What is water desalination?

Water desalination is the process of removing salt and other minerals from ocean and brackish water. The result is a supply of clean, potable water. In California, water desalination is an increasingly important tool for managing our water resources. Desalination works by using either pressure, osmosis, or distillation to remove the salt from salty water. In pressure desalination, salty water is put under pressure that forces water molecules to move through a membrane. In osmosis, salty water is put in one side of a semi-permeable membrane and freshwater is put in the other side. The salty water molecules move through the membrane to even out the concentrations. In distillation, salty water is boiled and the steam is condensed into freshwater. California has dozens of desalination plants that are used to supplement our traditional sources of water like rivers, lakes, and aquifers. This allows us to meet the growing demand for freshwater due to population increases and drought. In fact, California is the leader in water desalination in the United States. Desalinated water is generally very expensive and energy-intensive. It also creates a large amount of brine, which is the concentrated salt water leftover from the process. This has to be disposed of properly in order to protect marine life. For this reason, desalination is only used as a last resort when other more sustainable sources of water have been exhausted.

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What is water desalination?

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