A method of treating waste water comprising the steps of: (a) receiving waste water at a first pressure and a first temperature, the waste water comprising dissolved solids, volatile organic compounds and other components generally and collectively called impurities; (b) pressurizing the received waste water to a second pressure greater than the first pressure; (c) preheating the pressurized waste water to a second temperature greater than the first temperature, wherein said preheating step produces distilled water and pressurized and preheated waste water without boiling of the waste water across heat transfer surfaces; (d) heating the pressurized and preheated waste water to a third temperature greater than the second temperature to produce pressurized and heated waste water without boiling of the waste water across heat transfer surfaces; (e) further heating the pressurized and heated water with a heater operated with a hot gas developed by a plasma torch to a fourth temperature greater than the third temperature to produce a second pressurized and heated waste water without boiling of the waste water across heat transfer surfaces; (f) removing dissolved solids from the second pressurized and heated waste water by evaporation caused by depressurization of the waste water to produce steam and brine water, wherein the evaporation is carried out using a flash evaporator, wherein the brine water has a total dissolved solids content greater than a total dissolved solids content of the received waste water, wherein the steam produced in step (f) is used as a heat source in at least one of steps (c) and (d); (g) crystallizing the brine water to produce a solid mass of waste product and steam, wherein the steam produced by step (g) is used as a heat source in at least one of steps (c) and (d). (a) receiving waste water at a first pressure and a first temperature, the waste water comprising dissolved solids, volatile organic compounds and other components generally and collectively called impurities; (b) pressurizing the received waste water to a second pressure greater than the first pressure; (c) preheating the pressurized waste water to a second temperature greater than the first temperature, wherein said preheating step produces distilled water and pressurized and preheated waste water without boiling of the waste water across heat transfer surfaces; (d) heating the pressurized and preheated waste water to a third temperature greater than the second temperature to produce pressurized and heated waste water without boiling of the waste water across heat transfer surfaces; (e) further heating the pressurized and heated water with a heater operated with a hot gas developed by a plasma torch to a fourth temperature greater than the third temperature to produce a second pressurized and heated waste water without boiling of the waste water across heat transfer surfaces; (f) removing dissolved solids from the second pressurized and heated waste water by evaporation caused by depressurization of the waste water to produce steam and brine water, wherein the evaporation is carried out using a flash evaporator, wherein the brine water has a total dissolved solids content greater than a total dissolved solids content of the received waste water, wherein the steam produced in step (f) is used as a heat source in at least one of steps (c) and (d); (g) crystallizing the brine water to produce a solid mass of waste product and steam, wherein the steam produced by step (g) is used as a heat source in at least one of steps (c) and (d).