Christopher Lara, Novemeber 6, 2015

Fixing Desalination Techniques

If I could solve any problem, I would fix the issue regarding the expensive and unproductive technology of desalination. Desalination is the process of using reverse osmosis to convert salt water into fresh water by removing many of the minerals and harmful bacteria in seawater. Not only will this solve the crisis of not having available drinking water many arid areas of the world suffer from, but ir could also save the lives of hundreds of millions around the world.

Desalination is used today, but the process is very costly. According to a study conducted by Live Sciences, “Current methods require about 14 kilowatt-hours of energy to produce 1,000 gallons of desalinated water.” The amount of gallons desalinated after this costs around three or four dollars, which sounds great for 1000 gallons. Then the real problem occurs when you realize that the nation water use is, “3.9 trillion gallons,” according to The Water Information Program. This means that that 1000 gallon operation would only supply 3.9 billionths of the nation’s yearly use. Knowing this, the process to supply all of the United States with clean water through the expensive process of desalination would cost billions per year.

If the world invested more time and resources into things we need, like more information on better desalination techniques through discoveries, instead of money on useless hobbies like the gaming industry, then we could live in a sustainable, environmentally friendly world.