Desalination

The role of desalination as a major source of domestic water supply will continue to increase, especially in arid and semi-arid regions like the Arab region as example, due to population growth, urbanization, industrialization, and depletion of non-renewable groundwater resources.

Desalination stands as the most promising sector to supply high-quality water resource. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries currently have the highest concentration of desalination capacity worldwide. Many other countries also have plans to develop and expand their desalination capacities for meeting the escalating municipal water demands. It is important to build local and regional knowledge hubs in desalination technologies. There is a dire need to develop national plans for using renewable energy in desalination and provide incentive for the development and adoption of energy saving technologies.