desalination
Lakin Boyd
Dr. Dragone
ENGL101.B012
26 September 2013
The World of Desalination Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be drinking originally dirty or undrinkable water? This could be something that runs through your head in the future because desalination is a potential resolution to the loss of water. In Ken Midkiff’s book Not a Drop to Drink, chapter 7 titled “Technological Solutions: The Skyrocketing Cost of a Glass of Water” describes his outlook on the process of desalination. He also talks a lot about the technology it would take and how expensive it would be. Not only does he talk about the prices of the plants to complete the desalination, but how much the water would cost afterwards. Another thing Midkiff informs us of is that desalination isn’t always efficient. Desalination could be either a good or bad source to use in the future. It can be good because of the large amount of water that would be produced and it could be bad because of its price and inefficiency.
What is desalination? Desalination is the process of removing salt, especially from sea water so that it can be used for drinking or irrigation. Midkiff quotes that “97% of the earth is sea water” (136). What happens once the earth runs out of freshwater, and has to turn to the vast amount of undrinkable ocean/sea water? Desalination has to happen.
However, there is already two types of desalination plants available. Reverse osmosis and distillation are two types of desalination plants (137). Reverse osmosis is the most common type of desalination. This process involves large amounts of seawater being taken through membranes which extract the minerals in the water (Midkiff 137). Midkiff informs readers that this process is costly and not always efficient (138). The inefficiency of the desalination process is that depending on the plant and its membrane strength, not all of the water can become purified. Midkiff states that “…a desalination plant achieves 50 percent
Dr. Dragone
ENGL101.B012
26 September 2013
The World of Desalination Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be drinking originally dirty or undrinkable water? This could be something that runs through your head in the future because desalination is a potential resolution to the loss of water. In Ken Midkiff’s book Not a Drop to Drink, chapter 7 titled “Technological Solutions: The Skyrocketing Cost of a Glass of Water” describes his outlook on the process of desalination. He also talks a lot about the technology it would take and how expensive it would be. Not only does he talk about the prices of the plants to complete the desalination, but how much the water would cost afterwards. Another thing Midkiff informs us of is that desalination isn’t always efficient. Desalination could be either a good or bad source to use in the future. It can be good because of the large amount of water that would be produced and it could be bad because of its price and inefficiency.
What is desalination? Desalination is the process of removing salt, especially from sea water so that it can be used for drinking or irrigation. Midkiff quotes that “97% of the earth is sea water” (136). What happens once the earth runs out of freshwater, and has to turn to the vast amount of undrinkable ocean/sea water? Desalination has to happen.
However, there is already two types of desalination plants available. Reverse osmosis and distillation are two types of desalination plants (137). Reverse osmosis is the most common type of desalination. This process involves large amounts of seawater being taken through membranes which extract the minerals in the water (Midkiff 137). Midkiff informs readers that this process is costly and not always efficient (138). The inefficiency of the desalination process is that depending on the plant and its membrane strength, not all of the water can become purified. Midkiff states that “…a desalination plant achieves 50 percent
Cited: Midkiff, Ken. “Technological Solutions: The Skyrocketing Cost of a Glass of Water.” Not a Drop to Drink: America’s Water Crisis [And What You Can Do]. Novato: New World Library. 136-160. Print.