T.Patton+Water

Water and Desalination
The water crisis has been a problem that humanity has faced for quite some time, but only recently through global warming has the issue truly taken the spotlight. The major problem that has sparked this water crisis is the lack of drinkable water distributed to every country in need. Many third world countries are in a state of severe drought without a means of escape, and now with global warming drying up many smaller rivers, lakes, and other sources of fresh water, these countries have absolutely no means of acquiring natural drinking water without purchasing it. For wealthier countries, this is not so much of a problem, but most third world countries cannot afford to purchase large quantities of drinking water.

During the 20th century, the population of the world trippled, but the amount of clean drinking water remained the same. As time continues to move forward, our planet grows even more in its population, soon to reach the point of overpopulation. Already we can see many towns, cities, even entire countries such as China and Japan becoming severely overpopulated. Solutions have been offered but nothing solid has been accomplished, and with the continuing rise of population combined with the rapidly dwindling supplies of fresh water, our planet as a whole faces a battle unlike any other using the same tools as every war ever fought: metal, gunpowder, flesh and bone, all in the hopes of surviving another day. So how can the depleting water supply crisis be solved? One word: desalination.

The process of desalination involves removing the excess salt and unwanted minerals from large bodies of sea and ocean water. When done correctly, the result is a fresh, clean water that is perfectly healthy to drink and to use for other vital necessities. This is simple enough to accomplish with small amounts of water, but to use this method on a large-scale basis would require massive amounts of energy and funding. Why even bother if that's the case? Well, that's easy enough to answer: because if we don't, we're all going to die of dehydration. Yup, you heard me correctly, and if you value your life then you would do well to cooperate. We have the technology and resources to go through with a large-scale desalination operation. In fact, being one of the major super powers of the modern world, the United States of America is expected to play a large role in solving the water crisis. But even if we managed to grab every able mind in the world and pool together enough funds to pull off a joint effort, where could we possibly muster the energy needed? That's also a fairly easy question: be creative! Fossil fuel is NOT the only means of energy available to the world. We have many options, such as wind power, solar power, converted hydrogen and helium, even back to the route of the problem of water.

An effective method of reducing the costs of energy while doubling the output of desalinized water would be to combine water power plants with desalination plants. Both issues are inter-related and could be solved together by channeling salt water into the energy turbines, which in turn creates energy used to then power the immediate area, which then is used to power the desalination effort so that the channeled water could then cycle into the desalination process, becoming fresh water. From the ocean, it becomes power, then drinking water. That water is eventually returned to the ocean through means of rainfall, bodily fluids, etc. and is then repeated in the same process. You would have a never-ending supply of power and clean water so long as people remained willing to continue the effort.



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