Dear Colleagues:

We were asked to compile a bibliography on this topic and have set up a shared google document. The search results were kind of disappointing so please let us know if you have other studies or resources to add and we will try to keep an ongoing bibliography of the latest studies on desalination in humanitarian situations.

We also received requests to prepare bibliographies on the role of water utilities in humanitarian situations so that will be the topic of the next biweekly update. Just let us know of any other topics that you are interested in.

Links to each of the items below are on Sanitation Updates .

HUMANITARIAN SITUATIONS

A Road Map for Small-Scale Desalination: An overview of existing and emerging technology solutions for cost-efficient and low-energy desalination in South & Southeast Asia. OXFAM, May 2018. This report identifies the existing and emerging desalination technologies available (globally) and prioritizes their appropriateness, effectiveness and potential scalability in terms of their cost, efficacy of treatment, energy requirements and sustainability.

Marine Current Energy Converters to Power a Reverse Osmosis Desalination Plant. Energies, October 2018. The topic of this paper is utilization of marine current energy converters (hydro-kinetic energy) for powering desalination plants.

Applicability of Desalination Systems to Drought Relief Applications. US Navy, November 2018. Congress tasked the Navy to write a report on desalinization technology's application for defense and national security purposes to provide drought relief to areas impacted by sharp declines in water resources. The general answer is: desalination is absolutely applicable to drought relief applications.

Effectiveness of Membrane Filtration to Improve Drinking Water: A Quasi-Experimental Study from Rural Southern India. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, November 2016. For this report, we evaluated a source-based, low-pressure membrane filtration system which operates without electricity or conditioning materials such as glycerol or ethanol and has been used in emergency and disaster relief situations such as after the tsunami of 2004 in Sri Lanka, India, and Indonesia, and other humanitarian installations in 16 other low-income countries.

OTHER REPORTS/STUDIES

Safe drinking-water from desalination: Guidance on risk assessment and risk management procedures to ensure the safety of desalinated drinking-water. WHO, March 2011. This WHO guidance document is health-focused and it builds on the publication “Desalination technology: health and environmental impacts. ”

Tapping the Oceans: Seawater Desalination and the Political Ecology of Water. Edward Elgar Publishing, November 2018. Through a series of cutting-edge case studies and multi-subject approaches, this book explores the political and ecological debates facing water desalination on a broad geographical scale.

Water desalination in the Gaza Strip: Al Salam RO brackish water desalination plant case study. WEDC Conference, 2017. This paper presents the details of the implementation of a medium scale brackish water desalination plant constructed in eastern Rafah – Gaza by Oxfam and its partner the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility.

Innovative approaches for the construction of Gaza’s largest seawater desalination plant. Waterlines, July 2017. Seawater desalination is an energy-intensive process and, given the limited availability of electricity within Gaza, UNICEF has focused on identifying innovative means of generating and conserving energy to tackle the energy–water nexus by incorporating renewable energy and energy recovery to maximize the plant’s viability.

NEWS

Oman Humanitarian Desalination Challenge – The Challenge is a joint initiative led by MEDRC Water Research and The Research Council Oman with funding provided by The Sultan Qaboos Higher Center for Culture and Science. The challenge seeks to create a hand-held, stand-alone, low-cost, desalination device for short-term use and rapid deployment following a humanitarian crisis.

Water Purification Breakthrough Uses Sunlight and Hydrogels. UT News, April 2018. The ability to create clean, safe drinking water using only natural levels of sunlight and inexpensive gel technology could be at hand, thanks to an innovation in water purification.

Desalination: Water for an Increasingly Thirsty World. Europe Now, December 10, 2018. Desalination technology is neither new nor perfect. Several technologies currently are used to desalinate water, and a combination of different challenges and application needs creates a situation where no single technology is a perfect fit for all situations.

ORGANIZATIONS

International Desalination Association (IDA) – IDA is the world’s leading resource for information and professional development for the global desalination industry – and the only global association focused exclusively on desalination and water reuse technologies.