We are well aware that drought is an increasingly difficult challenge, increasingly impacting people’s lives. According to the United Nations, the phenomenon has claimed 650,000 victims in the last fifty years.
One of the solutions to the problem could be desalination, whereby seawater is transformed into drinkable water. But how is this done? There are two main methods to desalinate water: desalination and reverse osmosis.
Desalination is one of the oldest and simplest methods. It involves heating seawater until it evaporates, leaving the salt as residue. The vapor is then condensed to obtain fresh water. This process, though effective, requires a lot of energy, especially on a large scale, as desalination plants are used along the coasts to treat large volumes of water.
Reverse osmosis, on the other hand, uses membranes that act as filters, allowing water molecules to pass through but not salt molecules. While effective, this method has some environmental issues. It requires a lot of energy and can trap small marine organisms, disrupting the food chain. Additionally, the concentrated brine that accumulates on the filters must be treated with chemicals, which then need to be safely disposed of to prevent environmental damage.
