Desalination
	What is Desalination? For centuries it has been recognised that the abundance of water on the Earth can be utilised for consumption and agriculture – provided the salt can be removed to the desired purity. Desalination is a process that separates dissolved salts and other minerals from seawater to deliver quality drinking water for consumption. Water desalination technology has been in use world-wide for decades. The most common desalination process is known as ‘reverse osmosis’, which involves the removal of salts and other minerals from seawater as it is filtered through a series of membranes (moving through a thin sheet of material) under high pressure. The History of Desalination The process of removing salt and impurities from seawater is not a new concept. There are references to desalination and water purification in ancient Egyptian, Sanskrit, Hebrew, Phoenician and Greek writings. During the 1700s water desalination plants were developed in the UK, Europe and the US and simple desalination systems became standard equipment on ships during the 1800s. The first large scale desalination operations were undertaken in the Middle East following World War 11. The popularity of water desalination increased in the 1960s with the reliability of the reverse osmosis (RO) membrane. Most desalination plants convert about 50% of the water intake. The remaining seawater and extracted minerals and salts are returned to the ocean where they are quickly dispersed by tidal currents. Today there are over 7,500 desalination plants in operation around the globe (60% of which are in the Middle East) and hundreds more are planned, or are already under construction, around the world.