Desalination could aggravate global warming

In Geneva, Switzerland, the World Wildlife Fund released a report warning that the growing popularity of seawater desalination plants had the potential to aggravate global warming. Desalination is a popular solution to water shortages in Spain, Australia, and other arid countries and is becoming more common in the United Kingdom, the United States, China, and India; it supplies 60% of the potable water in the Persian (Arabian) Gulf. Unfortunately, the desalination process emits climate-damaging greenhouse gases and facilities dump briny residues back into the sea, harming nearby marine organisms, said Director Jamie Pittock of the WWF's World Freshwater Program.