Sustainablity
Though the sustainability of RO desalination is dependent on many factors, the most decisive is probably the environmental impacts. The process has the ability to impact the environment through pollution of marine ecosystems and greenhouse gas emissions.
According to the Future Directions International, desalination plants taking in massive amounts of water from marine ecosystems can kill small fish and other organisms when they get caught in the filter . The Australian and U.S. desalination plants have been designed to allow the fish to swim away using a slow intake rate . The bigger environmental issue deals with the waste of RO. The salt concentrated waste of the process is usually disposed back into the ocean, which causes an increase in salt levels in the oceans . To limit the effects on marine ecosystems, strict environmental laws are being passed to restrict the amount of waste allowed …show more content…
One of the reasons seawater desalination technology is so prevalent in the Middle East is its abundance of energy resources. A majority of desalination plants use fossil fuels or nuclear power as their main energy source. The growth of RO desalination will therefore cause an increase in greenhouse emissions, contributing to further climate change . The advancing technology in renewable resources will make desalination a more viable option for increasing the worldwide clean water supply. Before the process can be fully sustainable, the impact of RO on the environment must be controlled.
Should it be further pursued?
The massive energy consumed in the desalination process obviously remains a concern for the future of the technology The utilization of energy recovery devices in the Carlsbad Desalination Plant is a good starting point, although its energy usage still remains too high. Sasan Moridpour, an engineering student at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) has proposed two ways to reduce improve