Drinking water production

Desalination of the oceans: But the right way, please!

(Bild: Fabio Lamanna/stock.adobe.com)

The world's largest seawater desalination plant is operated in Dubai - using natural gas, of course. But there are far gentler methods - they should be given a chance, says author and scientist Christian Mähr. 

Too much and too little - drinking water is still a problem in hot regions, even if the world as a whole is becoming wetter. There is no shortage of water in the world. The oceans contain 1.33 billion cubic kilometers of water, which unfortunately contains an average of 3.5 percent dissolved salt. This compares with a relatively modest 35 million cubic kilometers of fresh water, almost 70 percent of which is frozen - meaning it is not directly usable as ice and snow.

Salt water is poisonous and cannot be drunk. How do you get the salt out of seawater? Quite simply: distillation. The water is heated, the resulting steam is cooled and the condensate is pure water. This is the principle behind the world's largest desalination plant in Dubai. It produces 2.1 million cubic meters of drinking water a day. With natural gas (the largest natural gas power plant in the world). Whoever has, has ...