A huge quantity of dissolved salt will be discharged into the Dhaleshwari river from the Savar Tannery Industrial Estate as the central effluent treatment plant (CETP) there doesn't have the component needed for desalinising wastewater. Even if all the other toxic materials are treated, the salt will kill the biodiversity of the river, say, environmentalists. The country's tannery industry uses around 40,000 tonnes of salt annually.

Countries like Saudi Arabia are using solar powered desalination plants to turn saltwater into drinkable water to meet the worldwide water crisis.