Seawater Desalination
Availability of adequate clean and fresh is a primary aspect that determines the establishment of any human settlement. With the access to clean water, a population is likely to lead a healthy life, and such a community is highly productive. Climatic changes and other various factors have prompted water shortages in many areas. It is more worrying that the situation is likely to become worse in the future. This highlights the need of finding alternative and efficient strategies for addressing this life threating issue. Failing to adopt such strategies is tantamount to preparing for a disaster that will be hard to contain. As the population grows and water resources remain limited, it is unchallengeable that water shortage ought to be a significant issue of concern. Desalination is a promising strategy that has the potential of addressing this problem (Newton 17). The approach regards to the idea of eliminating salt from the seawater to provide fresh water suitable for human use. It is, however, discouraging to learn that this technology has minimally been exploited besides it high cost-effective benefits.
The deteriorating state of the water crisis is an apparent issue that has been highly documented. It is important to acknowledge that only 1% of earth’s water is clean and accessible for use (Newton 14). Poor management of water resources has even aggravated this scant supply while water demand continues to increase. Studies account that demand for water consumption globally doubles every 20 years. Aspects such as population expansion, increased water usage in agriculture and industries and climate change have created a situation where water is becoming a resource that defines financial and securities issues. In this context, taking advantage of the oceans water, that comprise over 70% of the planet presents as the most rational solution (Newton 198).
The desalination technology is evidently important especially in addressing water shortage challenge in developing countries (Cooley). A long time ago the tribes in my country fight with each other over water, as they need it to survive. After the Saudi Arabia was established, the government decided to stop the conflict between the tribes by building the desalination plants. It was the best successful technology step of peace in the society. In my country, the water is considered more important than oil. In view, that my country has few water resources such as rivers and lakes among others; desalination was an excellent discovery for tackling this problem.
Not only to my country, desalination is a strategic solution for many countries as presently, each country is faced with the challenge of water shortage. Countries should consider the need of building desalination plants to get fresh water. For example, USA has more than three large desalination plants to supply her cities with fresh water. However, this is not enough; the country should still construct more plants for converting hard water into fresh water suitable for domestic use. I am personally familiar with the water problems in my country and strongly feel that water in Idaho or "Twin Falls" need filtering and treatment to make it safe for consumption. For example, when I clean the dishes, I see the salts on it. In some daily sweepings, we need water desalination treatment.
Besides the case in America, many instances of dried lakes are can be noticed in central Asia—now there is no fresh water of lakes in Kazakhstan. Water resources in this country currently comprise salt water that is unfit for drinking. High rates of pollution and desertification are attributable to the witnessed water shortages. Studies also predict that Central Asian countries might witness serious wars and conflicts in the future following the issue of the water crisis. The major issue prompting these conflicts is that some countries built dams on the rivers, which has created fresh water shortages in some other countries. This has created a situation where people in the Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have migrated in search of areas where fresh water is available. Constructing desalination plants present as the most effective and recommendable approach for stopping this conflict and tragedy (Conway). The neighboring countries can be feed with fresh water from these stations through pipelines. Investing in desalination plants would obviously save these countries from wars and stop displacement of people from their homes.
Desalination technology mainly assumes two approaches, which are membrane filtration or distillation. The technology essentially entails the idea of boiling ocean water to produce purified water vapor. This vapor collects and cools to form clean water that is free from salt (Cooley). Often, there is the utilization of modern technologies like electro-dialysis and reverse osmosis that employ filters to desalinate water. Examining the associated cost characterizing this approach technology is also essential. It is worth noting that all modern desalination strategies demand high amount of energy. The distillation phase consumes the largest quantity of energy. In this context, desalination often presents as an expensive technology. Studies assert that the method is 2 to 4 times as costly as treating fresh water (Baawain, Chou, and Anton 48). However, this differs with location, energy used and methods among others. Besides, desalination often present the only alternative for providing water in some areas such as in arid regions and deserts. This affirms the need for conductive the cost-benefit analysis in endorsing the decision of whether to opt for the desalination option in any case. It is justifiable to go for other cost friendly and more sustainable alternatives where available. Although developed countries can afford the technology, the option mainly appears to be of high significance in addressing water shortage in poorer areas. Cost reducing strategies when to utilize the desalination technology entails treating brackish water since such waters have lesser salt content; thus, less energy would be needed. Another strategy includes setting up desalination plants along thermoelectric plant that utilize seawater in cooling their generators. This would create a cost-sharing plan that would reduce the overall cost of the production (Baawain, Chou, and Anton 173).
Describing the environment issues that characterize this technology is also in an important undertaking. The process has the potential of harming the environment in various ways. Initially, the process demand high energy— use of fossil fuels escalate levels of greenhouse gas emissions. The procedure might also cause severe harm to the organism and interfere with the ecosystems. There is the possibility of killing aquatic organisms when pumping seawater and construction of massive desalination facility is likely to affect the local ecology (Baawain, Chou, and Anton 152). However, the technology is still justified because even treatment and misuse of fresh water can affect the ecosystems in a negative way. The only recommendable approach is working hard to prevent or minimize the potential harms that are associated with the desalination process to ensure that the society still benefits from this strategic technology.
Works Cited
Baawain, Mahad, B S. Chou, M Ahmed, and Anton Purnama. Recent Progress in Desalination, Environmental and Marine Outfall Systems. , 2015. Internet resource
Conway, McKinley. "The Desalination Solution." Futurist 42.3 (2008): 23. MasterFILE
Premier. Web. 14 Apr. 2016
Cooley, Heather. "Seawater Desalination: Panacea or Hype?." actionbioscience. American
Newton, David E. The Global Water Crisis: A Reference Handbook. , 2016. Print.
