desalination

Fresh, clean drinking water is scarce in many places and the situation is getting worse. Yet 8 out 10 of us live within 20 miles of the sea. Reverse osmosis desalination is costly and energy intensive, but Australian Sir Charles Madden has an alternative - wind powered vapor compression desalination.

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has found out a greener way to desalinize sea water. It uses carbon nanotubes which have pores that are 100,000 times smaller than a human hair, and were able to determine the rejection mechanism within the pores. It could offer cheaper water to poor countries from Africa.

The nation's first, large-scale seawater desalination plant is delivering drinking water to more than 2.5 million residents of the Tampa Bay area. It's a timelysolution as continued drought is forecast across the southeastern United States.

Australia - the New South Wales Government will pay the operators of Sydney's desalination plant more than $1 million a week for 20 years even if the plant is not used to produce water.