Announcement posted by Pump Solutions Australasia 27 Mar 2013
Importer of water pumps in Australia reveals why it will soon be necessary for those living within 60 km of a seacoast to desalinate water for drinking.
Perth, March 27, 2013 - For years, humanity has continued to grow exponentially, while resources have remained finite. Although the mathematics of the situation is obvious, our world was so replete with resources that the thought of running out has been relegated to those considered to be eccentric at best. As the 21st century progresses, however, population growth, combined with drought and urbanisation, have produced a situation in which it no longer takes an environmentalist or a mathematician to state the obvious: if we’re not careful, we’re going to run out of many resources, especially fresh water.
Luckily for humanity, 71% of the earth is covered by ocean. In addition, technology currently exists that allows us to desalinate seawater and turn it into drinking water. According to estimates from the World Health Organisation, as many as one billion people currently don’t have enough fresh water. Within 40 years, that number could be as high as four billion. Those numbers have caused those in the health and water industries to predict exponential growth for seawater desalination during that time frame.
Close to 60% of the world’s population is currently concentrated within 60 km of a sea coast. In those regions, it will soon be essential that desalinated seawater becomes their main source of fresh water. This will leave the freshwater resources, mostly located in land, to the 40% of the world’s population which lives inland.
By 2020, the world’s population is projected to be as high as 7.5 billion. In order to prevent severe water shortages in many regions, most observers are calling for seawater desalination to begin as soon as possible. In the year 2000, the market for services and products which convert seawater into freshwater is estimated at $2 billion. By 2020, that market is expected to expand to as much as $18 billion.
The process of seawater desalination is most commonly done by reverse osmosis; this is known as salt water reverse osmosis, or SWRO. Osmosis refers to what happens when two solutions, which are composed of a solvent (in this case, the seawater) and a solute (in this case, salt), are divided by a semipermeable membrane. If the pressure on both sides is equal, the solutes will move from an area of higher concentration to an area of lower concentration until both solutions have the same amount of solutes.
In reverse osmosis, pressure is added to one side of the equation. The water is forced through a membrane or a series of membranes which remove the solutes from the water. This results in the water with low solute concentrate moving in the direction of water with low solute concentrate, because the solutes are left behind. The end result is water which no longer has salt or any of the other solids that it originally contained.
According to Mike Hurlbatt, owner of Pump Solutions Australasia, it’s time for Australia to start moving toward desalinated seawater as soon as it is feasible: “It might not look like the situation is crucial yet, but we really need to start moving on this. We have the technology already; let’s put it into service now, before somebody’s town runs out of water.”
Pump Solutions Australasia is an Australian importer and distributor of water pumps, including submersible pumps, vacuum pumps, and reverse osmosis systems.
For more information, call 1300 922 973 or visit their website: http://www.pumpsolutions.com.au/
Luckily for humanity, 71% of the earth is covered by ocean. In addition, technology currently exists that allows us to desalinate seawater and turn it into drinking water. According to estimates from the World Health Organisation, as many as one billion people currently don’t have enough fresh water. Within 40 years, that number could be as high as four billion. Those numbers have caused those in the health and water industries to predict exponential growth for seawater desalination during that time frame.
Close to 60% of the world’s population is currently concentrated within 60 km of a sea coast. In those regions, it will soon be essential that desalinated seawater becomes their main source of fresh water. This will leave the freshwater resources, mostly located in land, to the 40% of the world’s population which lives inland.
By 2020, the world’s population is projected to be as high as 7.5 billion. In order to prevent severe water shortages in many regions, most observers are calling for seawater desalination to begin as soon as possible. In the year 2000, the market for services and products which convert seawater into freshwater is estimated at $2 billion. By 2020, that market is expected to expand to as much as $18 billion.
The process of seawater desalination is most commonly done by reverse osmosis; this is known as salt water reverse osmosis, or SWRO. Osmosis refers to what happens when two solutions, which are composed of a solvent (in this case, the seawater) and a solute (in this case, salt), are divided by a semipermeable membrane. If the pressure on both sides is equal, the solutes will move from an area of higher concentration to an area of lower concentration until both solutions have the same amount of solutes.
In reverse osmosis, pressure is added to one side of the equation. The water is forced through a membrane or a series of membranes which remove the solutes from the water. This results in the water with low solute concentrate moving in the direction of water with low solute concentrate, because the solutes are left behind. The end result is water which no longer has salt or any of the other solids that it originally contained.
According to Mike Hurlbatt, owner of Pump Solutions Australasia, it’s time for Australia to start moving toward desalinated seawater as soon as it is feasible: “It might not look like the situation is crucial yet, but we really need to start moving on this. We have the technology already; let’s put it into service now, before somebody’s town runs out of water.”
Pump Solutions Australasia is an Australian importer and distributor of water pumps, including submersible pumps, vacuum pumps, and reverse osmosis systems.
For more information, call 1300 922 973 or visit their website: http://www.pumpsolutions.com.au/