Why Don’t We Desalinate and Use Ocean Waters?

Water scarcity is now an undeniable reality. This problem, which we previously only heard about in certain regions, will unfortunately become a problem in the future. for the whole world will be valid.

There are many studies focusing on solving this problem, but none of them are sufficient. On the other hand, we can meet our water needs by taking advantage of the oceans, which make up 96% of the water on our planet. almost half We can afford it. So why don’t we do this?

Desalinating water is much more difficult than we thought.

Salt dissolves very easily in water and forms strong chemical bonds. Breaking these ties is really difficult, costly and requires a lot of energy a transaction.

In fact, it is so expensive that if we try to buy purified water, it will be less than the water we currently use as drinking water. 5 times more We will have to pay money.

Different methods are used to separate salt from water.

In the thermal distillation method; Boiling water leaves the salt behind and turns it into steam, which is then cooled and turned back into water. In the other method, it is used to separate water from salt. through a semi-permeable membrane is being passed. A significant amount of energy is also required to separate salt and water. In other words, the energy and cost are so high that using fresh water is much easier and cheaper than purifying salt water.

Apart from these two methods; Thanks to another system, without large purification devices, with a small device and one click We can also do it. These devices, which use ion concentration instead of filters and some even work with solar energy, continue to be developed and are expected to lead to major developments in the future.

The ecosystem may also be damaged.

Of course, separating water from salt also has environmental costs; Decomposition plants harm marine life. Juvenile fish and plankton Small sea creatures such as are killed and the natural balance is disrupted.

There is also the problem of what to do with the remaining salt that has separated from the water. In the purification process, 1.5 liters of salt water are produced for 1 liter of water. This hypersaline water is pumped back into the oceans or seas in the same way. to underwater life can cause serious harm. Of course, it is possible to reduce the amount of damage, but cost increases come into play again.

The desalination method may cause bigger problems in the future.

As the amount of salt in the oceans and seas increases as purification methods are used, filtering water becomes more expensive day by day and as the amount of salt to be filtered increases. more energy must.

In short, no matter what we do, when we look at the current situation we have brought to the world, it will be small-scale. workarounds We can produce products, but it is a fact that we are at a point of no return unless we all become equally conscious individually or unless governments and companies take action on the issue.

Efforts to desalinate sea and ocean waters are continuing in some countries.

Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Israel; It uses desalination as a source of clean water. In these countries there is almost no groundwater or freshwater source Since it is not available, we can say that desalination is a necessity.

In fact, Israel obtains 40% of its domestic water through desalination. Countries currently using desalination to meet their water needs: 1% of the world It creates. The UN says that 14% of the world will rely on desalination to meet its water needs by 2025.

In short, preventing water scarcity by trying to desalinate ocean waters distracts from the real source and solution of the problem.

What we are now faced with is water scarcity. global warming and climate crisis There are many different reasons.

According to what reliable environmental organizations and experts suggest, what can be done on a large scale to combat the climate crisis and global warming is for big companies and states to take precautions, while what we can do individually is; polluting clean water, destroying forests, disrupting ecosystems and causing overheating livestock based foods our minimization.