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As many other countries, Algeria is facing a problem of water shortage. The lack of rainfall as well as its variable frequency penalized the government water politics which was maily based on rainfall harness (dams and reserves). Despite the country’s considerable potential in sea and brackish water, the Algerian experience is water desalination is strongly associated with the development of hydrocarbon industries and power plants. A certain number of units has been installed and operated in more or less good conditions. The desalination perspective and opportunities are certain, for small units as well as large plants, if we consider the increasing demand and the saline water potential along the 1200 km coast and many underground reserves that are charactrized by a salinity ranging from 2 to 5 g/l.

Limited to industrial use, the Algerian experience is modest compared to the capacity of water desalinated around the world and countries with similar climatic conditions. To absorb the potable water deficit, water desalination is becoming inevitable. However, the use of desalination can be viewed in two parts, geographically distinct: • The coastal part: it contains an important part of the population living in towns ranging from large cities to small villages. The use of any seawater distillation process and reverse osmosis can be used for large, medium and small size cities.