ABSTRACT
High energy costs, air pollution, and environmental degradation are the main challenges facing the sustainability of desalination plants. The aim of this chapter is to provide a critical review of sustainable developments as they relate to desalination technology. Results showed that important factors include good infrastructure planning and management, the need for better membrane desalination techniques, minimizing brine discharge, enhancing energy efficiency and applying renewable energy technology. The misunderstanding that all derived energies are equal can have severe economic and environmental consequences. Planners may make serious judgmental errors in the selection of installations if data is either flawed or inaccurate. It is also vital to consider novel desalination processes such as capacitive deionization, even if they do not currently meet the economic feasibility of conventional processes. Furthermore, all water from desalination plants must be monitored and regulated to ensure safe public and marine health. Additional research is needed to identify all contaminants in desalination brines. There should be no brine disposal in underground aquifers until in-depth and expert groundwater surveys are carried out and there is no potential risk of brine plumes appearing in freshwater wells.
