According to a recently published report, more than 16,000 desalination plants around the world produce far more toxic waste than fresh water. In short, for every liter of desalinated water there is one and a half liters of salt waste, which is dumped back into the ocean or simply into the ground.
Waste salt is made even more toxic by the chemicals used in the desalination process, in particular copper and chlorine. And all this in a volume of over 50 billion cubic meters annually - enough to cover a medium-sized area with a 30-centimeter layer.
Desalination plants produce over 50 billion cubic meters of salt waste annually.
Salt raises the temperature of coastal waters and lowers oxygen levels, which in fact leads to the appearance of "dead zones" in ecosystems. Organisms lose their ability to breathe under these conditions, and survival is at stake.
Scientists believe that the volume of fresh water in the world is constantly decreasing: large rivers no longer reach the sea, natural reservoirs dry up, and pollution spoils water on the surface and underground. For every degree of global warming, about seven percent of the world's population - half a billion people - will have 20 percent less fresh water.
The volume of fresh water production and waste by region.