ABSTRACT
To that end, the main components of desalination plants (i.e., the intake, pretreatment, desalination process, cleaning, and concentrate disposal system as described in chapter 2) are being compared with regard to environmental criteria such as energy, material and chemical use, and resulting emissions and likely environmental impacts. The identified BAT solution can be used as a reference in the determination of individual BAT solutions on a case by case basis, taking site-and project-specific considerations into account. It should be noted here that the environmental impacts of a desalination plant will depend on the technology and mode of operation on the one hand, and the environmental characteristics of the project site on the other hand. This chapter aims at developing technology-based recommendations for mitigating the impacts of desalination projects. For completeness, general criteria for site selection are given in section 6.5.
