MD is used for wastewater reverse osmosis concentrate (WWROC) treatment. A direct contact MD (DCMD) achieves up to 85% water recovery with WWROC. CaCO3 scaling due to WWROC does not cause prevalent issues in DCMD. Granular activated carbon (GAC) pretreatment mitigates organic fouling. GAC-MD process ensures high quality (micropollutants-free) water production.