Discussion for article #234531
Lack of unsalty water is the foreseeable crisis of the 21st century, not generally rising temperature, though the two problems are related. Unfortunately, the world’s largest reservoir of fresh water, glaciers, are rapidly melting and ending up in the oceans. It’s a pity for humanity that we devote more attention to build/maintain weapons and discover/recover fossil fuels than to devise ways to save something truly essential for human life!
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Here is a hint: stop watering things. If a crop (fruit, vegetable, grain, whatever) can’t grow in your area naturally, stop watering it and grow something that can grow there. Sucking water from an aquifer to grow fruit or tomatoes is ridiculous. Also, watering a golf course in a desert is ridiculous.
If we think ahead, moving hundreds of millions of people around the world is expensive. Nor can we predict with certainty the future of areas where human populations are moved. Whether we like it or not, there will be a substantial increase in the amount of desalination operations around the world in the next ten to twenty years. For obvious practical reasons, most of the projects will be powered by alternative energy. And money for search into cheaper desalination methods will have to be increased.
In multiple ways, water is not an either/or proposition. For example, desalination activity in coastal areas that receive little rain will enable inland river water to be diverted further inland.
And there are important side issues. In my opinion, though the issue is still being studied, many species, and not just plant species, will become extinct unless desalination is used. There are many smart ways to do this and this too is probably coming.