Sponsored by SurfShark VPN. We all take freshwater for granted, but we
shouldn't. Based on the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), by
2025 two thirds of the global population may experience water scarcity. And that’s because of global warming-driven
droughts. Supply cuts are looming in the Southwestern
US and water is fueling wars across the world. So, how can we get out of this *deep water*? There’s a sea of desalination technologies
coming up. Like solar domes in the desert or nano-membranes
making seawater drinkable in minutes. Let's take a look at how nanotechnology could
help contain the fresh water crisis. I'm Matt Ferrell ... welcome to Undecided. Before diving into the wellspring of fresh
nanotechnologies, let’s zoom in on the water crisis just for a minute. It helps to give context for why this could
be transformational. With climate change, many regions are experiencing
higher temperatures and lower rainfall. This is a lethal combination that dries out
our water reserves. A typical example of this is the southwestern
United States. Over the last 20 years alone, the average
temperature in some regions of the Southwest increased by up to 2°F (ca. 1.11°C). To add to that, since 1990 the entire region
has become drier because of moderate to severe droughts. Based on a 2020 study , this trend was caused
by the first climate change-driven megadrought hitting the southwestern states. Researchers found this to be the second driest
spell affecting the region in the last 1,200 years. What's happening here is happening in other
areas of the world too, but it shouldn't be a surprise. But how is this affecting our water resources? 40 million people living across seven southwestern
states rely on Lake Mead for freshwater supply. That's where Las Vegas gets 90% of its water
from. Created by blocking the Colorado river with
the Hoover Dam, Lake Mead is also a hydropower plant, generating enough clean electricity
for 8 million Americans. While still being one of the largest water
reservoirs in the world , this massive pool is getting emptier by the year. The Colorado river’s flow dwindled by about
20% compared to the last century. And it may shrink by up to 31% by the middle
of this century. But it’s not just the lack of water falling
from the sky causing this shortage. Scientists revealed higher temperatures are
playing a key role. As the region is warming up, snow is disappearing
from the Colorado Rocky Mountains. The snow-free patches absorb more sunlight
and become hotter, which causes more water to evaporate from the land and to be given
off by plants. All of this means a lower amount of water
will make its way towards the river eventually reaching the lake. After dropping by 140 feet (ca. 44 meters)
since 2000 above the so-called “dead pool” level, which is when water can no longer come
out of the dam. So this affects not just drinking water, but
generating electricity. But which are the most *thirsty* culprits
for water scarcity on a global scale? If you’re thinking about cutting down on
drinking water ... don’t bother. Keep gulping your gallon of water per day. Drinking, washing, and toilet flushing combined
only accounts for 8% of our yearly freshwater consumption. of water. So, what’s the
result of all this water consumption? For Lake Mead, it's a lower energy production,
with the Hoover dam energy efficiency dropping by 25% after reaching its lowest water capacity. And of course, there's less water available
for people in the Southwest to use. Last August, the US government officially
declared the first ever water shortage for Lake Mead. This will cause cuts in water supply, with
some farmers who may be forced to give up on the cultivation of their land. Arizona will lose the biggest slice of the
Colorado pie, which amounts to just about 8% of its national water usage for agriculture
and human consumption. That’s why the state is considering the
construction of a desalination plant on the Sea of Cortez in Mexico. Based on the UN World Bank, drought could
drive 700 million people out of their homes by 2030. Such a massive climate migration could brew
up political instability across the globe. And it’s already happened. The Pacific Institute put together a log of
925 water conflicts since the Babylonian civilization. They concluded that most of the wars were
agriculture-related. And research showed water-based conflicts
increased around 5 times over the last 100 years. So, what can we do to get out of this? This is where technology comes in. But before I get to that, I’d like to thank
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supporting the channel. Now back to how some new technologies may
be able to help with the freshwater crisis... With surface freshwater running out and underground
pools being expensive to get to, everyone is diving into the seawater, which makes sense
being 97% of the Earth's water resources. , which I’ll link to in the description,
but let me give you a quick refresher. Basically, you push seawater through a semi-permeable
membrane that traps the salts while letting the pure water go through it. Simple, right? Yes, but energy-demanding. And typically, you would burn fossil fuels
to get the high pressure you need to make it work. This translates into 76 million tons of CO2
per year emitted by desalination plants worldwide. Which will skyrocket to 500 million tons of
CO2 per year by 2040 if we don’t find a low-carbon alternative. But there’s another environmental cost to
add to that. The RO process by-product is a highly concentrated
salt solution, a.k.a. brine, that's currently dumped into the ocean. Being heavier than seawater, this slurry settles
into the deep waters and the salt overload consumes oxygen , which kills marine wildlife. An RO plant could produce up to two liters
of brine for every liter of clean water. According to a recent study, its production
is 50% higher than what was previously estimated. But someone is trying to water down those
environmental impacts. Accounting for 22% of the global brine disposal
technology. Essentially, you have many large mirrors that
focus sunlight onto a glass semi sphere. Doing so, a localized greenhouse effect will
vaporize the seawater contained within a metallic giant pot. You then pump the steam out and condense it
into clean water. Based on the developers, the plant will entirely
rely on solar energy, which means being carbon neutral. But there's still the question of the waste
brine. Their plan is to extract salts for lithium
battery components or grit or fertilizers. But there's some big question marks around
this, so it's probably good to remain a little skeptical there. Some of these questions will be answered by
the pilot plant, which is expected to be finished by the end of 2022. . But solar domes aren't the only alternative
to RO. There's also new materials being used for
membrane distillation, which is more energy efficient. Now, I'm not a scientist, but from our research
on this, membrane distillation is where a micro-porous membrane is used to separate
two solutions at different temperatures. In this case, salt water and fresh water. The temperature gradient on the membrane creates
a vapor pressure difference allowing the water vapor to pass through the membrane and collect
on the other side. Korean engineers designed a nanofiber membrane
that desalinates seawater with a 99.99% efficiency. Using a polymer as a core and silica gel as
a shell, they made a composite membrane through a process called co-axial electrospinning. Hang with me here because this will make your
head *spin*. In this setup, you have two separate coaxial
syringes feeding two fluids into a nozzle. When applying high voltage to the system,
you create an electrostatic field between the tip of the nozzle and a nearby rotating
collector plate. As the droplet comes out of the nozzle it
stretches out, turning into a filament that's collected onto the rotating surface. You end up with a nanolayer of material. Thanks to their outstanding water repellency,
these electrospun membranes don't get wet. That’s a huge plus since wetting has been
a major challenge for the membrane distillation process. Once a membrane gets fully wetted, you’ll
have salts sneaking into the output water. Because of this reduction in separation effectiveness,
you'll need to replace the membrane. Based on their tests , the research group
achieved a stable water distillation over 30 days. This is a significant improvement in terms
of operational performance as similar membranes start losing efficiency after about 2 days. According to the study’s lead author, these
novel membranes show promise for commercialization and could help mitigate the freshwater crisis. However, it's important to note that this
has only been tested at lab scale so far. In a similar realm, there’s another composite
membrane that could save a huge amount of precious freshwater. EnergyX has recently raised $20 million to
develop its direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology. that you can check out. Water scarcity could be a *tsunami* for the
future of our society. Clearly, we need to focus on the value of
freshwater and adopt more responsible consumption. However, the scale-up of sustainable desalination
technologies will be vital. But what do you think? Do you think these new nanotech freshwater
solutions can help? Jump into the comments and let me know. And thanks as always to my patrons and welcome
to new Supporter+ member J Travis and Producer Cameron Stephens. Your direct support really helps with producing
these videos. Speaking of which, if you liked this video
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