In the world today there is much that society takes for granted. One example of this is the water that is readily available from sinks and water fountains found across the world. It’s a miracle that society even has water. But what if something so life-giving and vital to existence ran out?

Water is a highly talked about topic because of the daily water consumption by humans world-wide. Consumption means not only water used for drinking but also for taking showers and washing cars and just good ‘ol water fights. Earth has only so much fresh water to give and once it is gone, where will that leave human existence? It will leave every society frantically trying to figure out how to turn saltwater into the fresh water that was taken for granted.

Water desalination is the process of taking the salt out of saltwater and making it potable and/or usable for daily consumption. Sure—it sounds simple, but is it really? Many factors go into this tedious process.

One of the problems lies with the energy that will be used in the purification process. In his 1977 book, Salt-Water Purification, K. S. Spiegler proposes that for 1000 tons of consumable water to be processed in a twenty four hour period, it would require 42 kilowatts. This 42 kilowatts refers to only one machine. If there were thousands of machines packed inside a factory, the electricity consumed in the purification process would be astronomical.

Another drawback is how refined the saltwater must actually be. “…Sea water is by no means a solution of pure sodium chloride (common salt). Calcium and magnesium bicarbonate and sulfate are the troublemakers in most desalting processes. They yield various insoluble deposits (e.g., calcium carbonate, magnesium oxide, and calcium sulfate) which, when unchecked, impair the proper operation of many types of desalting installations (Spiegler).” Even though there are working desalination machines, the saltwater is so full of compounds that they gum up its functionality. And what is the point of having machines that break down so often that more time is spent repairing them than running them? Machines need to be fully operational and low maintenance.

Today, water desalination plants are becoming increasingly popular. People that work in this field of study are well aware of the danger that Earth’s water supply is running out. That is why steps are being taken to promote the use of more desalination plants world-wide. Currently, there is at least one working saltwater desalination plant on every continent (excluding Antarctica). This is a major step toward mankind being aware of problems that may arise in the future.