Water scarcity is now an undeniable reality. This problem, which we previously only heard about in certain regions, will unfortunately apply to the whole world in the future.
There are many studies focusing on solving this problem, but none of them are sufficient. On the other hand, we can meet almost half of our water needs by taking advantage of the oceans, which make up 96% of the water on our planet. So why don’t we do this?
Desalinating water is much more difficult than we thought.
Salt dissolves very easily in water and forms strong chemical bonds. Breaking these bonds is a really difficult, costly and energy-consuming process.
In fact, it is so expensive that if we try to buy purified water, we would have to pay 5 times more than the water we currently use as drinking water.
Different methods are used to separate salt from water.
In the thermal distillation method; Boiling water leaves the salt behind and turns it into steam, which is then cooled and turned back into water. In the other method, water is passed through a semi-permeable membrane that separates it from salt. A significant amount of energy is also required to separate salt and water. In other words, the energy and cost are so high that using fresh water is much easier and cheaper than purifying salt water.
Apart from these two methods; Thanks to another system, we can do it without large purification devices, with a small device and with a single button. These devices, which use ion concentration instead of filters and some even work with solar energy, continue to be developed and are expected to lead to major developments in the future.
The ecosystem may also be damaged.
Of course, separating water from salt also has environmental costs; Decomposition plants harm marine life. Small sea creatures such as baby fish and plankton are killed and the natural balance is disrupted.
There is also the problem of what to do with the remaining salt that has separated from the water. In the purification process, 1.5 liters of salt water are produced for 1 liter of water. Pumping this hypersaline water back into the oceans or seas can also cause serious damage to underwater life. Of course, it is possible to reduce the amount of damage, but cost increases come into play again.
The desalination method may cause bigger problems in the future.
As the salt content in the oceans and seas increases as we use purification methods, filtering water becomes more expensive day by day and as the amount of salt to be filtered increases, more energy is required.
In short, no matter what we do, we can produce small-scale temporary solutions when we look at the current situation we have brought to the world, but it is a fact that we are at a point of no return unless we all become equally conscious individually or unless states and companies take action on the issue.
Efforts to desalinate sea and ocean waters are continuing in some countries.
Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Israel; It uses desalination as a source of clean water. Since these countries have almost no groundwater or freshwater resources, we can say that desalination is a necessity.
In fact, Israel obtains 40% of its domestic water through desalination. Currently, countries that use desalination to meet their water needs constitute 1% of the world. The UN says that 14% of the world will rely on desalination to meet its water needs by 2025.
In short, preventing water scarcity by trying to desalinate ocean waters distracts from the real source and solution of the problem.
There are many different reasons for the global warming and climate crisis that we are now faced with, which also causes water scarcity.
According to what reliable environmental organizations and experts suggest, what can be done on a large scale to combat the climate crisis and global warming is for big companies and states to take precautions, while what we can do individually is; We minimize livestock-based foods that pollute clean water, destroy forests, disrupt ecosystems and cause overheating.
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