Abstract
This study aims to achieve the optimal design of a groundwater desalination plant using reverse osmosis in the Umm- Qasr area in Basra / Iraq. Field and laboratory data for groundwater were collected. Groundwater samples were collected from five observation wells and analyzed for chemical and physical properties every two months from June 2023 to April 2024. Temperature, pH, total dissolved solids (TDS), and silt density index (SDI) were measured at field. The RO plant was divided to four train with 398.5 m3/hr feedwater for each train and was designed by using the (WAVE) 1.82 software employing different design for each train, recovery rate (50%, 60%, and 65%), number of stages (single-stage and two-stage), and types of membranes (SW30XLE400, SW30XLE440 and SEAMAXX440). The number of membranes per pressure vessel were (6 and 8), with a total membranes number of (264 and 228). The results show the groundwater is very saline with the average value of TDS was 15206 mg/l and very low turbidity and SDI with average values of 0.35 NTU and 0.92 min-1, respectively. T