this post was submitted on 30 Aug 2025
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Aside from obvious confusion of running a water desalination plant by salinating water, there's one more concern: outside of such installations, don't we have quite a limited supply of fresh water? Sure, saltwater is everywhere, but fresh water is relatively scarce.
The article refers to treated wastewater being used, not fresh water.
Oh, missed that. But won't wastewater clog the membrane?
"Treated" means the solids and goo that may have been a problem has been removed. It is mostly water, a lot a fecal bacteries, and diverse dissolved chemical that wasn't removed.
Alrightie then!
Another thought: what if we would instead use concentrated brine from desalination plant and seawater? Yes, power will be lower, but this way we don't use fresh water that we, erm, try to produce.
Desalinating water gives you potable fresh water, whereas the fresh water being used might require treatment before being potable? Or it's unreliable supply. IDK, few possible reasons, I'm just speculating