Why Is Turning Seawater Into Drinking Water So Difficult?

Earth holds about 1.386 billion cubic kilometers of water, but 96.5% of it is in the oceans. For water-stressed coastal regions, the ocean represents an enormous potential source of freshwater—if the salt can be removed. In this video, we follow seawater through the entire desalination process, from intake and pretreatment to high-pressure reverse osmosis. We look at how reverse osmosis (RO) membranes separate water from salt, why seawater must be pushed through the membranes at pressures dozens of times higher than atmospheric pressure, and how modern desalination plants recover energy from the high-pressure brine. We also explain why desalinated water still requires further treatment before entering a city's water supply, and how the concentrated brine left behind is eventually returned to the ocean. Chapters 00:00 Earth's Limited Freshwater Supply 01:08 Seawater Intake and Pretreatment 03:12 How Reverse Osmosis Removes Salt 06:09 Energy Use and Energy Recovery 08:03 Turning Desalinated Water Into Drinking Water 09:41 What Happens to the Brine #Desalination #ReverseOsmosis #WaterTreatment #DrinkingWater #HowItWorks