How can drinking water be obtained from seawater

So why is seawater such an attractive water resource that we go through all those costly process to make it safe to drink? Here are a few reasons Seawater provides an unlimited, reliable water supply for coastal populations worldwide; brackish water is a plentiful, relatively drought-proof water resource for inland populations and reduces dependency on imported water.

And, of all the Earth's water, 97 percent is salt water, only 1 percent is fresh water available for humans to drink, and 2 percent is frozen. To date, only a limited number of desalination plants have been built along the California coast, primarily because the cost of desalination is generally higher than the costs of other water supply alternatives available in California e. However, as drought conditions occur and concern over water availability increases, desalination projects are being proposed at numerous locations in the state.

Desalination costs are decreasing as technology improves and more plants are built. Today there are more than 15, desalination plants in countries. Even with all of the water in Earth's oceans , we satisfy less than half a percent of human water needs with desalinated water. There is increasing regional scarcity, though.

The problem is that the desalination of water requires a lot of energy. Salt dissolves very easily in water, forming strong chemical bonds, and those bonds are difficult to break. Energy and the technology to desalinate water are both expensive, and this means that desalinating water can be pretty costly. It's hard to put an exact dollar figure on desalination—this number varies wildly from place to place, based on labor and energy costs, land prices, financial agreements, and even the salt content of the water.

That's about as much as two people in the U. But switch the source to a river or an aquifer , and the cost of a cubic meter of water can plummet to 10 to 20 cents, and farmers often pay far less. That means it's still almost always cheaper to use local freshwater than to desalinate seawater. This price gap, however, is closing. For example, meeting growing demand by finding a new source of water or by building a new dam in a place like California could cost up to 60 cents per cubic meter of water.

Although thermal desalination process through a mix of evaporation method and solar energy is mostly used for producing drinking water, it requires high energy. The scientists could achieve a TDS of less than ppm within 30 minutes.

Hydroconstruct designs, manufactures and installs inflatable rubber dams for hydropower, Hydroconstruct designs, manufactures and installs inflatable rubber dams for hydropower, irrigation and river management applications. InEight is a construction project management software developer, helping contractors, InEight is a construction project management software developer, helping contractors, owners, and engineers to overcome their biggest project challenges.

Montagna offers UV water disinfection systems that can be used in any application where water requires cleaning or treatment. Water Technology is using cookies We use them to give you the best experience.

Geological Surveygroundwater dataset with wells in the U. The leading process for desalination in terms of installed capacity and yearly growth is reverse osmosis RO Fritzmann and others, The RO membrane processes use semipermeable membranes and applied pressure on the membrane feed side to preferentially induce water permeation through the membrane while rejecting salts.

Reverse osmosis plant membrane systems. People all over the world use low-tech techniques to obtain the valuable resource salt. Really, take some ocean water, put in it a pan, hopefully in the sun, and wait for the water to evaporate. Skip to main content. Search Search. Water Science School. Water Quality Information by Topic Topics. Water Use Information by Topic Topics. Get WQ data. Water Science School Home Go!

How 'bout a cool, refreshing cup of seawater? A view across a reverse osmosis desalination plant in Barcelona, Spain. Credit: James Grellier. You can try this at home! Dig a pit in the ground Place a bowl at the bottom of the pit that will be used to catch the condensed water Cover the pit loosley with a plastic sheet you can use stones or other heavy objects to hold it in place over the pit Be sure that the lowest part of the plastic sheet hovers directly over the bowl Leave your water "trap" overnight and water can be collected from the bowl in the morning Credit: Daniele Pugliesi.

Below are related topics about saline water and desalination. Date published: August 30, Filter Total Items: 3. Year Select Year Apply Filter. Date published: June 6, Date published: June 11, Below are publications associated about saline water and desalination.