A new concept for heavy metal removal by forming hydroxide precipitation using alkalinity produced by microbial desalination cell (MDC) was proposed. Four five-chamber MDCs were hydraulically connected to concurrently produce alkalinity to treat synthetic copper-containing wastewater and salt removal. There was nearly complete removal of copper, with a maximum removal rate of 5.07 kg/(m(3) d) under the initial copper concentration of 5000 mg/L (final pH of 7). The final copper concentration met the emission standard for electroplating of China (0.5 mg/L, GB 21900-2008). XRD analysis indicated copper was precipitated as Cu2Cl(OH)(3). The best performance of MDCs in terms of average power density, salt removal and COD removal rate achieved in stage 3 were 737.3 +/- 201.1 mW/m(2), 53.6 +/- 0.8 kg/(m(3) d), and 1.84 +/- 0.05 kgCOD/(m(3) d) respectively. For purposes of water recovery, an electrodialysis (ED) system was presented based on in-situ utilization of generated electricity by MDCs as-post-desalination treatment for salt effluent after sedimentation. The maximum discharging voltage of 12.75 +/- 1.26V at switching time (T-s) of 15 min using a capacitor-based circuit produced a maximum desalination efficiency of 30.4 +/- 2.6%. These results indicated that this combined system holds great promise for real-world treatment of copper containing wastewater and deep desalination of high-salinity-water. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.