Science and the salty sea

Man's dream for centuries has been to turn the oceans into sweet water. Today we know that this dream will be fulfilled tomorrow for the vast arid regions from the Mojave Desert to the Sahara, where human prosperity — and survival — depend upon new sources of fresh water “Water, water, every where, And all the boards did shrink; Water, water, every where Nor any drop to drink.” Samuel Taylor Coleridge The Ancient Mariner Back in 49 B.C., Julius Caesar attempted to convert salt water to fresh water during the siege of Alexandria. In 1963 A.D., in the United States, President Kennedy said: “If it can be done inexpensively, it will dwarf any other scientific accomplishment.” And he directed that a maximum effort be made during his administration to achieve a major breakthrough in increasing water supplies by low-cost water desalting and purification. Today, this program has been greatly accelerated, and Federal funds for this effort have doubled the previous appropriations.