Beyond desalination: solving the brine challenge
At a glance
Managing brine is often the defining challenge for inland desalination and purified recycled water projects.
Read insights from the award-winning Water e-Journal paper co-authored by GHD's Dr Matthew Brannock, Daniel Visser, David Reynolds and Kieran Mitchell, recipient of the 2026 Best Water e-Journal Paper Award (Guy Parker Award) at Ozwater 2026.
The paper examines how early and structured evaluation of brine and salt management options can support better project outcomes. Drawing on lessons from industry, desalination and recycled water projects in Australia and internationally, it presents a practical framework for assessing disposal, reuse, treatment and transport pathways.
It provides guidance on balancing technical, environmental and economic considerations while maintaining flexibility in an evolving operating environment.
What happens to the salt?
As communities look to diversify water supplies, inland desalination and purified recycled water schemes are becoming more common. While attention is often focused on treatment technology, another question can have an even greater influence on project outcomes:
What happens to the concentrated brine and salt stream that remains after treatment?
For coastal facilities, ocean discharge can provide a viable management pathway where good dispersion is available. Inland projects have fewer options. Disposal pathways, reuse potential, transport requirements, environmental impacts and regulatory expectations must all be balanced when determining how brine and salt will be managed throughout an asset's life.
Why is brine management often the biggest project challenge?
Brine management is frequently treated as an afterthought. Our research suggests it should be a strategic project decision from the earliest planning stages.
Planning for brine management requires project teams to balance technical, environmental and financial considerations long before detailed design begins. The paper draws on lessons from desalination projects across Australia and internationally, alongside experience from industries that have managed large inland brine streams for decades.
This work informed a structured framework that helps project teams assess options, understand trade-offs and plan for uncertainty.
What should project teams consider when evaluating options?
Several factors can influence the viability of a brine management strategy:
- Brine management can represent a significant proportion of overall project costs.
- Brine storage solutions do not always provide sustainable long-term management outcomes.
- Reuse opportunities can be attractive but are often constrained by market demand, technical requirements or regulatory factors.
Brine management strategies must account for uncertainty. Adaptive planning approaches can help project teams respond to changes in technology, costs and regulatory requirements over time.
A framework for navigating uncertainty
The paper proposes a structured decision-making framework that begins by questioning whether desalination is the most appropriate solution before assessing brine characteristics, disposal pathways, reuse opportunities, treatment requirements and lifecycle implications.
The approach brings technical, economic, environmental and regulatory considerations together within a single decision-making process, helping project teams make informed decisions throughout planning and delivery.
The research also explores the value of adaptive pathways planning, enabling organisations to retain flexibility as technologies mature, markets evolve and regulatory requirements change. Rather than relying on a single preferred outcome, adaptive approaches allow organisations to adjust their response over time as conditions change.
Want to explore the research in more detail?
This research received the 2026 Best Water e-Journal Paper Award (Guy Parker Award) at Ozwater 2026, recognising it’s contribution to one of the most significant challenges facing inland desalination projects
For a detailed discussion of the framework, evaluation methodology, industry examples and practical recommendations, download and read the full Water e-Journal paper.