We May Soon Have Drinkable Sea Water In Our Household

Researchers at MIT have created a solar-powered device that converts salt water into drinkable freshwater that lasts long, is less expensive than the cost of US tap water, and is sustainable.

Only 3% of the Earth's water is freshwater and 2.5% of that freshwater is unavailable. Due to climate change and population increase throughout the world, the water shortage will affect the entire planet by 2040. But by using this device, people may soon have drinkable sea water nearby.

The device uses desalination, a process which removes the salt from saltwater and purifies it to make it safe to drink. It uses solar energy, so the process is sustainable. This is a small device with a big impact that creates drinkable water efficiently. The engineers have been testing and improving different systems. According to MIT News, “That design, which the team tested on the roof of an MIT building, efficiently converted the sun’s energy to evaporate the water, which was then condensed into drinkable water.” Also, they are working to make a larger version of the device to provide enough water for a small family.

Unfortunately, releasing the the purifying system’s excess salt back to the ocean can harm nearby organisms. However, the team is working to find solutions. For example, they are trying to find types of fish that can survive in very high salt portions of the ocean. I think that this will be a great solution that can provide a long lasting solution for fresh water that relies on solar energy. This way we can draw from a nearly unlimited supply of saltwater instead of using our very limited sources of freshwater.