Three advantages of desalination Without water, life is impossible. Water, from which every living being is created, is the secret of life. However, in its drinkable and potable form, water does not exist all over the world. This makes it difficult for people to live without it. What can a country with limited natural drinkable water resources do to provide people with this essence of life? Desalination is a key solution for the problem of potable water shortage. Three advantages of desalination are providing a reliable alternative source of water, controlling the consumption of natural fresh water, and contributing to the development and enhancement of urban life. Providing a reliable alternative source of drinkable water is a key advantage …show more content…
Salt water desalination is not only an alternative source of drinkable clean water, but also a controller of the natural water resources which are regarded very limited compared to the copious sea and ocean water. Consuming fresh water coming from lakes, rivers and springs may lead to different problems, such as drought, pollution, and soil erosion. Shortage of pure water, thus, makes large areas of land not dead, polluted and not suitable for living. Water unbalanced consumption may result even in increasing desertification. Furthermore, there are many living beings and crops which mainly depend on fresh water coming from lakes and rivers (Majumder, 2015). Such imbalance endangers their life. It also influences the ecological system badly, and causes diseases originated by water pollution. For this reason, increasing dependability on desalinated water can help to control the consumption of fresh water and reserve it for a sustainable environment and a balanced system of living. This saves soil from erosion, protects large areas of land from desertification, prevents unhealthy diseases, and protects human, animals and plants life from being endangered severely by water
Water, like food, is a necessity for human life that is used for many purposes such as agricultural, industrial, and domestic systems. While water is a common element around the world not all of it is clean and able to be consumed or used by humans. With only a percentage of the world’s water being clean and the use of water increasing, the availability of water around the world has become a common issue in the developing and even the developed world. This may be a smaller problem in areas close to clean water sources compared to areas far from a clean water source but, the availability of water is not strictly based on location, it also depends on the specific political and social needs and issues of the area as well. These all become issues that must be accounted for when deciphering whether water is a basic human right or a commodity and what action must be taken to aid the developing water systems in community’s that lack them.
Today, desalination is a common process that's used in seaside cities and towns worldwide. There are more than 15,000 desalination plants around the world providing freshwater from salt and brackish water alike (Planet Green 2011). This number continues to grow as researchers work to improve the process, both in terms of cost effectiveness and energy efficiency (DSE 2011). But countries such as Australia, Israel and even the United States are continually adding desalination plants of various sorts into their water-management portfolios. The facilities are common in North Africa and the Mideast, where freshwater is scarce (Chandler 2008).
any countries in the world are short of precious water. Given that water is so essential to everyday activities, such as cooking,washing, and growing crops, without the quality of water can affect our nation, even causing economic or social instability. The cdc estimates 780 million people around the world,more than 1 in 10, do not have access to an improved water source one that is protected from outside contaminants.
1. There are two main sources of fresh drinking water, ground water and surface water. Ground water originates from precipitations that usually fall in the form of snow or rain. While, the surface water is also originates from precipitate that reaches the land surface and is then recharged into rivers, wetlands and lakes. Although these systems are usually reliable, in desperate time of need, a more reliable source of water is needed. The desalination plant is extremely valuable and flexible because it does not depend on rainfall. Instead, the desalination plant is the only source that relies on seawater. Using seawater in the desalination plant helps meet the community’s water needs and secures the water needs in the future. While other sources of water, such as rainwater or water from dames are not reliable enough to strictly rely
The world’s population is growing. The need for water is rising with the birth of every child. Sooner than most people would want to admit, the water resources available in the world would be inadequate to cater for the needs of humanity. As developing countries seek to become industrialized, more water will be needed for their industries. The developed world is also not slowing down its water usage in its industries. Given the important part it plays in growth, the world is well in its path to facing its worse season yet: living without water. When one goes to a country where water problems are real, they find businesses have made water a prominent factor in determining whether or not to set up and run their businesses there. No one can afford to bury their head in the sand anymore. The water problem that is not far away in the future must be addressed now.
Another argument opposing desalination is the environmental concerns. Many believe that since ocean water is being extracted, marine life will be disturbed. Therefore, affecting the entire ecosystem: “With the majority of desalination plants extracting water directly through open water intakes in the ocean, there is a direct impact on marine life. Fish and other marine organisms are killed on the intake screens (impingement); organisms small enough to pass through, such as plankton, fish eggs, and larvae, are killed during processing of the salt water (entrainment). The impacts on the marine environment, even for a single desalination plant, may be subject to daily, seasonal, annual, and even decadal variation, and are likely to be species- and site-specific” (Cooley).
Our rivers are running dry faster than we expected. As we look for a solution to the scarcity of water, we are relying on the most abundant resource that is available on Earth — the ocean. To make the salty sea waters usable, scientists have developed desalination plants; a method that uses reverse osmosis and is already being implemented in places like California. However, as with any possible solution, the desalination process has its downfalls. Critics of the desalination project argue that it is more expensive than other potential methods and that the amount of energy required will only aid climate change. Those who support this method would argue that although it is currently expensive, new, cheaper filters will be developed in the
Due to the industrial revolution and the increasing in the world population, which leads to water scarcity of potable water and water for industrial applications. To cover the increasing demand of water we have to treat the polluted or saline water using the separation techniques to produce the potable and industrial water. This process it’s called, Water Desalination. Water Desalination is the process that treats the raw water by removing the suspended solids from the water. Sustain or the feed water sources may incorporate briny water or brackish water, seawater, ground water from wells, surface water (rivers and streams), wastewater, industrial feed and process waters. Desalination of seawater has the ability to produce enough amount of
Water is becoming a limited natural resource in the world. In an article published on National Geographic website about “Fresh Water Crisis” [1] it has mentioned that out of the 70% of water which is covering the earth, only 2.5% is suitable for drinking and just 1% of fresh water is easily accessible. In the same article the author talks about how people are wasting this limited resource. The growing scarcity of water is due to the rapid growth of population, rising demand for food and cash crops, increasing urbanization and rising standard of living. On the other hand people are writing articles and papers about how to solve this scarcity issue and all the resources presented about
Desalination has been used for thousands of years - Greek sailors boiled water to evaporate fresh water away from the salt and Romans used clay filters to trap salt. Today's sophisticated methods still generally use the concepts of distillation or filtration. The process of desalinating sea water to make it drinkable has a long and rich history. However, the first large-scale modern desalination process to appear was multi-stage flash distillation (MSF) during the mid-20th century in the USA (1955). Furthermore, although multi-effect distillation (MED) had been discovered and had the potential to be more efficient than MSF, it took a while longer to make the MED process efficient on an industrial scale and this did not occur until 1959 when
The world is in a water crisis and needs more fresh water. Desalination can be an enormous help. The water crisis is the number one risk to the planet according to the World Economic Forum in January 2015. Our planet is 70% water but only 2.5% is freshwater, and we only have access 0.007%. The earth has 7 billion people who need water and 6.8 million struggle everyday for clean water. Today people even
There are many ways to desalinate water to make them drinkable and they are proven and effective, and a few of them are reverse osmosis, multi- stage flash distillation and freezing. Reverse osmosis is when pressure is put on the water and forces the water through a membrane so that the water and salt separate, it has been proven effective in creating fresh sources of drinking water that can deliver the health benefits people need. When properly designed, desalination plants can then create drinkable water that is of high quality. This process can be used on different types of water, including brackish (low salinity) water and seawater [Science Direct].
The United Nations indicated that by 2025 more than 2 billion people will live in places with poor access to fresh water ,which will force 700 million people to emigrate in search of water by 2030. Like in India, 60 % of its water source is salty water, and it doesn’t generate enough electricity (due to the high cost) ,in order to desalinate water and make it drinkable or good for the plants.
Desalination technology provides freshwater for regions with water scarcity problems and can prevent from over-using natural water resources. However, operating the plants may have some environmental, social, and economic issues.
Fresh water is needed to sustain life for humans, animals, and plant life. Desalination plants should be built to aid in providing this necessary resource. According to the article entitled “A Source of Freshwater” the process of water desalination has been around since the time of Aristotle in 320 BCE. Also, desalination plants are inexpensive. Next, the plant will make up to 56 million gallons of fresh water each day. There for, 14% of people will lack fresh water by 2025. Finally desalination is the solution for the future. Some may say that the plants are too costly to build or bad for the environment, but it is well worth the costs and steps could be taken to protect ensure safety. In conclusion, water desalination plants should be built