Benefits of Water Desalination
Ocean water comprises 97% of the world’s water supply. Only 3% is fresh water, of which merely 1% is available for human consumption. In this age of global warming and water pollution, to conserve water is essential. What if there was a way to get an alternative source of freshwater for daily use? Water desalination is the answer to this.
Desalination is a process that converts ocean water, or saltwater, into freshwater with the Sea Water Reverse Osmosis (SWRO) membrane technology. SWRO is just one of the ways to treat saltwater. Distillation, solar humidification, ion exchange, freezing, nanofiltration, membrane processes and high-grade water recycling are a few other methods. Equipments like the automatic titrator and turbidimeter are used for this process. Desalination has a number of benefits, two of which are listed below.
Alternative Source of Water
The first and foremost advantage of desalination is that it proves to be an alternate source of fresh water.
Since water is limited and population continues to grow, it offers a great option to get water fit for human consumption. Using water hardness test kits and other water analysis machines, you may ensure that you get high-yield water. You can use this water for consumption or irrigation. Hence, the pressure on one single water source is greatly reduced.
Additionally, in the process of desalination, a lot of thermal energy is released. This may be used to power a manufacturing plant, thus, reducing overall energy consumption of the plant.
Availability of Water
Desalination proves to be a boon for remote areas where freshwater is limited, making irrigation cumbersome.
It is a reliable and safe supply of water that can be used for agricultural as well as domestic use. Plus, unlike rainfall, which may vary every year; seawater is available in abundance and can be easily processed.
Often, as a byproduct, table salt is produced, which can be marketed separately. However, desalination’s main benefit remains that of providing water to desert areas or places with low rainfall. With extensive tests and equipment like oil in water analyzers, chemical sensors, etc. desalinized water is extremely safe and environmentally friendly.
With over 1,70,000 desalination plants worldwide, it is no surprise that more and more companies are turning towards this process as a reliable option to make water fit for consumption.
Hach, the leading water analysis company in India has manufactured and distributed water analysis instruments, test kits, and reagents for testing the quality of water and aqueous solutions, with products for lab, process, and field. Hach India also offers desalination instruments used in desalination plants to treat sea water as well as TOC measuring instruments used in refineries and petrochemical industries.