From DW Documentary.
Sixty years ago, Europe’s first seawater desalination plant was built in the Canary Islands. This technology for producing fresh water was a blessing for the islands. Now, it could prove to be a curse for the ecosystem.
This water treatment system is essential for life in the area – but is it compatible with the principles of sustainable development?
Due to limited freshwater resources and rising demand, the first seawater desalination plant in Europe was built in the Canary Islands. It is often touted as a perfect solution. Today, the Canary Islands have the highest number of desalinations plants in the world, relative to the islands’ size and population.
The fresh water obtained in this way is indispensable for human life on the volcanic islands, but – since it appears to be available in abundance – it also encourages unbridled economic development, such as mass tourism and the intensive monoculture of bananas for export.
Moreover, seawater desalination is anything but climate-neutral. The plants consume vast amounts of electricity from fossil fuels. The brine returned to the sea destroys marine life and contributes to ocean acidification.
The film sheds light for the first time on this region’s dependence on desalinated seawater. The documentary also explains how water desalination works, and the various impacts that need to be considered.
Aware of the urgent need to protect nature, their own health and the future of their children, the Canarian people are working together with scientists to find alternative solutions for sustainable water management.
Thanks to decades of experience, the Canary Islands are now leaders in the field of seawater desalination, and their technical expertise is in demand worldwide. In view of increasingly frequent droughts due to climate change, the extraction of drinking water using this technology is becoming a matter of survival for an increasing number of people.
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