Desalination method should be improved to meet water shortage

Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) Gov. Abdul Rahman bin Mohammed Al-Ibrahim has announced that water desalination should be improved and developed to effectively combat the surging demand for water in the Kingdom.
Al-Ibrahim said that water desalination is energy-efficient, reliable, and more environment-friendly compared to the present methods including ground water extraction which involves mining. He pointed out that the method is recognized worldwide and is being used by 150 countries.
The water consumption of Saudi Arabia as of February 2013 has risen by 40 percent from 24.3 billion cubic meters in 1997 to 34.1 billion cubic meters in 2007.
Al-Ibrahim also suggested that the Kingdom should discover and develop advanced desalination techniques by assigning a group of researchers specialized in the field for a thorough study. “Once perfected, the process will enable Saudi Arabia to cut the cost of water and improve production,” he added.
A Harvard University study endorsed Al- Ibrahim’s claim saying that “improving the water desalination capacity of the Kingdom using high-tech green technology is a smart, multi-dimensionally strategic, and future-oriented move.”
Earlier, an article in the Wall Street Journal added that, “100,000 cubic meters of potable water per day was being produced in a plant in Jubail.”
However, Saudi Minister of Water and Electricity, Abdullah Al-Hussayen said earlier this year that “desalination is expensive and unsustainable since it costs about $1 per cubic meter to produce and consumes eight times more energy than groundwater projects.”
“It also accounts for 10 to 20 percent of the energy consumption in Saudi Arabia. In addition, there are great environmental challenges associated with the whole process.”
Saudi Arabia, known as one of the richest countries in the world in terms of fossil fuels and minerals, is also considered as one of the poorest when it comes to abundant water supply because of its geographical location and its desert-like environment.
Earlier this year, Al-Hussayen revealed that water consumption exceeded eight million cubic meters per day, a record for Saudi Arabia. Divided by a population of nearly 30 million, this amounts to a daily rate of about 265 liters per person.”
He also dubbed this news as “frightening” implying that something needed to be done about it.
Water desalination is a process of removing minerals such as salt from sea water to make it suitable for human consumption or irrigation.
Unlike other methods, it is not rainfall dependent thus, granting almost unlimited supplies of water from seas or oceans.