Water treatment systems and associated methods

A water treatment system, comprising:

• an ion-removal apparatus configured to remove at least a portion of at least one scale-forming ion from an input stream received by the ion-removal apparatus to produce an ion-diminished stream containing less of the scale-forming ion relative to the input stream received by the ion-removal apparatus;
• a humidification-dehumidification desalination apparatus fluidically connected to the ion-removal apparatus and configured to remove water from an aqueous stream received by the desalination apparatus to produce a concentrated saline stream enriched in a dissolved monovalent salt relative to the aqueous stream received by the desalination apparatus;
• a precipitation apparatus fluidically connected to the humidification-dehumidification desalination apparatus, the precipitation apparatus configured to receive at least a portion of the concentrated saline stream output by the humidification-dehumidification desalination apparatus and to precipitate at least a portion of the dissolved monovalent salt from the concentrated saline stream to produce a product stream containing less of the dissolved monovalent salt relative to the concentrated saline stream and to produce precipitated monovalent salt comprising retained water from the concentrated saline stream;
• and
• a solids-handling apparatus fluidically connected to the precipitation apparatus, the solids-handling apparatus configured to remove at least a portion of the water retained by precipitated monovalent salt from the precipitation apparatus.