There is an increasing lack of water in many areas of the world. Desalination installations are used all over the world, and the water industry is thriving. The technical challenges are great in producing clean water, the energy required is substantial – may be 2-4 kWh pr. m3 water, in some cases as high as 25 kWh/m3. The industry is hoping to get this down to about 1 kWh/m3. The energy required thus gives a push to nuclear energy.
Today most fresh-water is used to grow food – some say 90%.
From the landmass of Norway there is a water run-off of 350-400 km3 per year – going into the sea. Calculating that each person uses 150 liter per day we can say that Norway alone can deliver the water required for everybody in the world. A number of projects have been developed for the purpose of transporting water to the needy, but so far without success.
Techniques like reverse osmosis using membranes can be used at sea depths of about 800 meters to produce cheap water without having to take care of the salt.
Many technical challenges and commercial possibilities are ahead of us.