Arroyo 2011 - Desalination in Arizona

Desalination, the removal of salts from water, harvests fresh water from salty water. It is not the “silver bullet” that will supply the world, or Arizona, with fresh water, but rather a potentially important component of the water portfolio. “At its simplest, the technology might substantially reduce water scarcity by making the almost inexhaustible stock of seawater and the large quantities of brackish groundwater that appear to be available into new sources of fresh water supply,” as the National Research Council stated in Desalination: A National Perspective. However, disposal of waste salts,energy requirements, environmental impacts, infrastructure costs and regulatory uncertainty remain challenges to water managers.