- Desalination will continue to play an important role in the augmentation of water supply in GCC countries for the foreseeable future due to the deterioration of groundwater aquifers and limitation in renewable fresh water sources. Constructing the dual purpose large-scale desalination plants has contributed to reduce the cost and produce large volumes of desalted water. The integration of desalination and energy production
facilities provide an incentive for reduced desalination energy costs. Research and development
efforts in the field of using solar and nuclear energy in desalination are expected to reduce the
production, operation and maintenance costs for producing water. The achievements in the field
of improving membrane technology will lead to reduction in costs of RO desalination process and
increasing membrane life. There is a technical impediment to the use of nuclear reactors to supply
either heat or electricity or both which can be used as an energy source for desalination plants