We can make fresh water from the sea.
It takes the salt out of the water. This helps people have enough to drink. It also helps plants grow. It is a smart way to get water. Do you like to drink water?
We can make fresh water from the sea.
This process takes the salt out. It makes water safe to drink.
It also helps plants grow. Some plants use heat to make water. Other plants use special skins to filter it. This helps when there is no rain.
It is a smart way to get water. Do you like to drink water?
We can make fresh water from the salty sea.
This way is called desalination. It means taking salt and minerals out of water. This makes the water safe to drink. It also helps farmers water their crops.
There are two main ways to do this. One way uses heat. This is called distillation. It works like steam from a boiling pot. Another way uses membranes. A membrane is a very thin skin. It acts like a filter to catch salt. This way is called reverse osmosis.
People have studied this for a long time. The Greek thinker Aristotle saw how vapor becomes fresh. In China, people used bamboo mats to help. Today, there are over 21,000 plants in the world. They make about 95 million cubic meters of water every day. This helps when there is not enough rain. Desalination is a big part of keeping our water safe.
Desalination is a way to turn salty water into fresh water.
This process removes salt and minerals from the water. It is very important for making water that people can drink. It also provides water for irrigation to help crops grow. Most desalination focuses on finding ways to do this without spending too much money. It is one of the few ways to get water that does not depend on rainfall. As the world needs more fresh water, desalination helps keep our water supply safe.
There are two main ways that this works. One way uses heat through a process called distillation. In distillation, water is heated until it turns into vapor. This vapor is fresh because the salt stays behind.
Another way uses membranes, which are very thin skins. This method is called reverse osmosis. The water is pushed through the membrane to leave the salt behind. This process is often more efficient because it does not require a change in temperature. Both ways create a byproduct called brine, which is very salty water.
People have been studying this for a very long time. The Greek philosopher Aristotle noticed that salt water becomes sweet when it turns into vapor. In China, people used bamboo mats to help collect fresh water.
During the Middle Ages, sailors used distillation to survive. Leonardo da Vinci realized he could make distilled water cheaply using a cookstove. In 1560, a captain in Tunisia built a still to help soldiers during a siege. He made 40 barrels of fresh water every day. The first two patents for desalination were granted in Britain in 1675 and 1683.
Today, desalination is a huge global industry. In 2020, there were about 16,800 operating plants around the world. These plants had a capacity of roughly 97 million cubic meters per day.
By 2021, that number grew to about 22,000 plants. In 2018, the energy used was about 3 kWh per cubic meter. This is much better than the 20 to 30 kWh used in 1970. The largest plant is the Ras Al Khair in Saudi Arabia. It can produce 1,401,000 cubic meters of water every single day.
Desalination connects to how we use energy and technology every day. Making fresh water from the sea uses a lot of power. In 2016, it used about 25% of the energy in the water sector.
Scientists are now using new materials like graphene to make better membranes. Some people even use solar or wind power to run these plants. This helps make the process better for the planet. As droughts happen, cities like Barcelona use mobile units to find more water. This shows how science helps us solve hard jobs in our world.
Desalination is the artificial process of converting saltwater into fresh water.
More broadly, it refers to removing salts and minerals from any substance. This process is essential for creating water for human consumption and for irrigation. Because it does not depend on rainfall, desalination is a vital tool for global water security. As freshwater shortages intensify, this technology helps close the gap in the world's water supply. However, the process is often more expensive than using groundwater or surface water. This cost is largely due to the high amount of energy required to separate salt from water.
There are two primary mechanical approaches to desalination: thermal methods and membrane-based methods. Thermal methods, such as distillation, rely on heat to separate substances. In these systems, saltwater is heated until it turns into vapor. Because salt does not turn into vapor, the steam remains fresh. When this steam cools, it condenses back into liquid potable water.
Membrane-based methods, specifically reverse osmosis, use a different physical mechanism. In reverse osmosis, water is pushed through a very thin membrane. This membrane acts as a filter that allows water molecules to pass through while blocking salt and minerals. This method is often more efficient because it does not require a phase change, meaning the water does not need to be boiled.
History shows that humans have observed these principles for millennia. The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle noted in his work *Meteorology* that saltwater becomes "sweet" when it turns into vapor. He also observed that a fine wax vessel could act as a membrane to filter salt. In ancient China, records show that bamboo mats used for steaming rice developed a film that could adsorb salt.
During the Middle Ages, sailors used distillation to survive at sea. Leonardo da Vinci later realized that a still adapted to a cookstove could produce distilled water cheaply. By 1560, a captain in Tunisia built a still during a siege to produce 40 barrels of fresh water per day.
The Industrial Revolution and the age of steam changed everything for desalination. The development of the steam engine provided the power needed for more complex systems. Knowledge of thermodynamics helped engineers design better distilling systems for boilers. In 1852, Alphonse René le Mire de Normandy patented a vertical tube seawater distilling unit. This design was simple and became very popular for use on ships. By the 1860s, the US Army was using Normandy evaporators on islands like Key West. These early land-based units proved that desalination could support permanent populations in remote areas.
Modern desalination has reached a massive global scale. As of 2020, there were roughly 16,800 operating plants worldwide. These plants had a total capacity of about 97 million cubic meters per day.
By 2021, that number grew to approximately 22,000 plants. The largest single facility is the Ras Al Khair plant in Saudi Arabia, which produces 1,401,000 cubic meters of water every day. The industry is also becoming much more energy-efficient. In 1970, desalination required 20 to 30 kWh per cubic meter. By 2018, this energy intensity had dropped to about 3 kWh per cubic meter.
Technological advancements continue to drive the industry forward. In the 1960s, research into reverse osmosis began at universities and companies like DuPont. The first commercial reverse osmosis plant, the Coalinga plant in California, opened in 1965. This was a major milestone because it proved the technology was scalable and efficient.
Today, scientists are developing next-generation membranes. These include graphene-based membranes and aquaporin-inspired biomimetic membranes. These new materials improve water permeability and help prevent fouling, which is the buildup of unwanted material on the membrane.
Desalination is deeply connected to global energy and environmental systems. Because the process is energy-intensive, it represents about 25% of the energy used by the water sector as of 2016.
To make the process more sustainable, many plants are now integrating renewable energy like solar and wind power. Additionally, the process produces a byproduct called brine, which is highly concentrated salt water. As cities face severe droughts, governments are investing heavily in new infrastructure. For example, Spain recently announced a €340 million investment to build a large plant in Casablanca. This highlights how desalination remains a critical component of modern engineering and survival.
Where will your curiosity go next?
🖼️ Images & Media (7)
More to explore
✨ What else?
Related topics you might enjoy
🔬 Go deeper
More advanced topics to explore
🪜 Step back
Simpler topics to build understanding
What is Nepedia?
A free, ad-free encyclopedia for children. Every article is written at five reading levels, so the same page works for a five-year-old and a fifteen-year-old — use the level switcher above to see this one change. No account needed to read.