Desalination and Global Water Scarcity

Josh Velson, a chemical engineer with a self-described “nerd rage problem” writes: Will water desalination be a global solution for water scarcity?

I really don’t understand what a nerd rage problem is, but fortunately, I do have an answer to your question. It’s no, unless our civilization develops clean and extremely inexpensive sources of energy, which is needed in enormous quantities to separate the water from the salt.  Significant challenges remain even if we’re so lucky, e.g., that there are huge inland parts of the world, mostly in Asia, that have no access to water of any kind; Mongolia’s a great example.

Desalination can play a part in a global approach to sustainability in the so-called “water-energy nexus,” but it will need to be coupled with other tools to mitigate the climate change that is causing desertification.

Layering a little common sense on top of this wouldn’t be a terrible idea, either.  Let’s stop building cities where there is no water.  It will be 104 F this afternoon in Phoenix, AZ, which is actually chilly for this time of year, when temperatures often hit 120.