Desalination is the process of removing dissolved minerals (including TDS, chlorides, and others) from water to produce potable water for human consumption or fresh water for industrial use. The two most popular methods are thermal and membrane technologies.
In the thermal process, salty water is heated to make vapor, which is condensed and collected as fresh water leaving the minerals behind. Membrane processes use high pressure to filter water through permeable membranes which filter out salts, producing fresh from the filter.
The Authority uses reverse osmosis as part of the treatment process at the Lake Granbury Surface Water and Treatment System, one of the few such plants in the nation used to desalinate (or desalt) inland water. The process is necessary because of high concentrations of dissolved minerals in the naturally occurring deposits in the upper reaches of the Brazos basin.