Desalination by country

The following table is a list of operating desalination plants. Criteria for inclusion on this list include: • that it's operating (not proposed or decommissioned), and • has a capacity of at least 100,000 cubic meters per day or it's the largest in its country. • excludes desalination plants used primarily for mining ==Algeria==

Algeria ranks 2nd in the Mediterranean with a desalinated water production capacity of (631 million m3/year), followed by Spain (405 million m3/year) and Egypt (200 million m3/year). is believed to have at least 20 desalination plants in operation. • Arzew IWPP Power & Desalination Plant, Arzew, 90,000m3/day • Cap Djinet Seawater Reverse Osmosis 100,000 m3/day • Tlemcen Souk Tleta 200,000 m3/day • Tlemcen Hounaine 200,000 m3/day • Beni Saf 200,000 m3/day • Tenes 200,000 m3/day • Fouka 120,000 m3/day • Tipaza 100,000 m3/day • Mostaganem, (Sonaghter) 200,000 m3/day • Magtaa Reverse Osmosis (RO) Desalination Plant 500,000 m3/day, Oran ==Aruba==

The island of Aruba has a large (world's largest at the time of its inauguration) desalination plant, with a total installed capacity of per day. ==Australia==

The Millennium Drought (1997–2009) led to a water supply crisis across much of the country. A combination of increased water usage and lower rainfall/drought in Australia caused state governments to turn to desalination. As a result, several large-scale desalination plants were constructed (see list). Large-scale seawater reverse osmosis plants (SWRO) now contribute to the domestic water supplies of several major Australian cities including Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and the Gold Coast. While desalination helped secure water supplies, it is energy intensive (≈$140/ML). In 2010, a Seawater Greenhouse went into operation in Port Augusta. A growing number of smaller scale SWRO plants are used by the oil and gas industry (both on and offshore), by mining companies to supply slurry pipelines for the transport of ore and on offshore islands to supply tourists and residents. ==Bahrain==

Completed in 2000, the Al Hidd Desalination Plant on Muharraq island employed a multistage flash process, and produces per day. The Al Hidd distillate forwarding station provides 410 million liters of distillate water storage in a series of 45-million-liter steel tanks. A 135-million-liters/day forwarding pumping station sends flows to the Hidd, Muharraq, Hoora, Sanabis, and Seef blending stations, and which has an option for gravity supply for low flows to blending pumps and pumps which forward to Janusan, Budiya and Saar. Upon completion of the third construction phase, the Durrat Al Bahrain seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination plant was planned to have a capacity of 36,000 cubic meters of potable water per day to serve the irrigation needs of the Durrat Al Bahrain development. The Bahrain-based utility company, Energy Central Co contracted to design, build and operate the plant. == Barbados ==

In 1994–1995 the island of Barbados experienced a severe 1 in 50 year severe drought that knocked much of the island's drinking water supply offline including the country's sole major hospital in the capital-city Bridgetown. An agreement was negotiated with General Electric's Ionics Inc. to build a reverse osmosis desalination plant on the south western coast of the island capable of supplying 20% of the islands population. The plant began operating within 15 months and was officially commissioned February 2000. Currently many cruise ships purchase water from Barbados due to its good quality. ==Cayman Islands==

• West Bay, West Bay, Grand Cayman • Abel Castillo Water Works, Governor's Harbour, Grand Cayman • Britannia, Seven Mile Beach, Grand Cayman ==Chile==

Desalination plants fully supply the Chilean cities of Antofagasta, Caldera and Mejillones. As of 2023, 9% of the water demand in Chilean mines was supplied by sea water of which 69% was desalinated. Twenty of Chile's 24 desalination plants (as of 2025) provide water for the mining industry. • Copiapó Desalination Plant • Thorium Power Canada, with its affiliate, DBI Chile, have proposed plans to build a 10 MW demonstration thorium reactor in Chile to power the 20 million litre/day desalination plant. All land and regulatory approvals are currently in process. ==China==

China operates the Beijing Desalination Plant in Tianjin, a combination desalination and coal-fired power plant designed to alleviate Tianjin's critical water shortage. Though the facility has the capacity to produce of potable water per day, it has never operated at more than one-quarter capacity due to difficulties with local companies and inadequate local infrastructure. The Hong Kong Water Supplies Department had pilot desalination plants in Tuen Mun and Ap Lei Chau using reverse-osmosis technology. The production cost was put at HK$7.8 to HK$8.4 /m3. Hong Kong used to have a desalination plant in Lok On Pai, Siu Lam. In 2014, the government confirmed the reservation of a 10-hectare site at Tseung Kwan O for the construction of a reverse-osmosis desalination plant with an initial output capacity of 50 million cubic metres per annum. Plans include provisions for future expansion to an ultimate capacity of 90 million cubic metres per annum, which will meet about 10 per cent of Hong Kong's fresh water demand. Detailed feasibility studies, preliminary design and a cost-effectiveness analysis are planned to be completed by 2014. A commissioning date of 2020 is envisaged. ==Cyprus==

A plant operates in Cyprus near the town of Larnaca. The Dhekelia Desalination Plant uses the reverse osmosis system. ==Egypt==

• Dahab Desalination Plants Dahab 3,600 m3/day completed 1999. The facility in the South Sinai is being expanded to produce 15,000 m3/day • Hurgada and Sharm El-Sheikh Power and Desalination Plants • Oyoun Moussa Power and Desalination • Zaafarana Power and Desalination • Remelah Desalination Plant As of May 2022, Egypt had a total of 82 desalination plants with a combined capacity of 917,000 cubic meters per day. ==Germany==

Fresh water on the island of Helgoland is supplied by two reverse osmosis desalination plants. ==Gibraltar==

Fresh water in Gibraltar is supplied by a number of reverse osmosis and multistage flash desalination plants. A demonstration forward osmosis desalination plant also operates there. ==India==

India has two large desalinization plants for domestic uses, the Minjur Seawater Desalination Plant and the Nemmeli plant, both in Chennai with 100 million litres per day (MLPD) capacity. For industrial uses, 100 MLPD plant was set up in Dahej, Gujarat in 2022 with an investment cost of approximately . ==Iran==

An assumption is that around 400,000 m3/d of historic and newly installed capacity is operational in Iran. In terms of technology, Iran's existing desalination plants use a mix of thermal processes and RO. MSF is the most widely used thermal technology although MED and vapour compression (VC) also feature. ==Israel==

Israel Desalination Enterprises' Sorek Desalination Plant north of Palmachim was foreseen to provide up to 26,000 m3 of potable water per hour once it went online in June 2013 (that is ca. 228 million m3 when projected on an entire year). Once unthinkable, given Israel's history of drought and lack of available fresh water resources, with desalination Israel can now produce a surplus of fresh water. By 2014, Israel's desalination programs provided roughly 35% of Israel's drinking water, about 50% in 2015, and it is expected to supply 70% by 2050. As of May 29, 2015 more than 50 percent of the water for Israeli households, agriculture and industry is artificially produced. Additional desalination plants supply the entire freshwater needs of the city of Eilat by desalinating a mix of brackish well water and seawater. Similar plants exist in the Arava and the southern coastal plain of the Carmel range. == Kazakhstan ==

MAEK-Kazatomprom LLP operates sea water desalination plant in Aktau, Mangystau from 1967. Now its power comes to 74,000 m3/day. Earlier it was a part of combined combinate with Nuclear plant and gas electric power stations. Also in Aktau there is membrane technology water desalination plant Kaspiy, which power comes to 20,000 m3/day == Kuwait ==

Kuwait does not have any permanent rivers. It does have some wadis, the most notable of which is Wadi Al-Batin which forms the border between Kuwait and Iraq. Kuwait relies on water desalination as a primary source of fresh water for drinking and domestic purposes. There are currently more than six desalination plants. Kuwait was the first country in the world to use desalination to supply water for large-scale domestic use. The history of desalination in Kuwait dates back to 1951 when the first distillation plant was commissioned. == Malta ==

Malta has four reverse osmosis desalination plants in Pembroke, Cirkewwa, Ghar Lapsi and Hondoq and in 2022 they produced about 22 mln m3 of water, accounting for 64% of total water production in the country. • Ghar Lapsi II 50,000 m3/day ==Maldives==

Maldives is a nation of small islands. Some depend on desalination as a source of water. ==Mexico==