Wildlife, Wallets Hit Hard By Desalination Technology

With millions of people worldwide lacking an adequate water supply on a daily basis, the concept of converting sea water to fresh water has attracted great interest.

A new report, however, suggests that desalination technology can have undesirable impacts on wildlife and human health that need to be mitigated in order for the benefits to outweigh the drawbacks.

The U.S. National Research Council's report points to the risks posed to marine wildlife, both when water is collected from the ocean and when salty discharge is channeled into estuaries. In terms of human health impacts, the study claims that desalination technology is unsuccessful at removing the toxic chemical element boron.

The International Desalination Association counters that advanced modeling employed worldwide minimizes wildlife impacts and improves diffusion of the salty discharge. Even with the mitigation of health effects on people and wildlife, desalination is expensive, requiring significant energy consumption. But with a life-sustaining resource in short supply, the benefits of desalination technology just may prevail.

Read more at ENN

Photo by Gideon Lichfield