Spain's desalination dilemma: Can solar power save our water supply?

The world is facing a growing water disaster. By 2030, it is expected that water demand will exceed sustainable water supply. A crisis is looming in many parts of Europe as droughts are becoming more frequent and more severe. Experts are warning densely populated regions could see prolonged water scarcity.

RAZOR's Gabrielle Lawrence is heading to Spain, one of the most water stressed countries in Europe, because of their huge agricultural output. The destination is Almería, where the landscape resembles a desert of plastic. It has always been an arid area, receiving only 200mm of rainfall on average each year. This sunny part of Europe is producing half of all Europe's fruit and vegetables, making it intrinsic to the food security of the continent. The Cajamar Experimental Station helped develop the intensive greenhouse technique that put Almería on the map and expanded its production.

But with more farming, comes the need for more water. Agriculture water use accounts for 80% of all water use in Spain and in reality, there isn't enough water for the scale of growing across Spain. As rivers, lakes and reservoirs dry up, alternative water sources need to be found. Spain is the biggest adopter of desalination technology in Europe, as it emerged as a promising technology to provide clean water.

But Spain has a desalination dilemma. Desalination requires huge amounts of energy and also produces enormous amounts of waste. Filtering salt from seawater requires sending the waste material back into the sea. When concentrated, the brine depletes oxygen, affecting marine life.

A team of scientists led by Guillermo Zaragoza is testing how to harness solar power to fuel the desalination process in a greener way. But the Plataforma Solar de Almería is also tackling desalination's second dirtiest by-product: brine.

Through an emerging process known as brine mining, researchers are recycling this waste stream, extracting valuable minerals such as lithium, cobalt and magnesium – materials essential for renewable energy technologies and increasingly scarce worldwide.

What was once pollution could become a resource. We explore how cutting-edge science is reshaping desalination, transforming it from an energy-hungry last resort into a more sustainable tool for the future.

#WaterCrisis #Desalination #Spain #SolarPower #RAZOR #CGTNEurope #Sustainability #Decarbonisation #Drought

00:00 - Introduction: The Global Water Crisis & Spain's Drought
03:15 - How Desalination Works & Spain's Water Supply Reliance
08:40 - The Environmental Dilemma: High Energy Use & Marine Pollution
15:20 - Renewable Solutions: Harnessing Solar Power for Desalination
22:10 - Future Outlook: Technological Innovations & Attitude Shifts in Water Conservation
28:00 - Conclusion


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