Is salt-water desalination the best solution to water shortage in the United States?

Alyaa Bahman

For 365

Dawn Anzinger

5 /3 /09

Is Saltwater Desalination the Best Solution to Water Shortages in the United States

Introduction

As a matter of scientific fact , the vast majority of the surface area of our planet is covered in water ironically enough , however , a great deal of this water cannot be consumed by human beings in its natural state , as it is salt water , which could only be consumed by human beings after undergoing desalination . This is a process through which the ions that make

water saline are removed through various means and technologies , chief among them reversed osmosis (RO , thereby making the water suitable for humans to drink . Desalination is a process that is undertaken in sea or ocean water which by in large contains the most saline of all the water in the world . Desalination is an increasingly popular process , necessitated by shortages in domestic and industrial water supplies

For all of its present day popularity , desalination is not a new concept rather , it is a technology that has been in use since the 18th century in southern Florida , which to this day hosts desalination units Currently , this technology is the method of choice for gulf nations that are found within dessert terrains that rarely produce any fresh water supplies for consumption , as evidenced by recent reports showing a major water crisis looming in the horizon . These reports forecast that in the next five years , at least 36 states face substantial water shortages supported by...