Many places around the world are running low on water. Here in the US we have a few examples of this, such as the Colorado river, which is being drained to death and will soon run out. Why are we doing this to ourselves? Isn’t there a better way? Yes, it’s called desalinization and it’s the future of water. To put it simply, desalinization is simply taking salt water, removing the salt and other unwanted minerals, and producing clean water that is safe for personal and commercial use.
The US has no problem investing in infrastructure for transporting fossil fuels like natural gas and oil huge distances via truck, ship, train, and pipeline. Companies spend millions shipping exotic foods all over the world. It should be just as easy to build desalinization plants that deliver water to cities all across the USA. Water is a crucial commodity that can be invested in and sold to consumers nationwide, so why aren’t we doing it? There are a few reasons: cost, energy, and biproduct.
Luckily for mankind, the brilliant minds of MIT have recently come up with a solution that drastically reduces all three problems of desal. It’s much cheaper since it doesn’t involve fancy machinery to filter the salt out. It uses solar energy instead of coal or gas. And it’s better for the environment because it’s carbon neutral and doesn’t dump salt brine back into the ocean. The secret, according to MIT, is that “the configuration of the device allows water to circulate in swirling eddies, in a manner similar to the much larger “thermohaline” circulation of the ocean. This circulation, combined with the sun’s heat, drives water to evaporate, leaving salt behind.”
While it would take a substantial amount of investment and/or subsidies from western states and the federal government, a massive desalinization plant built on the Pacific coastline could pipe water all over the western United States. We could target critical areas affected by water shortages, provide water for cities dependent on the ever-dwindling Colorado river, and do it all for a profit we could use to pay back the subsidies used to launch the project.
So Why Isn’t The US Government Investing In Desalinization?
Unfortunately, this promising new information from MIT about the improved viability of desalinized water has yet to reach the ears of government, and even when they do hear it, it will likely take them years to roll out a plan to use it because of bureaucratic red tape. This is why it is up to private industry to take the lead and begin proving that not only is desalinization affordable, but its profitable too. We just need someone to take that first step and break ground on the project to demonstrate the difference it could make on water-starved areas of the world.
The American Centrist 
