Seawater - a prerequisite for marine desalination : urban and rural engineering

Desalination has become a feasible technology to deliver reliable and high-quality drinking water. However, what is often underestimated in the planning stage of a desalination plant is the need for a constant and secured stream of good quality seawater, especially when considering that a desalination plant's seawater requirement is typically 2.5 times that of the volume of potable water it is producing. As the marine construction work is largely dependent on the sea conditions, the proposed seawater abstraction solution could also have a significant bearing on the overall project programme and risk.