Can desalination solve the global water crisis?

We have the desalination technology to transform seawater into freshwater. So why are we not using it to solve the global water crisis?

We're destroying our environment at an alarming rate. But it doesn't need to be this way. Our new channel Planet A explores the shift towards an eco-friendly world — and challenges our ideas about what dealing with climate change means. We look at the big and the small: What we can do and how the system needs to change. Every Friday we'll take a truly global look at how to get us out of this mess.

#PlanetA​​ #Desalination #WaterCrisis

0:00 Water shortages around the world
1:54 History of desalination
2:25 Types of desalination
3:15 Reasons for water scarecity
4:33 Desalination plants today
7:11 The problem with brine
8:50 Potential of desalination
9:46 Cape town today

Read More (Links):

Historic background of desalination and renewable energies:

The state of desalination and brine production: A global outlook:

More on water scarcity:

Special thanks:

Special thanks to Air Water™ South Africa and Adam Spires for their footage of the Theewaterskloof dam

Reporter: Christian Caurla
Camera: Christian Caurla
Video editor: Christian Caurla
Supervising editor: Joanna Gottschalk

[em]

Dude if our species die from a shortage of water in a planet that's 75% water, i swear....

[Harzexe]

There was a documentary somewhere on Youtube about one man who converted a piece of completly dry tarain into a grassy land with some trees smaller plants - so he basically created a microclimate. When this grass and plants grown up enough a few tiny rivers suddenly appeared as well because thanks to plants water was stored longer in the ground. The only downside: it took him 40 years.

[InspireMatrixx]

I live on an Island ( Aruba) in the Caribbean and our water plant uses desalination process, water has the best taste. It is cleaned and purified thru reverse osmosis filters and other small processes. At last it goes thru some minerals. And it’s in our tap at home! Look it up greatest tasting water on the planet besides glacier water. (Edit: we have the 2nd largest desalination plant in the world)

[JasonB]

My family has been doing something that seems a bit silly at first, but it can save hundreds of gallons of water every year. We noticed that it takes a bit over a minute for hot water to start flowing when we take a shower, gallons of fresh cold water was just going down the drain. We decided to collect the cold water in buckets and use the water to water plants in the yard. We have a decent sized yard. Image if millions of people could do this, it would be hundreds of millions of fresh water saved every year and we wouldn’t need to really change our water usage, just getting over the awkwardness of collecting cold water in a bucket when you shower.

[taipan]

Kind of reminds you of that saying watching this " You Never miss the Water until the Well runs Dry" . The things we Humans' take for granted is Astonishing .

[gaywizard]

Desalination!.? You know what that means? The world will never run out of salt!!!

[landlord]

We drinking desalinated seawater every day here on Åland Island (Finland). A bit expencive, but very good taste.

[nighthawk]

I work on a fishing vessel and this is how we "make" our water out here.
I always assumed energy consumption was the problem with doing it on a larger scale.

[Fernando-nzgm]

Hopefully technology and management will catch up before the water wars.

[bushweednever]

With all the sh!t being poured and thrown into the ocean, being salty is the least of its problems.

[lolam]

I live in Alaska where freshwater is abundant and easily taken for granted. Knowing water is scarce in certain parts of the world and watching this really makes me reconsider letting that faucet keep running in between brushing my teeth.

[DeeOne]

Not only is it salty, it's polluted from all the waste we have dumped in it.

[The_original_Silu]

I like how at the end of the video they tell us, regular people to use water responsibly... When in reality who should be using water responsibly are private companies and governments by consuming responsibly, fixing and modernizing water infrastructure on cities and factories.

Edit: Don't be dumb, of course we have to take care of how and how much water we, it is pretty obvious but let's be honest, those who are responsible directly is most governments for not stablishing proper sanctions and private companies for wasting insane amounts of water and contaminating sources; use your comon sense. Are we responsible as a society? YES! but governments are to blame for not stablishing sanctions to us and companies equitable to usage and companies are also to blame for pushing agendas, or are we gonna pretend that companies are all angels made of pure light?

[evandowns]

There needs to be MAJOR funding in desalination, there should have been more funding for decades

[syiridium]

This is a great video because it shows multiple sides of the problem. A lot of video, whether here on YT or "standard" documentaries on TV, often only show one side of the problem - i.e., "look, here is the solution to our problem". The better documentaries show also the downsides of the technology. But here, not only is the up and down side of the technology shown but also alternatives. I really liked the ending with "desalination didn't saved Cape town, using less water did".
Excellent work!

[sjenkin]

Fascinating video. Thanks for putting this together and for putting this out there; I’ve certainly learnt a lot.

[loganreidy]

Nuclear plants should include desalination plants, they literally compliment one another

[joshuamentzos]

I have been a reverse osmosis technician for my entire naval career. I can tell you that it is very effective, but does require a lot of expensive consumable resources including plastics, filters and minerals such as calcium hypochlorite, and bromine. It’s basically like using K cups instead of brewing a pot.

Evaporators require a heat source, but are extremely effective and efficient at demoralizing water, but the aspect of adding minerals and chemical treatment still exists.

Singapore has created a type of reverse osmosis facility that transforms all of their waste water back into drinking water. The end product is very pure and healthy water and is very efficient.

IMO, we could take a lesson on that for our coast lines. However, due to the consumerist/capitalist nature of our economy, I would think these types of facilities would put a huge tax on drinkable water.

The man has to get paid after all

[nancylaplaca]

Thank you for this great video — I’ve been following desalination for 20 years and it’s good to hear there are folks working on local, non-fossil-fueled solutions. GREAT WORK DW 🎉🎉🎉

[ziapsp]

i feel hopeful and positive after watching this. awesome job.