Desalination by A.J. Huey

My research was on desalination of ocean water. By using the process of reverse osmosis, it separates salt and other impurities from sea water into fresh, clean drinking water. There are over 1700 plants worldwide and the three areas I looked into were California, Israel, and Saudi Arabia. California is in severe need of water and they have two major plants in operation, but Israel and Saudi Arabia are not experiencing any trouble with water shortage because they already have a few desalination plants made in their countries. The pros of having desalination plants are that we have an abundant amount of ocean water, it's been proven effective, and the salt taken out of the water can be sold instead of table salt. As for the cons, it costs a lot of money to build and run an average desalination plant and can have an environmental impact on marine life. For instance, some fish eggs will get caught into the system, or cleaning of the system can cause damage of the sea floor.