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First Attempts at Desalination
Records show attempts at desalination come from as far back as the 17th century. In the 17th century, ships at sea first tried to convert sea water to fresh water. The point of this was so ships in the middle of the ocean would be able to make fresh water in case they were to run out. Records from that era do not say whether or not these attempts were successful or not. -
First Desalination Plants Built in Middle East
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates discover oil offshore. They use the money from the oil to build desalination plant because of the lack of water. The Saudi Arabian government spent more than a billion dollars on the desalination plants. -
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First Desalination Plants Built in the Middle East
Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates discover oil offshore. They use the money from the oil to build desalination plants. They built desalination plants because of the lack of fresh water in the Middle East. The Saudi Arabian Government spent more than a billion dollars of the desalination plants. -
Saudi Arabia Expands Desalination Plant
Saudi Arabia expanded their desalination plant in al-Jubail. After the expansion, it was the largest desalination plant capacity in the world at that time. The capacity was 908,500m^3/d. -
The Rumaith is Built
The Rumaith is a desalination plant on a boat. It is the first seafaring desalination plant in the world. The purpose of a desalination plant on a boat is to bring water to towns on the coast. The Rumaith was launched from the United Arab Emirates. -
Middle East Desalination Research Center
In 1995, the United States and Oman gave three million dollars each to build a Middle East Desalination Research Center. The research center would be located in Oman. The US gave so much money to fund the research center because more fresh water could decrease conflict in the Middle East. -
Israel Desalination Society Founded
The Israel Desalination Society was started in 1998. The goal of the Israel Desalination Society is to use desalination to meet the water needs of Israel. To this day, the Israel Desalination Society has annual meetings to meet its goals. -
First Mega-capacity Plant Built
A video explaning more about the plant Commissioned in 2005, a new desalination plant was built in Ashkelon, Israel. This was the first mega-capacity desalination plant in the world. Mega-capacity means it generates large amounts of fresh water. It can produce 118 million m3 of desalinated water in a year. -
Largest Desalination Plant Commisioned
The world’s largest desalination plant was commissioned in 2009. This plant is located in Hadera, Israel. On average, it creates 127 million m3 of fresh water each year. -
First Solar Powered Desalination Plant
IBM and Saudi Arabian researchers make plans to build the first solar powered desalination plant in Saudi Arabia. They plan to build the plant in the city of Al Khafiji in Saudi Arabia. The plant will be able to make 7.9 million gallons of fresh water each day. -
The First International Desalination Conference Begins
Some issues talked about at the conference video The first international desalination conference takes place. The conference took place in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. At the conference, topics such as different ways of desalinating water and ways to power desalination plants were discussed. -
The First International Desalination Conference Ends
The first international desalination conference takes place. The conference took place in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. At the conference, topics such as different ways of desalinating water and ways to power desalination plants were discussed.
