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Feasibility of Different Techniques for Providing Fresh Water

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1.0 INTRODUCTION There has been a significant water crisis in various regions of the world over the last few years. Only about 3% of the water in the world is fresh; therefore there is relatively little fresh water available in some regions of the world, these regions are called arid and semi arid regions. The FAO (1987, cited in IFAD,n.d) defines arid and semi arid regions as “areas falling within the rainfall zones of 0-300 mm and 300-600 mm, respectively”. In other words, arid and semi arid regions are regions in which there is insufficient rainfall and rainfall patterns are liable to significant fluctuations. Some arid regions are in North Africa, South America, some parts of central Asia and the Middle East as well including countries …show more content…

2.2 PRODUCTION VOLUMES AND WATER QUALITY. Desalination continues to assist various countries such as Saudi Arabia in increasing their supply of freshwater to the public. In his report, Alghariani (2003) suggests that the expense of spare parts, maintenance and training costs, as well as the difficulty of some processes involved, has lead to the low production volume from desalination techniques, however, Lisa Henthorne of the International Desalination Association, claims that as of 2009, there were 14,451 desalination plants with a combined production volume of 59.9 million cubic metres per day, indicating an increase in the supply of freshwater. Although seawater desalination removes most of the contaminants in the water, and not all, it still provides means for utilizing the ocean, which is the world’s main water resource, and this continues to deliver high quality water, which is suitable for human consumption, therefore making significant contributions to the supply of water to arid regions. 3.0 ACQUIRING GROUNDWATER USING BOREHOLES AND WELLS. Groundwater, which is the water located beneath the earth’s surface in soil pore spaces and fractures of rock formations called aquifers, are seen naturally in springs and seeps. It can also be obtained artificially through various methods such as digging of wells and drilling of boreholes. 3.1 TECHNOLOGIES AND COST The drilling of boreholes requires large-scale

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