by the many international acknowledgements it has earned for its water management. GAP beTWEEN SUPPLY AND demand A report on desalination led by the United Nations University claims that the 2.2 billion human beings without access to drinking water will seem insignificant if solutions are not made widely available today: “Increasing demand for water, and dwindling sup-plies, exacerbate its scarcity in most regions of the world... Conventional approaches, based on rainfall and river runoff, are no longer enough. Unconventional water resources, such as desalination, are expected to play a key role in bridging the gap between supply and demand”. In 2018, when the study was published, some 95 million cubic meters per day were sourced this way, with almost half of that amount produced in stressed regions such as the Middle East and North Africa, but through practices that are clearly inefficient, if not directly coun-terproductive: “About 70% of the desalination in the Persian Gulf is done through evaporation with an intensive use of fossil fuels,” notes the World Economic Forum. “The rapid reduction in costs of elec-tricity-generating renewable energy allows it to be used to power the reverse osmosis process,” which in turn reduces the environmental impact and hands desalination a crucial role to play in addressing the water crisis that is coming,” adds the Forum. “It is an option that is respectful to the environment and carbon neu- DesalINaTiOn pLaYS A crucial ROLE IN aDDRESSING THE COMING WATER crisis WATER 30 millIon beneficiariEs 30 millIon beneficiariEs ACCIONA has built close to 80 desalination plants with a total capacity of almost six million m3 and supplies a population of around 30 million. These are some of the most emblematic projects: • Construction and operation of the desalination plant in Adelaide (Australia), notable for its size and design. • Torrevieja (Alicante), the largest in Europe, publicly owned. With a production capacity of 240,000 m3/day and a goal of allocating 50% to irrigation. • Ras Abu Fontas A3 and Umm Al Houl, in Qatar. With them, the country went from thermal desalination, which was much more polluting, to reverse osmosis. • Beckton (United Kingdom), in a market that is not accustomed to desalination. It treats water from the River Thames estuary. • Two large facilities in Chilean desert environments: Copiapó, already built and in operation, and Collahuasi, under construction. • It is building two more in Saudi Arabia, to join the three already in operation, in a country totally dependent on desalination. • Florida (USA), the first large desalination plant in the country supplies Tampa Bay. The company redesigned it in 2004 and has operated it ever since. • Tseung Kwan: the first in Hong Kong to supply its inhabitants. In the final phase of construction, it will be operated by ACCIONA for 15 years. The company implements digital solutions that optimize reverse osmosis processes by using digital twins, artificial intelligence and machine learning, in order to reduce energy consumption. This way, it improves coordination between desalination plants and the renewables that supply energy, resulting in the benefits of complying with sustainability regulations, lowering costs and accelerating the return on investment.