(Photo : pxhere)

The city of Antofagasta relies on a large desalination factory for its supply of clean drinking water. However, the waste from the plant is causing harm to the wildlife in the sea and many are losing their lives in the process. 

According to Eduardo Muñoz, a fisherman in the area, he used to catch twice as many clams as he caught in the present. 

When desalination started a few years ago, Muñoz's catch was not that the same as it was before. He blames that the salt that the plant release back to the sea is what is causing harm to the wildlife in the sea.

He dives for clams for a living. He lives in La Chimba, a suburban area in the seaside of Antofagasta in Chile.

Desalination is being used by most places all over the world who have a problem with water scarcity. It is common in many areas in the Middle East and the Mediterranean. The first plant of the United Kingdom had started its operation in 2010.

In the year 2003, the first desalination factory started its operations in the area where Muñoz lives. The plant had been pumping 150 liters of clean and drinkable water to solve the problems of the city involving the scarcity of freshwater.

The plant had increased its yield and is now the biggest desalination facility in the entire Latin American region. Currently, it produces 1,056 liters of freshwater every second. It supplies 82.50 percent of the potable water in Antofagasta. The remaining 17.50 percent is supplied by the small water reserves of the city.

Out of the 600,000 people in Antofagasta, 56.30 percent of the region's drinking water being consumed is from the processed water from its desalination plants.

According to a historian in the city named Floreal Recabarren, in the history of the city, water scarcity had always been present.

The 90-year-old historian was born in 1927 and had served the people of the city as its mayor some years in the 1960s and 1990s. He had observed first-hand how the city had struggled without sufficient freshwater in the 1950s. During that time, water with chlorine was being delivered through trucks in the city. Many of the old houses in the city still have their water tanks in their house's rooftops. It was where the delivered water was being stored in the 1950s.

The region had also largely contributed to the economy of Chile. Deep pits where mining activities were conducted can be seen in the desert areas of the region. The Escondid mine is the biggest-output for copper in the whole world and it is located adjacent to the city.

The mining operations in this area in Chile required huge quantities of water. The water reserves of Antofagasta were gradually drained by the mining activities. It was even announced in the year 2000 that the Loa River located in the northern part of the region had run out of water. After these events, the technology involving large-scale desalination had reached the area. Mining operations had set up their desalination plants and pumping the residual products to the sea.