China desalinating massive amounts of water

BEIJING - China had built a total of 112 seawater desalination plants by the end of 2014, producing 926,900 tonnes of fresh water per day, the State Oceanic Administration said on Thursday.

According to its report on seawater use in 2014, the desalination plants are mainly located in costal cities and islands in severe shortage of fresh water, in nine coastal provincial-level regions.

In north China, desalted water is mainly used for water-intensive industries including electricity and steel in Tianjin, Hebei and Shandong, while in south China, desalted water is mainly for civilian needs covering the provinces of Zhejiang, Fujian and Hainan.

Of the finished desalination plants, 63.35 percent are for industrial purposes, and the rest are for household water use, said the report.

In 2014, seawater cooling technology was applied in industries including nuclear, thermal power and petrochemicals, covering China's 11 coastal provincial-level regions.