Has anyone ever wondered, who needs clean water the most, an

Has anyone ever wondered, what is the best way to provide access to clean water to the greatest number of people?

Let's take a closer look at ways to spread clean water.

Desalination

“Desalination is extracting the salt from seawater...Israel uses desalination technology to provide about a fourth of its domestic water needs”(Provide Access to Clean Water).

Desalination is extremely effective in purifying water. The desalination process uses salt water, the type of water that is easiest to find if people live in a village near the ocean. The most common type of desalination used is called reverse osmosis.

“It must desalinate vast quantities of seawater – 1.7 billion cubic meters in 2011… facility can pump a staggering 530 million liters… in a day”(Desalination Technique Chips Away at Cost of Water Purification).

Desalination can purify vast quantities of water a day. There will be no shortage of water. People can get water as often as they want, and as much as they need. One plant can supply people in a large area.

The statement before was an answer that stated only desalination was the best way to spread clean water. What about the people that live in a countries like Niger or Chad that is inland, and not near seawater? This is a case where large solar stills would come in handy. Inland countries would use large solar stills to purify water, and countries near seawater would use desalination.

“A process called electrodialysis… the rate at which this can desalinate is much higher than reverse osmosis.”(New Desalination Technique Also Cleans and Disinfects Water).

The best way to purify water through desalination is electrodialysis. This means that people can get more clean water faster if they build plants for electrodialysis desalination. With one of these plants, more seawater can be purified, giving people in need more water than they ever had.

So, back to that question:

What is the best way to provide access to clean water to the greatest amount of people?

People in Africa are in need of the most clean water, and the most people who need it, live on the coast, or on an island. Desalination is the best way to give clean water to the most amount of people because it takes seawater, and purifies it in mass amounts.

Here are the bottom five nations in need of the most clean water. The percentages are the amount of population without access.

• Sierra Leone-87%
• Ethiopia-88%
• Madagascar-89%
• Niger-91%
• Chad-91%

(The Water Rich vs The Water Poor).

Niger Chad

Ethiopia

Sierra Leone

Large Solar Stills

Madagascar

“Able to increase the productivity of the standard solar still by a factor of 5, to run on 95 to 100% renewable energy, and to use feed streams from a variety of sources, including saline wells, waste water, rivers and seas”(15 Concepts and Solutions for Providing Clean Drinking Water).

Most places that need clean water have a very sunny climate. Solar stills run on the energy from the sun. Large solar stills are very effective energy-wise, so it will not use a lot of energy. Solar stills can also purify water from many different water sources. Wherever the unpurified water is, solar stills can use it as a water source.