of desalinated water

Abstract

Desalinated water is expensive to produce so its efficient management from the inception of the water cycle at the desalination plant to the reuse of the sewage effluent from the treatment plant is of paramount importance. The water crisis in the Arab World is discussed and compared with the oil crisis when industrial countries adopted policies and carried out extensive programmes for research and development in order to reduce dependence on oil and reduce its cost. This experience provides lessons for the better utilisation of desalinated water. The objectives for efficient management and proposed means of achieving them are presented. Three main lines of approach to improving the utilisation of desalinated water are discussed: reducing unaccounted-for water, re-using sewage effluent, and adopting new technologies. Potentially rewarding fields of research into advancing desalination are given, with an estimation of the cost and management suggestions. The potential for increasing storage capacity with natural underground reservoirs by adopting the technique of aquifer storage recovery is described. The importance of demand-orientated policies is emphasised, along with the need for restructuring and, most importantly, the establishment of a regulatory office to monitor the proper use of desalinated water.