Why might Middle Eastern countries turn to desalination plants only as a last resort? Plants have a lot of fixed costs during construction. Plants take a lot of electricity to operate. Plants need a lot of supplies and labor. Plants break down a lot and are hard to maintain.

Question

Kathy Gallegos

Social Studies

24 January, 13:34

Why might Middle Eastern countries turn to desalination plants only as a last resort? Plants have a lot of fixed costs during construction. Plants take a lot of electricity to operate. Plants need a lot of supplies and labor. Plants break down a lot and are hard to maintain.

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Cedric Lopez · Answer 1

Answer: Plants take a lot of electricity to operate.

Reports show that almost 70 % of the world's desalination plants are located in the Middle East with Saudi Arabia producing 20%.

Saudi Arabia runs the world’s largest thermal desalination plant, producing (640,000 m3 per day. Desalination plants like these take a lot of electricity to operate thus Middle Eastern countries turn to it only as a last resort.