As countries struggle to produce enough fresh water to meet demand, they’re increasingly looking to the ocean. Desalination plants can turn seawater into freshwater, but they also produce a lot of waste.
A paper published recently in the journal “Science of the Total Environment” found that desalination plants globally produce 141.5 million m3/day of brine – a salty, chemical-laden waste product. This can be potentially toxic to marine life, particularly organisms living on the sea-floor which may have limited ability to move elsewhere.