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Can ocean water be turned into drinking water?

iberdrola.com - Desalination: the process of turning seawater into drinking water

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Water covers 70 % of our planet and it is easy to think that there is more than enough. However, fresh water is scarce around the world — it only makes up 3 % — and two thirds of this are not available, as it is in the form of ice or is inaccessible. Around 1.1 billion people around the world do not have access to fresh water and around 2.7 billion suffer scarcity at least one month a year. Paradoxically many areas affected by fresh water scarcity are very close to the sea and this is where desalination can help.

WHAT IS DESALINATION

Desalination is the process by which the dissolved mineral salts in water are removed. Currently, this process, applied to seawater, is one of the most used to obtain fresh water for human consumption or agricultural purposes. Desalination occurs naturally during the water cycle: The evaporation of seawater leaves salt behind and forms clouds that give rise to rain. Aristotle observed that evaporated and condensed seawater would turn into fresh water, and Da Vinci realised that it was easy to obtain using a still. Over the following centuries seawater desalination was used particularly on boats and submarines to provide the crew with fresh water during long trips. However, this process was not available on a large scale until the industrial revolution and, especially, not until the development of desalination plants.

DESALINATION PLANTS

Globally, according to a study carried out by researchers from the Institute for Water, Environment and Health at the United Nations University (UNU-INWE) in 2019, there are approximately 16,000 desalination plants in operation — spread throughout 177 countries — and altogether they generate around 95 million m3/day of fresh water. The first country to adopt this process en masse was Australia, a very arid country where the so-called Millennium Drought, between 1997 and 2009, wreaked havoc. It has plants in the main cities that operate through reverse osmosis. Saudi Arabia is the leading desalination country by volume, followed by the United Arab Emirates, both of which are desert countries and highly dependent on this process. Other countries in the Middle East, such as Kuwait and Qatar, have also opted for this technique. In the United States, third in this particular ranking, there are desalination micro-plants close to almost all the natural gas facilities to exploit the residual heat. Spain is fourth, thanks to the contribution of the Canary Islands and the Alicante and Murcia coast, where the old thermal power plants are being replaced by desalination plants.

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