Reverse-osmosis desalination was invented in California in the 1950s. “Some 80 percent of domestic water use in Israeli cities comes from desalinated water.” “There are about 15,000 plants producing desalinated water, most in the Middle East and North Africa—the largest is in Saudi Arabia.”

When was desalination discovered?

In 1791 Thomas Jefferson(America) invented the earliest stage of desalination where he describes the simple desalination process. The process was printed and put on the back of board ships so that they could drink fresh water in case of an emergency.

When was the first desalination plant built?

The first large-scale desalination plant was built in 1930 at Aruba, in the Netherlands Antilles, near Venezuela. In the 1950s, distillation was the only viable means of desalination of either brackish or sea water.