Assessing the environmental impacts of seawater desalination on the hypersalinity of Arabian/Persian Gulf

Seawater desalination is the main and reliable source of water supply for the Arabian/Persian Gulf surrounding countries to sustain and allow the continuing long-term socioeconomic development. Building more desalination plants and/or increasing water production rates of the existing plants appears to be the answer to satisfy the soaring projected future water demands. Of all the world's multinational bodies of water, the Gulf itself is a uniquely small scale, almost semi-enclosed marginal sea. Due to the arid nature of its bordering lands, its water is naturally characterized by higher temperature and salinity, leading to hypersaline conditions as a consequence of solar heating through an extremely high evaporation rate. Therefore, the additional abstraction of water by desalination plants operated along its shallow coastline and returned brine discharge through marine outfalls could result in further increase to the Gulf's salinity. The effects of intense desalination activity on salinity within the Gulf are evaluated using an analytical model for a semi-enclosed sea of simple geometry, where the role of natural evaporation and river discharge at the head of the Gulf is highlighted.