Can We Turn Seawater Into Drinking Water

Geological survey makes up approximately 35 000 parts per million ppm of sea water s chemical composition.

Can we turn seawater into drinking water.

Actually we can and we do. Developed by a team of researchers at alexandria university in egypt the procedure uses a desalination technique called pervaporation to remove the salt from sea water and make it drinkable. In some areas salt water from the ocean for instance is being turned into freshwater for drinking. Desalination plants turn seawater into drinking water but also pump hypersaline water back into the environment.

To turn saltwater into drinking water start by pouring the saltwater into a bowl and placing a small cup in the center of the water. That water is filtered for bigger contaminants and some essential tiny sea creatures before it is sent through a reverse osmosis system that pressurizes the water through membranes separating. Even with all of the water in earth s oceans we satisfy less than half a percent of human water needs with desalinated water we currently use on the order of 960 cubic miles 4 000 cubic. Next put the bowl of saltwater in direct sunlight.

Making sea water into drinking water requires removal of the dissolved salt that according to the u s. It could help address the world s looming water crisis. In fact people have been making seawater drinkable at least as far back as the ancient greeks. So why can t we convert seawater into drinking water.

The simple hurdle that must be overcome to turn seawater into freshwater is to remove the dissolved salt in seawater. The handheld seawater desalination device is capable of producing more than two liters of fresh drinking water from seawater within an hour through a system of osmosis membranes.