From Ancient Greek sailors boiling seawater to Romans using clay pipes to filter salt, making saltwater drinkable through desalination has a long history.
But modern forms of this millennia-old technology are now the “present and future of coping with water scarcity,” said Manzoor Qadir, deputy director of the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health.
Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink…
While 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered in water, less than 1% of the planet’s 326 million trillion gallons (1260 million trillion liters) of water is drinkable.