The WEF (hardly an environmentalist leftist outlet) seems to think it's quite bad:
This paper (sciencedirect.com/scien… ) is less alarmist but still admits that "There is an increase in the mortality rate of marine aquatic life due to thermal shock." As for the long term impact of released chemicals, it doesn't say anything (but metals, biocides and other chemicals are rarely good to eat).
That doesn't mean that desalination is bad, however it's a *pharmakon* like everythi…