Combating Growing Water Scarcity: The Potential and Need for Desalination and Water Reuse

Global water use has been rapidly increasing due to economic growth, increasing population, and industrialization. Meanwhile, freshwater and groundwater supply has changed little and even decreased. To meet this intensifying scarcity, many are turning to desalinating seawater, brackish water, and wastewater. Desalinating marginally saline sources provide other benefits, including substantial increases in agriculture yields and removing toxins that other modern processes do not remove. David Warsinger will discuss how new technologies and improved scientific understanding are crucial for combating growing water challenges.Warsinger is a scientist, teacher, inventor, and entrepreneur. He is motivated by what he sees as the biggest problems facing humanity: the nexus of energy, water, and food. He is currently a PostDoc in Professor Lienhard's research group at MIT, where he does research in efficiency and membrane fouling of the desalination technology membrane distillation.