Abstract Water desalination continues to evolve to a currently mature stage that, similarly to all large human endeavors, must be planned, designed, and operated according to the quantitative holistic sustainability paradigm and criteria that are defined by the interrelated aspects of the environmental, economic, and social pillars of the endeavor. A methodology for such evaluation was described in [1], including equations for formulating a composite sustainability index as a function of relevant parameters, which thus allows mathematical analysis in general and sensitivity analysis and optimization in particular. This is the first paper that demonstrates this methodology and its use for desalination by presenting an example of a comprehensive and detailed original sustainability analysis of reverse osmosis (RO) desalination plants and of their comparison. It includes the selection and calculation of metrics (for simplicity, a small number and partially synthetic) and weights, as well as their aggregation to a composite sustainability indicator, using typical data values. The aggregation is performed by an original concept of impact quantification and monetization. An analysis of sensitivity to choice of weights and to the combined environmental and social impact factors was conducted. The presented sustainability analysis example should be helpful for both didactic and practical purposes, and the methodology is flexible, modular, adaptable, and enhancable to meet other and evolving needs.

中文翻译：

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海水淡化的定量可持续性分析——反渗透的教学示例

摘要 海水淡化继续发展到目前成熟的阶段，与人类所有的大型活动类似，必须根据由环境、经济、和努力的社会支柱。[1] 中描述了一种用于此类评估的方法，包括用于制定作为相关参数的函数的综合可持续性指数的方程式，因此可以进行一般的数学分析，特别是敏感性分析和优化。这是第一篇论文，通过展示对反渗透 (RO) 海水淡化厂进行全面而详细的原始可持续性分析及其比较的示例，展示了这种方法及其在海水淡化中的应用。它包括选择和计算指标（为简单起见，少量和部分合成）和权重，以及使用典型数据值将它们汇总到复合可持续性指标。聚合由影响量化和货币化的原始概念执行。对权重选择的敏感性以及对环境和社会影响因素的综合影响进行了分析。所呈现的可持续性分析示例应该对教学和实践都有帮助，并且该方法是灵活的、模块化的、适应性强的、