Dates in desal history
From key research and plants that were firsts, to the building problems of the early days and ideas that never proved practical. Read about the turning points of desalination history.
| Event |
Date |
||
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Shipboard desalination, 1684, UK | "An experiment to produce fresh water out of salt" | 1684 |
 |
Development of the MSF process, USA | Simultaneous invention caused long dispute | 1955 |
| Bob Silver archive documents | Controversial MSF co-inventor's biography | 1957 | |
 |
Office of Saline Water – desal R&D funding, USA | "A triumph of peace and not war" | 1958 |
 |
Aruba – pre-TVC MED, 1959, Netherlands Antilles | Achieving efficient large-scale MED was a struggle | 1959 |
 |
The first hollow-fibre RO membrane, USA | How DuPont captured 70% of the seawater market | 1963 |
 |
Ceuta dual-purpose desal-power plant, Spain | Mid-1960s MSF/generation plant by Krupp | 1965 |
| A business trip to El Aiun, Spanish Morocco | Desert sands, whiskey and sharp suits | 1970 | |
 |
Ajax A, Japan | World's largest RO system at 3,028 m3/d | 1971 |
 |
Lake International’s largest RO plant, USA | But seawater RO was still 4 years away | 1971 |
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The first single-pass SWRO plant, Bermuda | A daring gamble that paid off | 1974 |
 |
Al-Jubail Phase II MSF plant, Saudi Arabia | "Is this actually possible?" | 1978 |
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SWRO and whale psychologists, Argentina | Desal meets eco-tourism in Patagonia | 1983 |
 |
WDR’s Dick Smith memorial issue | A farewell to "Mr Desalting" | 2009 |
| Oxen power: a truly renewable energy | Non-conventional energy sources | 2012 |