Desalination for agriculture: Is it affordable?

Desalination is becoming increasingly important as a solution to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region's water problem. Many water-stressed countries in MENA are increasing their water supplies with desalination to meet the needs of the continuous growth of population and industrial, tourism, and agricul-ture developments. Agriculture in particular is starting to benefit from desalination technologies in some regions suffering from seawater intrusion and water and soil salinization. However, desalination presents some constraints in terms of cost, energy consumption, and brine management. In addition, solar energy is the most abundant form of renewable energy and most of the MENA countries have the potential to exploit this energy form for developing solar-driven desalination processes. Thus, membrane operations driven with renewable energy can make desalination more sustainable and environment friendly. In particular, Reverse Osmosis (RO) desali-nation technology coupled with solar energy will supply freshwater at a competi-tive price and reduce the usual greenhouse impacts associated with grid electricity demand for desalination. Could desalination for agriculture become sustainable if we use renewable energies and find the right approaches to deal with the brine? This is what we try to respond to in this review.