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Eyeing the seas & oceans

Efforts are on worldwide to make desalination units more energy efficient and environment-friendly. Water has always been a volatile topic in Australia, the world's driest inhabited continent. Yet, protesters are complaining that a planned desalination facility outside Melbourne, Victoria, will generate too much freshwater. The $3-billion government-owned plant will produce more than 300,000 cubic meters of drinkable water a day when it opens in 2011, placing it among the world's biggest.

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