Desalter Efficiency in Removing Salts From Brackish Water in Pernambuco's Semi-Arid Region

Abstract

Water scarcity is a problem in remote locations. The desalination of brackish underground sources through reverse osmosis (RO) is a solution for producing drinking water to meet the needs of the diffuse population. Therefore, the aim was to investigate the quality of desalinated water offered to the population of the municipalities of Cumaru and Riacho das Almas, located in Pernambuco's semi-arid region, through the amount of total dissolved solids (TDS) and electrical conductivity (EC). To this end, visits were made, and permeate and concentrated well water were collected from communities with desalination systems installed and in full use. The results show that 85% of the operating systems in these municipalities have salt removal efficiencies greater than 80%. It was also found that there is no specific minimum salt removal efficiency to achieve the potability of brackish water since the TDS concentrations of brackish sources vary. Thus, desalination systems that use the RO technique for salt removal are efficient for treating brackish water from artesian wells, provided that the equipment has periodic maintenance and presents good operating conditions.