Abstract
As the use of desalination increases in many parts of the world, the problem changes from water scarcity to energy consumption and moves from overused, polluted freshwater bodies to the marine environment. The main environmental concerns of desalination activity revolve around the emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollutants, the concentrate and chemical discharges into the sea, the use of large quantities of seawater for cooling purposes and as feed water, causing the impingement and entrainment of marine organisms, and construction-related impacts on coastal and nearshore habitats. This chapter gives a synopsis of the key concerns of desalination plant impacts on the marine environment. An overview of seawater desalination capacities by sea region is given, followed by a more in-depth discussion of the concerns associated with desalination activity in three sea regions, the Gulf, the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, which together account for 70% of global seawater desalination capacity.