BharatNotes Desalination
noun (uncountable)Usage in a UPSC answer
As Chennai's four-river basin faces annual near-zero-flow periods driven by erratic monsoons and over-abstraction, the city's 150 MLD Nemmeli desalination plant has emerged as a strategic buffer, though environmental objections to brine discharge into the Bay of Bengal warrant a more rigorous coastal-impact assessment framework.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Word Family
desalinate (v), desalination (n), desalinisation (n, British variant), desalinator (n), saline (adj/n), salinity (n), brine (n, by-product)
Root
Latin de- = removal, reversal; Late Latin sal = salt; suffix -ation = process or action
Etymology
Formed in English in the mid-20th century from the prefix de- (reversal) + saline (from Latin salinus, 'of salt') + the nominalising suffix -ation. The concept of removing salt from seawater has ancient precedent (Aristotle described evaporation of seawater), but industrial desalination began with the first large MSF plant in Kuwait in 1957. Saudi Arabia became the world's largest desalination producer.
Memory Hook
DE-SALIN-ATION: de- means 'removal of', salin means salt (Latin sal) — it literally 'de-salts' the water. Compare 'deforestation' (removal of forest), 'decarbonisation' (removal of carbon): the same de- prefix pattern. Desalination = salt subtracted from sea.
Seen in UPSC Question Papers
- Prelims 2018 — Ecology
Real UPSC previous-year questions whose text uses “Desalination” — proof this word earns its place on your list.
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