I'd like to invent a cheap and efficient way to desalinate water.
Not only would inventing this be beneficial to all mankind; but it would also guarantee wealth, fame, and a place in the history books!
Inventing the Desalinator 3000
The reasons for inventing an efficient desalination process are simple.
The FAO (Food and Agricultural Organisation) predict that by 2025, 1.9 billion people will be living in regions of the planet with absolute water scarcity.
It's also though that an increasing number of people in the developing and developed world will find themselves suffering from water stress.
This seems like a crazy situation to be in, especially considering 72% of the earth's surface is water.
However, of that 72% - only 0.036% of that is located in rivers and lakes (where we can get to it). The rest of the freshwater on this planet is locked up in glaciers, or located deep underground.
Finding a way of desalinating the oceans would:
- Increase the amount of potable water available for human consumption
- Make farming livestock and crops cheaper, reducing the cost of food (and thus helping fight malnutrition around the world)
- Minimizing territorial disputes and wars that center around control of water resources.
- Encourage and aide biodiversity on the entire planet.
Why has no-one thought of this before?
They have.
Seawater desalination programs already exist, with the world's largest operations located in Australia and Dubai.
However, the current process requires a considerable amount of energy, making it expensive and inefficient.
If I could invent a way to remove salt from water in a more energy-efficient and cost-effective manner, then that would help sidestep the major hurdle holding us back from rolling the project out on a global scale.
Thinking about it now, this may hinge on the invention of a more sustainable and cheaper-to-access energy source than we already rely on - because energy is the main cost-driver in the desalination process.
Perhaps unlocking the secrets of nuclear fission and harnessing atomic energy more efficiently would be a better answer to this question!
Nevertheless, I've assigned myself the mission of desalinating the oceans, so I must plough on:
Why it might not work
I first came across the idea of desalinating the oceans after watching a BBC documentary called Wild Arabia - a wildlife documentary that was filmed in the Sahara Desert.
One segment of the documentary portrayed Arabia as it would have been immediately after the last ice-age: A land of lush green forests, wildlife and abundant vegetation.
It just seemed strange to me that the Arabian Peninsula - which by definition is surrounded by water on three sides - is still so parched and dry.
This lead me to research the problem of global water scarcity, which is when I came across a rather depressing statement by the FAO, that suggested that there is in fact enough water to sustain the entire planet!
Instead, the main causes of water scarcity that it identified were all human social flaws, namely:
- corruption
- lack of infrastructure and economic investment
- bureaucracy
- management inefficiencies
- greed
