Desalination Workshop

Most of the groundwater in the research area of the CuveWaters project (Central-Northern Namibia) is very saline and therefore not suitable for human consumption. This is of particular concern in areas which are not connected to the long-distance pipeline system supplying drinking water from the Kunene

Alternative water supply concepts, e.g. groundwater desalination using renewable energy sources, play a decisive role in providing water for domestic use and strengthening the endogenous resource potentials.
To gain an overview of existing options for small scale desalination technologies (up to 10 m³ per day) a one-day workshop, "Groundwater Desalination using Solar and Wind Power", was held at the Institute for Social-Ecological Research (ISOE) in Frankfurt/Main on 11th June 2007 and kindly supported by the German Desalination Society (DME). Suppliers of small-scale desalination plants had the opportunity to present their products and discuss future co-operation within the CuveWaters research project. The product line-up ranged from wind- or solar-powered membrane processes (e.g. reverse osmosis plants) to solar thermal desalination technologies.