Red Tide – Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) and Desalination: A Guide to Impacts, Monitoring and Management -UNESCO




Arid countries throughout the world are heavily reliant on seawater desalination for drinking and industrial process water. With nearly 20,000 plants operating globally and capacity projected to rise 12% per year, the industry is large and growing. A major operational challenge facing the industry is also expanding globally – the phenomena termed harmful algal blooms or HABs. Algal “blooms” are cell proliferations caused by the growth and accumulation of individual species; they occur in virtually all bodies of water. Cells can reach concentrations sufficient to make the seawater appear red (hence the common term “red tide”), though [
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