{"id":5961,"date":"2017-12-15T14:32:18","date_gmt":"2017-12-15T09:32:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cawater-info.net\/all_about_water\/en\/?p=5961"},"modified":"2017-12-15T14:32:18","modified_gmt":"2017-12-15T09:32:18","slug":"is-desalination-the-answer-to-water-shortages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.cawater-info.net\/all_about_water\/en\/?p=5961","title":{"rendered":"Is Desalination the Answer to Water Shortages?"},"content":{"rendered":"

With severe droughts affecting over 36 countries could the solution lie in the ocean?<\/em><\/p>\n

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The ocean makes up\u00a070 percent\u00a0of the earth\u2019s surface and accounts for 96 percent of the water on the planet. The problem is, this water can\u2019t be consumed. It\u2019s oversaturated with salt.<\/p>\n

Desalination is the process of turning salty ocean water into drinking water. So with\u00a0783 million people\u00a0lacking access to clean water and more areas facing severe droughts, could desalination be the silver bullet?<\/p>\n

The Middle East has been a leader in desalination so far.\u00a0Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Israel\u00a0rely heavily on desalination as a source for clean water. Israel gets\u00a040 percent of domestic water\u00a0from desalination. These countries also have hardly any groundwater or fresh water sources so desalination is a case of innovation by necessity. These countries make up the one percent of the world currently relying on desalination to meet water needs. But the\u00a0UN predicts that by 2025 14 percent of the world\u00a0will rely on desalination to meet water needs.<\/p>\n

So how does desalination work?<\/h4>\n

Desalination is the process of purifying saline water into a potable fresh water. Basically\u2013turning ocean water into drinkable fresh water. Sounds pretty cool!<\/p>\n

There are several ways to remove salt from water. Reverse osmosis and distillation are the most common ways to desalinate water. Reverse osmosis water treatment pushes water through small filters leaving salt behind. Distillation on a large scale involves boiling water and collecting water vapor during the process. Both require a lot of energy, infrastructure and are costly.<\/p>\n

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So is cost the reason why desalination isn\u2019t used?<\/h4>\n

Yup. The energy requirements are so high that the cost for a lot of countries is too much.That\u2019s why it\u2019s mainly used in regions lacking freshwater, ships, and military vessels.<\/p>\n

There are environmental concerns too. Desalination plants take in salt water straight from the ocean and\u00a0can kill or harm fish\u00a0and other small ocean life as water travels from the source to the plant.<\/p>\n

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A pipeline to a desalination plant in the Red Sea near Nuweiba, Egypt.\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n

Lastly, salinity levels in oceans\u00a0are predicted to rise, which would make filtering water more expensive. The more salt there is to filter out, the more energy required. That\u2019s why plants often convert brackish water (think lightly salted potato chips vs. regular) to clean water. But brackish water is not as prevalent as ocean water.<\/p>\n

Can it work?<\/h4>\n

It\u2019s still very expensive compared to using freshwater sources. But\u00a0companies are working on it. Israel invested in a large desalination plant in 2005 and will be producing enough water to supply\u00a0half the country by the end of 2015. \u00a0Yes, building desalination plants is very costly (1 billion USD\u00a0for the largest plant in the US) but it is a safety net for places where drought conditions persist and freshwater is limited or lacking entirely. California, you know what I\u2019m talking about.<\/p>\n

California is building\u00a0seventeen new desalination plants\u00a0after years of severe drought. And it\u2019s\u00a0still controversial. Desalination is being used as a last resort in California. Cities in California have tried investing in infrastructure for desalination previously. Santa Barbara built a desalination plant years ago and is just now restarting it after initial costs were too high to run the plant previously. It will cost\u00a055 million USD\u00a0to restart and maintain. Water obtained from desalination\u00a0costs twice the amount\u00a0of water from freshwater sources. But now, parts of California don\u2019t have many other options.<\/p>\n

The only way desalination can be a good option to solving the water crisis is if renewable energy is used, costs are lowered, and environmental protections are put in place for marine life too.<\/p>\n

Companies and countries and trying to lower the amount of energy needed to desalinate water and look into using cleaner energy sources. For example,\u00a0Saudi Arabia has pushed to use solar energy\u00a0to power desalination plants.<\/p>\n

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In California, the California Coastkeepers Alliance is working with desalination plants on a plan to make sure marine life is minimally harmed by using techniques\u00a0sub-surface water intake\u00a0as opposed to sucking in water from the surface where marine life is more prevalent.<\/p>\n

Desalination does allow for severely water-stressed areas to have their own water source, but it still comes at a high cost. But with climate change and severe drought affecting more and more areas, I think it\u2019s a process worth investing in to lower cost and cut carbon footprints of production. Combining renewable energy with improved technology could make desalination a more viable option. But it’s still not going to be a first choice for most countries.<\/p>\n

Source:\u00a0https:\/\/www.globalcitizen.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n

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