Social Issues and Public Acceptance of Seawater Desalination Plants

Seawater desalination has the potential to be a major 21st century source of urban potable water. In addition to advancements in the technology of desalination, public attitudes toward desalination will help shape its ultimate role in urban water supply. A growing literature on public perception of emerging water supplies has examined responses to seawater desalination in general, as well as attitudes toward new facility installation at the planning/proposal stages, and during facility operational stages. Studies from different countries topically overlap but have reached varying conclusions on public attitudes and their drivers. Demographic variables appear to be minimally helpful in predicting support for desalination, while an individual's active use of marine resources and strong ocean attachment are consistent predictors of lack of support. Coastal residents seem aware of subsurface ocean processes and are opposed to subsurface infrastructure development that impacts these processes. Positive or negative attitudes toward the public agencies and private companies regulating or proposing/operating desalination facilities influence whether the public supports the projects themselves. While residents of affluent coastal communities demonstrate not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY) attitudes, there are mixed results when the desalination facility is colocated with a coastal power plant in an industrial coastal area. Efforts to mitigate CO ₂ emissions from California desalination facilities did not meet with public support. Numerous areas for future research will help clarify public attitudes toward seawater desalination and could influence public policy processes for approving and setting operating conditions for new facilities.