Descripción

The invention discloses a desalination plant that permits the gravitational flow of seawater (1) to be pre-treated (2,3) and subsequently to flow into a unit cell (5) submerged below soil surface. Reverse osmosis desalination units (9) are maintained in each unit cell (5). Reverse osmosis takes place due to hydrostatic pressure difference in the unit cell (5) and the storage reservoir (11) into which the desalinated water flows. The pressure in the storage reservoir (11) is maintained at atmosphere pressure. The desalinated water is pumped out of the storage reservoir (11) and brine water (7) is pumped out from the unit cell (5). A plurality of unit cells (5) can be contained in a large vertical shaft column (6).