Identify the suitable locations for the establishment of desalination plants due to environmental sensitive areas in the coastal area of Hormozgan province

Many countries in the world are facing the crisis caused by scarcity of water resources. One of the strategies for coping with this crisis, which is considered a suitable way of restoring fresh water resources, is construction of water desalination plants. However, despite the numerous advantages of desalination plants, their effluents have undesirable effects on the environment. The present research intended to locate suitable sites for constructing water desalination plants by taking into account the environmental sensitive zones. After developing the layers in a geographical information system, a distance map of each layer was developed. Criteria were weighted during the Delphi process. The geographical layers of each criterion were evaluated and classified in five categories. The layers of the criteria were normalized based on the coefficients of importance, integrated during their linear application, and reclassified in five categories. Nineteen suitable sites were identified for construction of water desalination plants by integrating the layers and through preparing the final layer. By reclassifying and reevaluating the final map, 2 high important locations, 7 important locations, 5 Middle important locations, 4 less important locations, 1 unimportant location. 2 high important locations were located in the coastal areas of the Bandar Abbas City. 16 were located in the coastal areas of the Persian Gulf, and three were in the coastal areas of the Sea of Oman.