Do foreign countries have desalination plants?
Yes, there are about 12,500 desalination facilities located in 120 countries worldwide with a total capacity of about 4 BGD (billion gallons per day). Almost 60 percent of these plants are located in the Middle East where desalinated water accounts for more than 70 percent of the region’s water supply. For more information on desalination plants in the Middle East, visit the Middle East Desalination Research Center Web site. Other countries such as Australia, Singapore, India, the United Kingdom, and several countries in the Caribbean also either presently have or are planning to build desalination plants. Recently, the government of Spain announced plans to build a total of 21 seawater desalination plants along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. These plants will have a combined capacity of approximately 527,000 acre-feet per year, equal to the present capacity of the 900 existing plants in the country.
