What roles can desalination play in a country's national water policy and what energy ecological and water quality considerations ought to go into making such a decision?

Key Question Categor(ies):Technological Innovation

From: Gaza Strip Water Management

Brackish water desalination and sea water desalination provide a small portion of the total water needs in the Gaza Strip. Discussion of a large desalination plant has occurred for over 20 years, but political and economic instability have made the process of funding and implementing such a plant infeasible.

A big desalination project takes time and a significant amount of money hence short-term, low volume (STLV) desalination is relevant because relatively small volumes of desalinated water can be produced rapidly to address the drinking water problems. However, the STLV desalination cannot solve the existing problems of the over-abstraction of the aquifer '"`UNIQ--ref-00000072-QINU`"'

The current water strategy includes building three STLV desalination plants with a total of 13 MCM/ year for emergency needs to improve quality of water and a regional high-volume desalination plant with a total of 55 MCM/ year (that can be expanded later on) to be completed by 2017 '"`UNIQ--ref-00000073-QINU`"'

While some of the funding has been secured for this large project, there are still questions of feasibility and sustainability. One of these concerns is related to energy - as there is a large energy deficit and electric power is not available all day. Using fuel for pumping water adds considerable cost. Energy concerns cannot be de-linked from desalination projects.

If the currently planned STLV plant is not successfully implemented, Gazans are concerned about the prospects for building the required additional desalinization infrastructure.

One of the staff of the PWA in Gaza said the following: “If we do not succeed with this small plant, then everything else will be a big problem hence it is like a test case at the very small scale.” '"`UNIQ--ref-00000074-QINU`"'