Evaluating the effect of producing desalinated seawater on hypersaline Arabian Gulf

The Arabian Gulf is the main source for desalinated seawater to make up deficiencies in the supplies of potable water for Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. Due to its semi-enclosed nature and and climate of the bordering lands, seawater in the Arabian Gulf can have an extremely high evaporation rate leading to hypersaline conditions. Therefore, any further loss of water by desalination plants would deteriously change the salinity. The impact of seawater desalination. on the salinity of the Arabian Gulf is evaluated using a mathematical model. Due to the exponential sensitivity to the plant's location and its water production rate, the effect of a plant located close to the head of the Gulf is found to be more severe.