While it’s
true that three quarters of the Earth is made up of water, only 2.5 percent of
that amount is freshwater, with the rest being strong, salty seawater that’s
generally unfit for consumption. Even then, only one percent of the world’s
freshwater supply is available for human consumption, as the other 1.5 percent
is trapped in various glaciers and snowfields. This is the biggest reason why
the world currently has a water supply “crisis”, even though there’s no global
shortage of water as of yet.
Fortunately,
there is something that can be done to convert the large amounts of seawater on
the planet into something that can be safely consumed by humans. This is known
as desalination, which simply
involves removing salt from saltwater, thanks to another process called reverse
osmosis. ‘Osmosis’ refers to a phenomenon wherein a solvent (water)
loses some of its solute (salt), as it transforms from one solution (saltwater)
to another solution (pure water) due to changes in osmotic pressure. In reverse
osmosis, the solvent, rather than the solute, is the one that moves due to
pressure changes.
This
process is usually done in water treatment plants, which has sufficient space
to house the equipment needed to accommodate large amounts of seawater and pure
water. However, a reliable reverse osmosis machine is available for residential
and commercial establishments, providing their respective stakeholders with
drinking water, 24/7.
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