Drought Forces Spain to Source Drinking Water From the Sea
Nile Delta to floodgates that protect Venice, projects to keep the sea from swallowing the land are multiplying. Some scientists are beginning to consider ideas once dismissed as crackpot, such as damming the Strait of Gibraltar to keep sea levels in check. Much of the Mediterranean region has been in the grip of a fearsome heat wave in recent weeks, raising mortality rates and putting pressure on overstretched healthcare systems, with the elderly especially at risk.
Cities such as Barcelona and Nicosia in Cyprus have set up public shelters to protect people from prolonged exposure to high temperatures. Declining access to fresh water poses one of the region’s biggest long-term threats. Desalinated seawater has long been a prime source of drinking water in hot, dry countries such as Saudi Arabia, Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
Now, desalination is booming in countries whose landscapes provided plenty of fresh water for thousands of years. There are downsides to desalination. Turning seawater into drinking water is an energy-intensive process, which makes desalination both costly and bad for the environment.
The super-salty brine that is left over is harmful to the ocean’s ecosystem. Spain is betting heavily on the technology. Building new desalination plants is the centerpiece of the Spanish government’s plan to deal with the growing problem of droughts.
In Catalonia, authorities plan to double desalination capacity over the next three years. Last year, the region’s two desalination plants produced 16.7 billion gallons of drinking water, six times as much as in 2009. That water has helped the region to cope with this summer’s extreme heat and drought.
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