[aquila48]

The Saudis and Israelis get a large chunk of their water from desalination. What do they do with the leftover brine?

[Wuli]

“The Saudis and Israelis get a large chunk of their water from desalination. What do they do with the leftover brine?”

The answer is in two parts. 1. The first part is in the cost vs benefit in specifics in locales with fewer water choices than many other places - like Israel and Saudi Arabia. 2. The second part is that I think they do not do allot of economic recapture of the brine from their plants, that they are mostly discharging it, and some environmental studies have suggested the results in their coastal waters is negative - increased local water salinity and temperature.

[Blurb2350]

The salty leftovers are pumped back into the sea where it came from. But problems are arising. For one thing, the desalinated water lacks key trace minerals, which is having a noticeable effect on the health of both people and agricultural products. Magnesium is a particular problem. And then there's the dumping of the salty sludge back into the ocean. It has a serious detrimental effect on sea life. And of course the desalination plants use a huge amount of energy. Here's a good article from Haaretz about growing concerns. At least one plant has been shut down due to its effect on the local environment.

[JD_UTDallas]

“The Saudis and Israelis get a large chunk of their water from desalination. What do they do with the leftover brine?”

They eject it offshore under water through high pressure mixing nozzles where the velocity and flow factors instantly mix it with you guessed it less salty seawater rendering the now mixed water stream only slightly more salty than the original seawater being in near saline equilibrium this mixed stream further mixes and dilutes itself to be undetectable as a distinct water body in a few hundred meters of travel. In other words after a few hundred meters the much feared brine is a giant nothingburger. The fear mongering over brine disposal is used to further an agenda in the real world when handled with competent engineering it’s a nonissue.