The first MSF distillation plant was introduced in Bahrain in 1976. The total installed capacity of this plant was 22,730 m3/d in 1981, which represented 15 per cent of total demand. The first RO desalination plant at Ras Abu Jarjur, located 25 km south of Manama, was commissioned in 1984 and had an installed capacity of 45,000 mVday, it stood as the world’s largest RO plant with seawater membranes during the 1980s.