Water, water everywhere… but not a drop to drink. It might sound like the first few lines off of a rime from an ancient mariner, but if we aren’t careful we might actually be headed in that direction. We’re talking about the kind of water that we drink and the serious need for the United States to take more steps towards better water desalination.
Water desalination is a very important process that removes salt and other minerals from water (especially brackish water), thereby making it drinkable. In the absence of the water desalination process, the best thing that one can do is to drink freshwater. Herein lies the problem, with the United States consuming a high amount of freshwater for various needs (agriculture, indoor use, etc.) without developing more and better desalination plants like other countries do. Heck, even China is gearing up to improve its water desalination efforts for the benefit of its people.
It is simply surprising as to why the United States isn’t leading the pack when it comes to this. After all, only about 1% of all water on Earth is drinkable – so shouldn’t water desalination be a priority for the health and welfare of the populace? What’s even more concerning is that large bodies of water in and around the country that people interact with can become toxic without the help of water desalination. The minerals can accumulate to dangerous levels, and people will be exposed to it without knowing. In effect, we’re not just talking about being able to increase the amount of available drinking water but also ensuring that our lakes and rivers continue to flow with water that won’t deliver toxic minerals to our bodies when we swim or fish in it.
With time running out, more should be done about this – and the hope is that if the message about its urgency gets spread out, perhaps the government will finally get a move on and create more water desalination plants for everyone’s benefit.
Sources:
https://www.epa.gov/watersense/how-we-use-water
http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/china-plans-big-boost-to-sea-water-desalination-capacity
#China #UnitedStates #wateronEarth #waterdesalinationprocess