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As climate change fuels irregular rainfall and intensifies droughts, countries worldwide are increasingly turning to desalination to address growing water scarcity. The global desalination industry is booming, projected to grow from $15 billion in 2024 to over $20 billion by 2027.
Water stress now affects about 10% of the global population and is expected to worsen. To meet long-term drinking and irrigation needs, governments are investing billions in desalination technologies, especially in the Middle East and North Africa, which account for roughly 70% of global desalination capacity.
Technological advances like reverse osmosis have replaced older thermal methods, making the process more efficient. However, desalination remains energy-intensive and environmentally problematic. Plants require vast amounts of energy and produce highly saline brine, which is discharged into oceans, threatening marine ecosystems.
The Gulf Arab states, with pioneers like Kuwait, home to the world’s first desalination plant in 1951, and companies such as France’s Veolia, lead efforts to modernize the sector. Challenges extend beyond salt removal to pre-treating seawater to exclude marine life and algae, protecting both the plants and local biodiversity.
With information from Financial Times.
