embodiments presented herein provide an evaporation based zero liquid discharge method for generation of up to 100 % quality high pressure steam from produced water in the heavy oil production industry . de - oiled water is processed in an evaporation system producing a distillate that allows steam to be generated with either drum - type boilers operating at higher pressures or once - through steam generators operating at higher vaporization rates . evaporator blowdown is treated in a forced - circulation evaporator to provide a zero liquid discharge system that could recycle & gt ; 98 % of the deoiled water for industrial use . exemplary embodiments of the invention provide at least one “ straight sump ” evaporator and at least one hybrid external mist eliminator . embodiments of the evaporation method operate at a higher overall efficiency than those of the prior art by producing distillate at a higher enthalpy which minimizes the high pressure boiler preheating requirement .