Sea Water Desalination Plant for Karachi Water Supply

Abstract

Drinking water is the most essential requirement of living beings. Life on earth relies on use-able water. With increase in population, comes increased water demand. Now a days, water shortage is a global issue which requires to be solved. The best possible solution is to make use of sea water as drinking water through desalination. The water-stressed countries are adopting the desalination technique around the globe to overcome the water issues. Water obtained by desalination far exceeds supplies from the freshwater sources. The advancement intechnology has allowed us to make the desalination cost effective using modern techniques. Thetechnological advancements in membranes used in Desalination and the equipment and tools used along with integrationof energy-recovery devices to reduce electricity demands, and amalgamation of various Desalination techniques into hybrid designs coupled with use of renewable energy sources has made Desalination efficient and cost effective then it was ever before.Karachi, being the metropolitan city of Pakistan has experienced significant rise in population as well as water demand.Hub Dam stores the main source of waterin Karachi, butit is not enough to mitigatethe looming threat of water scarcity. Desalination plant alongthe Karachi coast is one of the best alternative to satisfy our need for water. In this paper an endeavorhas beenmade to put forth a brief overviewof the efforts that have beenmade in the past and after understanding the present scenario of Karachi and its environmental conditions, a comparative study between various sites, the analysis of cost related to Desalination as well as various renewable energy technologies which power desalination systems along their economics has been carried out.