Dear Colleagues,

Considering that about 785 million people still lacked even a basic drinking water service in 2019 (UN, SDG progress, 2019), that nearly 2.4 billion people live within 100 km of the coast (UN, Ocean Conference 2017) and the challenges associated with increased water stress (i.e., less renewable water and decreased water quality, with more challenging emerging compounds), desalination is already an alternative solution that many countries all over the world are relying upon. For instance, in Kenya, in Likoni in Mombasa County they are planning the construction of a desalination plant with capacity of 100,000 m³/day. In Mexico, the government considered the construction of four desalination plants in its water and sanitation investment plan for the coming five years. Technology has improved and costs have decreased to the point that, when compared to the rising cost of clean water obtained from other sources, desalination has become an attractive option.

Large-scale desalination technology has been in use for decades. More than 20,000 facilities operate worldwide, with an increasing number of desalination plants in middle- and lower-income countries. Although seawater is the primary source, brackish water and treated wastewater are growing in production capacity.

In this Special Issue we want to address the challenges and perspectives of desalination for middle- and lower-income countries. The challenges are broad, including energy demand and supply, use of renewable energies in desalination, intermittent operation, capacity development of personnel, operation and maintenance, water quality, intakes and outfalls, environmental impact and mitigation actions, case studies, pre-treatment, reverse osmosis, funding and costs, etc.

Prof. Dr. Sergio G. Salinas Rodriguez
Dr. Gustavo Fimbres Weihs
Dr. German Eduardo Devora
Guest Editors

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•  desalination
• water reuse
•  membrane technology
•  developing countries
•  decentralized systems
•  case study
•  seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO)
•  brackish water reverse osmosis (BWRO)
•  operation
•  finance
•  water quality
•  environmental impact