{"id":49660,"date":"2019-07-12T17:36:00","date_gmt":"2019-07-12T12:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogadmin.forumias.com\/?page_id=49660"},"modified":"2019-07-12T17:36:10","modified_gmt":"2019-07-12T12:06:10","slug":"answered-desalination-technology-is-not-an-esoteric-idea-however-it-only-has-a-limited-application-given-the-operation-cost-discuss-what-is-desalination-can-desalination-help-in","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/answered-desalination-technology-is-not-an-esoteric-idea-however-it-only-has-a-limited-application-given-the-operation-cost-discuss-what-is-desalination-can-desalination-help-in\/","title":{"rendered":"[Answered] \u201cDesalination technology is not an esoteric idea. However, it only has a limited application, given the operation cost\u201d. Discuss. What is desalination? Can desalination help India with its water crisis situation?"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n\n\n
Demand of the question<\/strong>
Introduction. <\/strong>Give a contextual Introduction.
Body. <\/strong>Discuss desalination technology. Limitations of desalination.
Conclusion. <\/strong>Way forward and solutions. <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n

India facing a developing water crisis situation. Exploring technologies to harness fresh water is seen as one of the idea to deal with it, desalination being one of them. Desalination technology is not an esoteric idea, rather Chennai already uses desalinated water. However, it only has a limited application, given the operation costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is desalination technology?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Desalination is a technology that convert salt\nwater into freshwater using reverse osmosis (RO). Osmosis involves \u2018a solvent\n(such as water) naturally moving from an area of low concentration, through a\nmembrane, to an area of high concentration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A reverse osmosis system applies an external\npressure to reverse the natural flow of solvent and so seawater or brackish\nwater is pressurised against one surface of the membrane, causing salt-depleted\nwater to move across the membrane, releasing clean water from the low-pressure\nside\u2019. In desalination a plant pumps in salty or brackish water, filters\nseparate the salt from the water, and the salty water is returned to the sea.\nFresh water is sent to households.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Limitations of desalination in harnessing potable\nwater from the sea?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Energy\nintensive-<\/strong> Engineering such plants have to factor in various\nconstraints, for instance, salt levels in the source water that is to be\ntreated, the energy required for the treatment and disposing of the salt back\ninto the sea. To remove the salt required, there has to be a source of\nelectricity, either a power plant or a diesel or battery source. Estimates have\nput this at about 4 units of electricity per 1,000 litres of water. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Hyper-salinity-<\/strong> <\/strong>Because\nRO plants convert seawater to fresh water, the major environmental challenge\nthey pose is the deposition of brine (highly concentrated salt water) along the\nshores. Ever since the Chennai plants have started to function, fishermen have\ncomplained that the brine being deposited along the seashore is triggering\nchanges along the coastline and reducing the availability of prawn, sardine and\nmackerel. Hyper salinity along the shore affects plankton, which is the main\nfood for several of these fish species.<\/li>
  2. Danger to sea life-<\/strong> <\/strong>Moreover,\nthe high pressure motors needed to draw in the seawater end up sucking in small\nfish and life forms, thereby crushing and killing them, again a loss of marine\nresource. <\/li>
  3. Wastage of land and freshwater-<\/strong> <\/strong>Another\nproblem is that the construction of the RO plants required troves of\ngroundwater. This was freshwater that was sucked out and has since been\nreplaced by salt water, rendering it unfit for the residents around the\ndesalination plants.<\/li>
  4. Expensive-<\/strong> Desalination is cost intensive and water this\nproduced is also costly. In light of India\u2019s poor population, desalination may\nnot work out. Investment is required to set up infrastructure, energy\nrequirements and waste disposal.<\/li>
  5. Waste Disposal<\/strong>– As with any process, desalination has by-products\nthat must be taken care of. The process of desalination requires pre-treatment\nand cleaning chemicals, which are added to water before desalination to make\nthe treatment more efficient and successful. These chemicals can be used for\nonly a limited amount of time. Once they’ve lost their ability to clean the\nwater, these chemicals are dumped, which becomes a major environmental concern.\nThese chemicals often find their way back into the ocean, where they poison\nplant and animal life.<\/li>
  6. Health Concerns-<\/strong> Desalination is not a perfected technology, and\ndesalinated water can be harmful to human health as well. By-products of the\nchemicals used in desalination can get through into the “pure” water\nand endanger the people who drink it. Desalinated water can also be acidic to\nboth pipes and digestive systems.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Excessive costs, energy consumption and the threat to fisheries and marine should make communities think twice about desalination as their solution. Conservation and recycling programs are usually much less expensive and less risky alternatives to building desalination plants. Companies today are helping homes and business make more efficient use of their water. By using water-efficient product choices\u2014with no sacrifice to quality or product performance we can help conserve our most precious natural resource.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Demand of the question Introduction. Give a contextual Introduction. Body. Discuss desalination technology. Limitations of desalination. Conclusion. Way forward and solutions. India facing a developing water crisis situation. Exploring technologies to harness fresh water is seen as one of the idea to deal with it, desalination being one of them. Desalination technology is not an… Continue reading [Answered] \u201cDesalination technology is not an esoteric idea. However, it only has a limited application, given the operation cost\u201d. Discuss. What is desalination? Can desalination help India with its water crisis situation?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":49132,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-49660","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/49660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/49660\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}