Desalination of Salt Water
Pure water is a necessity for all living things from plants to humans. Without pure water Plants need water in order to do photosynthesis, the way that plants get their food.[1] photosynthesis is the process that is used by many plants. Water is brought up through the plant 's stem and carbon dioxide enters through the leaves. Energy from the sun heats the water and carbon dioxide which produces glucose, food for plants.[2] Pure water is necessary for humans and animals because without it people and animals will have nothing to eat and drink. Humans need water for cleaning, if salt water were to be used for cleaning it may leave residues behind and be harmful to people’s health. Using salt water for cleaning can be bad for one’s health because if it is used on fruit and someone eats the fruit they may end up with too much salt in their body. Too much salt intake can lead to dizziness and even worse to neurological problems.[3]
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Saltwater is the most common type of water on the planet, in fact 96.5% of water is salt water, this leaves in 3.5% of water fresh.[4] Of that 3.5% of fresh water 68.7% (1.7% of all water) of it is in glaciers and icecaps.[5] This leaves a comparably small amount of water that is usable for farming and other human needs. In order to supply the necessary water to the earth’s 7 billion people it is necessary to purify some of this salt
The purpose of this experiment is to investigate the effect of changing the concentration of sodium chloride solution on the rate of osmosis in tubes of potatoes. This was maintained using equal measurements of the potato tubes and applying them into the different concentrations of sodium chloride, 0%, 2%, 5%, 10%, 20% and 26%, in beakers then measuring the change in mass of the potato tubes afterwards. The time taken for all potato tubes to be placed in solution was 15 minutes. Can the concentration gradient of the sodium chloride solution influence on the rate of osmotic diffusion undergone by the potato tubes?
Tampa Bay Water is a seawater desalination plant located in Tampa, Florida. Their method of desalination of ocean water or brackish groundwater is another method to obtaining water from fresh surfaces or groundwater sources. This could be used to replace the need for a water supply dam. There are several different technologies that exist to remove salt and other impurities from ocean water. The two most commonly used methods are thermal distillation and desalination. Thermal distillation copies the natural water cycle by using heat to create a vapor that is converted into freshwater. Desalination is a process that removes some amount of salt and other minerals from saline water. The traditional process used is vacuum distillation, which boils water at less than atmospheric pressure making the water sit at a much lower temperature than normal. This is due to the fact that the boiling of liquid occurs when the vapor pressure equals the outside pressure and vapor pressure increases with temperature. Due to the reduced temperature, low-temperature "waste" heat from electrical power generation or industrial processes can be used. The processes use membranes to desalinate, by applying standard reverse osmosis technology. These membrane processes use semi-permeable membranes and pressure to separate salts from water.
The process of removing salts from the water is known as desalination (or desalinization or desalting). The major reason for the use of desalination is produce potable water for the population. 19 However, in the oils and gases industries are increasing the interest for desalination technologies.19 Desalination is an old process for obtain potable water, but was used evaporation and distillation.19 Today the desalination technologies are reverse osmosis (RO) and electrodialysis (ED).19
Drought is no stranger to the state of California especially is the southern part of the state. California has been a technological creation since the first American settlers starting migrating from the east. It naturally has a semi-arid climate. It was inevitable that prolonged severe drought would occur in such a climatic region from time to time. California has depended on redirecting natural waterways and investing an incredible amount of money into pumping water to Southern California. This is not only a California debacle but a global one as well. According to the World health Organization, 1 billion people do not have access to clean, piped water. A world Resources Institute analysis adds that 2.3 billion people, 41% of Earth’s population, live in water-stressed areas, a number expected to climb to 3.5 billion by 2025. To make matters worse, global population is rising by 80 million a year, and with it the demand for new sources of fresh water (7 pg. 1). Water affects everyone and everything including the economies of both developing and industrialized nations. “The current situation has heightened the need for reliable sources of water, especially in these type of times when there is rationing across the state, “said Paul Shoenberger, assistant general manager with the West Basin Municipal Water District in Carson and chair of a desalination subcommittee for the Association of California Water Agencies. “ Desalination is more available and isn’t linked to rain or snow pack.” The only methods to increase water supply beyond what is available from the hydrological cycle are desalination and water reuse (8).
Pollution comes in many forms. In the ocean we dump a variety of substances, including human wastes, chemicals from fertilizers, oil, and trash such as plastic which all contribute to the growing issue of our ocean pollution. In addition to, our usable waters are finite. More than 97.5 percent of the water on this planet is undrinkable salt water; the remaining 2.5 percent has two-thirds of the usable fresh water locked up in glaciers, snow, and permafrost. Of the one-third of freshwater that is available for human use, 20 percent is used for industrial use. (“Water Pollution”) “In effect, water pollution reduces the volume of water available for use by human and other populations.” (Robin Clarke, Jannet King) Knowing that there are approximately 7.2 billion people and growing on this planet with only 0.83 percent of available for our use wouldn’t you want to do everything possible to help put an end to water pollution? (worldometers)
The average human can not live any longer than three days without water. Many of the world’s fresh water sources are running dry or are being contaminated, particularly in developing nations, leaving many without safe water to drink. Only two and a half percent of the Earth’s water is freshwater, and less than one percent is accessible by humans (not tied up in ice caps). This one percent of the Earth’s water supply is expected to sustain a population of over 7 billion people, each needing 2.6 liters a day to remain fully healthy, plus all of the water required for agriculture and industry. These scenarios will only become more and more prevalent as time moves on and we consume more water. The United Nations has classified our planet as being in the midst of a global “water crisis.” Global water supply and shortages are becoming an incredibly real and serious issue, and planning for the future is key to preventing population decline due to a lack of safe drinking water. Shortages of drinking water lead to wars and serious international conflict for basic human survival needs. One of the most popularly and commonly proposed solutions to this problem is to create seawater desalination plants to remove salt from ocean water to make it safe to drink. These water desalination plants, however, are not a viable option to carry us in to the future due to their potentially harmful impacts and expenses.
Freshwater is quite scarce, but it is even scarcer than one might think: about seventy percent of all freshwater is frozen in the icecaps of Antarctica and Greenland and is unavailable to humans. Most of the remainder is present as soil moisture or lies in deep underground aquifers as groundwater. It is not economically feasible to extract this waster for use as drinking water. This leaves less than one percent of the world’s fresh water that is available to humans. It includes the water found in lakes, reservoirs, groundwater that is shallow enough to be tapped at an affordable cost. These freshwater sources are the only sources that are frequently replenished by rain and snowfall, and therefore are renewable. At the current rates of consumption, however, this supply of fresh water will not last. Pollution and contamination of freshwater sources exacerbate the problem, further reducing the amount of freshwater available for human consumption. Something must be done if humans want to even survive in the near future: the lack of clean drinking water is already the number one cause of disease in the world today. The first step is worldwide awareness of the water crisis: governments and the citizens they govern worldwide need to know about this problem and be actively involved in solving this problem.
It might be easier to live a healthy life for many people, but for others it can be very challenging. I have tried to be healthy so many times, but I always fell off the wagon. For many days I would “feel” healthy, but in reality I was not the healthiest person mentally or physically. I knew that I had to change my behavior, and become healthier (or at least almost healthy) if I wanted to live a longer life. I began my journey by drinking more water, balancing my eating with exerting, all while trying to stay mentally well.
There are many types of pollution. The main types of pollution are water, air, soil, thermal, radioactive, noise, and light. The topic for this experiment is Water Pollution. Water Pollution became a problem in the 1900’s when water started being treated like sewage. Earth Day was founded by United States Senator Gaylord Nelson on April 22, 1970 because of 1900’s pollution. Water Pollution also affects humans and animals. There was a Cholera outbreak in 1854, before water pollution became a problem, and a Typhoid outbreak in New York from 1900 to 1915. There are multiple possible causes to Water Pollution. Humans let out chemicals into the environment, and when some of those chemicals
Having clean water to drink means that water must have microbial, chemical and physical characteristics that meet WHO guidelines or national standards on drinking water quality. Around 780 million people in the world don’t have access to clean drinking water (Millions Lack Safe Water). More than 3.4 million people die each year from water, sanitation, and hygiene-related causes. Nearly all deaths, 99 percent, occur in developing countries. Around the world, diseases in unclean water kill about 1,400 children every day (Clean Drinking Water). There are many organizations that raise money in order to help develop ways or create ways for people to obtain clean drinking water. However, many people are unaware that this is even a problem in other countries because we take clean water for granted.
Of this water approximately 97% is salt water, 2% frozen in glaciers, and only 1% is available for drinking water supply using traditional treatment methods” (Thornton). Therefore, properly treated or disinfected water can help to reduce the spread of water-borne diseases. Everybody around the world depends on water, so people need to be perceptive of the water challenges. A lot of clean, useful water is wasted by humans all the time, so people don’t care about saving water because they have easy access to it.
Water is our main source of our life. We need it to live, drink, bathe,
Freshwater in the world makes up only a small portion of water on the planet. While the percentage of water in the world is nearly 70%, only 2.5% is consumable. Even further, only <1% is easily accessible to basic human needs. According to National Geographic, “by 2025, an estimated 1.8 billion people will live in areas plagued by water scarcity, with two-thirds of the world's population living in water-stressed regions as a result of use, growth, and climate change.” With this current trend, water will become more immersed in environmental, economic, political, and social changes. Many of these in later years shall need to be addressed as tension rises:
Wastewater is the combination of water-carried or liquid wastes starting in the sanitary conveniences of dwellings, industrial or commercial facilities. In addition to this, surface water, groundwater and storm water may also be present. It is any water that has been badly affected in quality by anthropogenic influence. It contains waste from residential, industrial and commercial processes. Municipal water contains industrial wastewater, sewage and gray water. Gray water is the water from sinks and showers. Large industries also produce wastewater.
Water plays such an important role in our daily lives. 70% of our body is composed of water. 70% of the earth surface is also made up of water, but out of the 70%, only 1/3 of water is consumable. In fact, this amount has been continuously to decrease as more and more industries began to pollute and damage the water. For example, many toxic chemicals may be released into the water thus making the water impure. Such pollutions and damages lead the water to be contaminated and inconsumable as it may cause severe diseases. Water purification can remove all the unnecessary bacteria and viruses from the water that is hazardous for our health. Water purification may also improve the flavor and appearance of water. It removes the unpleasant odor. Therefore, water purification became one of the most useful and popular process used by people all over the world today. It is by far the most recommended and safest water treatment that is commonly used to purify damaged water into consumable water. Water purification provides us with safe, pure and clean water to consume and use.