بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ
Desalination a process of converting saltwater to freshwater. But it is not as simple as it seems. It has consequences and is costly but nevertheless it has its sufficient worth. The world has less than 1 percent of fresh water as 99 percent or more of it is in oceans and glaciers. And that too is not distributed evenly. So that’s where the problem lies and to solve it comes desalination.
Desalination is not only done in machines but also in nature. Where sun evaporates the water from the oceans and that vapors form clouds. And after that comes rain. The salty water is not just salty. It is mixed with salt to the point where each particle is completely immersed in it. That’s why it has become so tricky.
There are two types of desalination: –
First one is thermal where water is boiled at high temperature which creates vapors free of salt which is collected. Which is similar to a biomimicry concept. The second one is process of reverse osmosis where water is pressurized to pass through a membrane where salt is stopped and only fresh water passes through.
Desalination water is prominent in countries like middle east and North Africa where a large part of about one forth is from UAE and Saudi Arabia. Because they have water scarcity at the same time have a large amount of fossil fuel availability.
Problems of Desalination
That’s where concerns arrive as it is so much energy intensive that it takes about 25 times more energy. Then what other fresh water sources are.
The other problem is cost it’s also costly to set up desalination plant. In North America the Cloud Lewis Carlsbad desalination plant it produces more than 50 million gallons of clean fresh water amid dry region.
Even if Imported water is cheaper than Desal water still people are inclined towards desalination. As in time there can be a breakthrough in technology which would make easier in desalination and water treatment. So, desalination project cost estimating and management or seawater to drinking water process is not as easy as it seems.
The third problem or concern is what is does to the marine life. This Sea water purification also leaves a residue called as Brine which is basically concentrated salty water. This extreme salty water can cause harm to aquatic life forms. Both plants and animals.
Even after so many problems such as high energy needs, cost of process, and environmental effects. Still people rely on it and why not it is most reliable source of freshwater.
Conclusion
Here I have completely explained about desalination though not technical terms. But what is necessary as a starter to know about this topic. Climate change is also a reason why desalination is so much promoted. Due to its reliability as ocean water is always available on this planet.
Although it has its number of drawbacks but we never know where the next breakthrough would come. This is one of the reasons why governments in water scarce country of middle east are spending too much on it. It is also known as the problematic solution. In the end I want to say that save water save earth. Use tank water alarms do rain water harvesting.
As well as other methods that could save the Elixir of Life.