Today, major cities around the world use reverse osmosis or multi-stage evaporation to provide fresh water to hundreds of millions of people.
First, desalination still requires a lot of energy — three to four kilowatt-hours of electricity to make 1,000 liters of freshwater using reverse osmosis.
The energy needed for desalination has been falling for decades as engineers have drastically improved the systems.
In fact, renewable energy can easily power reverse osmosis.
When communities face droughts and growing populations, could seawater treatments prove to be sustainable methods to deliver an essential water supply to those who need it?
Does the desalination brine make the ocean saltier?
The fresh water produced also eventually returns to the sea, so that the amounts of water and salt in the ocean are, overall, unchanged.
Desalination plants are also drought resistant.
Major coastal cities are continuing to grow rapidly.
Current and future desalination technologies can safely and sustainably make the oceans part of the solution to the world’s rising need for fresh water.

Doyens Township retains its cool with lush green environment.
Surprisingly, though the colony retains a posh outlook, the maintenance cost for each household is only around Rs 590 per month.
And this is one of the reasons that helped it bag Swachh Colony Award from Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation.
It also has two parks and a playground.
A few years ago, the colony was hit by water scarcity and as taps dried up with no water supplies trickling in, the residents decided to save rain water.
Now, the colony has nearly 55 rainwater harvesting pits that help preserve water.
Also, the colony has organic compost pits, in which they fill natural waste such as leaves and other biodegradable material.
Surprisingly, though the colony retains a posh outlook, the maintenance cost for each household is only around Rs 590 per month.
The Doyens Colony Association manages the Manjeera and bore-well water distribution.
Despite the colony having a lavish green cover, the Association encouraged its community to plant 400 saplings under ‘Haritha Haram’ last and helped by their care, 90 per cent of the saplings have survived the agonising summer, said P Linga Reddy, Secretary, Doyens Township Association.

The Paris Agreement is a historic document, a true triumph of international cooperation and diplomacy.
Ondoy, a wake-up call The environmental field was not something I was considering of pursuing when I was in college.
It was my first glimpse of what climate change could do to my country, but more than that, it was a wake-up call that rang long and loud, demanding for something to be done.
A matter of survival The Philippines is one of the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world.
Our strong typhoons are deadly manifestations of that vulnerability, but there are other climate change effects that have started to impact our country’s development, and will continue to as global temperatures increase: droughts and water scarcity will mean a decline in food productivity; sea level rise will bring about the dislocation of communities; and extreme weather events will exacerbate human health problems, as well as create new ones.
Climate change is a matter of survival for the Philippines, and the Paris Agreement is its lifeline.
Businesses are not only investing in renewable energy, but are divesting their assets from fossil fuels such as oil, gas, and coal.
In support of the Paris Agreement Aside from that, states and cities are actively defying Trump on the Paris Agreement.
This outpouring of support can only be good for a climate-vulnerable country like the Philippines.
So while the US exit from the Paris Agreement is disappointing, it does not doom climate action.

A division bench of Chief Justice Manjulla Chellur and Justice N M Jamdar said, "Water scarcity is a major problem faced by cities.
Both the petitions highlighted the acute shortage of water in the areas and claimed that residents were sometimes not supplied water for a day.
If water is drawn from bore well then how many such bore well are there in the area.
The bench has asked both the corporations to submit an affidavit within two weeks giving details about how many construction projects are ongoing in the areas and their source of getting water The Bombay High court on Friday restrained the Thane and Pune Municipal corporation from issuing fresh commencement and occupation certificates to new constructions in Ghodbunder and Baner/Balewadi areas, respectively, until further orders.
A division bench of Chief Justice Manjulla Chellur and Justice N M Jamdar said, "Water scarcity is a major problem faced by cities.
In the future it will increase if corrective steps not taken now."
If water is drawn from bore well then how many such bore well are there in the area.
The court said, "Such a study will help in the future."
Both the petitions highlighted the acute shortage of water in the areas and claimed that residents were sometimes not supplied water for a day.
Source: http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report-hc-stays-new-constructions-for-thane-pune-civic-bodies-2482362 Subscribe to Mumbai News

The bench has asked both the corporations to submit an affidavit within two weeks giving details about how many construction projects are ongoing in the areas and their source of getting water The Bombay High court on Friday restrained the Thane and Pune Municipal corporation from issuing fresh commencement and occupation certificates to new constructions in Ghodbunder and Baner/Balewadi areas, respectively, until further orders.
A division bench of Chief Justice Manjulla Chellur and Justice N M Jamdar said, "Water scarcity is a major problem faced by cities.
In the future it will increase if corrective steps not taken now."
If water is drawn from bore well then how many such bore well are there in the area.
The court said, "Such a study will help in the future."
The bench issued the directions while hearing two petitions filed by sitting corporator from Pune Amol Balwadkar and Thane resident Advocate VP Patil.
Both the petitions highlighted the acute shortage of water in the areas and claimed that residents were sometimes not supplied water for a day.
It was also argued that supply of water per as per central scheme, per person should be allowed 150 litres per day.
However, the supply is less.
To meet the requirement, citizens are forced to call for water tankers.

PM Nawaz, Russian President Putin meet in Kazakhstan.
Prime minister Narendra Modi on Friday held a meeting with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit here.
The prime minister said the membership would help Pakistan combat terrorism, reduce arms race, fight poverty and deal with climate change and water scarcity.
Earlier in the day, PM Modi reiterated his stand on terrorism by saying, "Terrorism is a major threat to humanity".
While emphasising that connectivity with SCO countries is India’s top priority, Modi said that such projects should not impinge a country’s sovereignty.
He congratulated Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev for the successful organisation of the summit that witnessed the entry of India and Pakistan as a full member states.
There has been speculation about a possible meeting between Modi and Sharif in Astana to ease the growing tension between the two neighbours.
The meeting was attended by leaders from Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Iran, Mongolia, Turkey, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Armenia, Cambodia, and Azerbaijan.
According to Kazakhistan’s news agency Kazinform, the leaders of the SCO will issue a joint statement on combating the worldwide terrorism during the summit.
It aims to boost bilateral relations in trade, politics, culture and economy.

Several Sindh Assembly members representing various political parties signed a declaration on Friday to establish a ‘water caucus’ in the provincial legislature to ensure an allied approach to tackling water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) challenges in the province.
The declaration was signed at a seminar on improved water, sanitation and hygiene in Sindh.
Speaking on the occasion, minority MPA Eng.
Pesu Mal Ukrani said clean drinking water was the prime need of the people and the government had taken many initiatives to provide clean drinking water to them.
MPA Jam Madad Ali said municipalities in Sindh were not properly maintaining water supply systems; hence, there was need to look after these systems after their installation.
MPA Dr Mohammad Rafique Babhan said the people of Sindh had been deprived of clean drinking water, which was a matter of grave concern.
“No water supply system across cities and towns of Sindh is providing clean drinking water.
The discharge of sewage into the sea was destroying fish life and needed to be stopped, he said, stressing the need to filter sewage before discharging it into the sea.
Therefore, he said, it was the need of the hour that those laws should be implemented.
She said USAID was installing water supply systems in Jacobabad and the project was nearing completion.

Maharashtra IPL matches under scanner again.
Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Friday once again picked on the issue of shifting IPL matches from drought-hit pockets of the state in case there was water shortage.
Cricket pitches and the ground have to be watered regularly to prepare them for international matches.
A Division Bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Vibha Kankanwadi on Friday asked the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to furnish a statement saying it will not organise any match in future if Maharashtra reels under water scarcity.
This comes nearly a year after the court forced IPL matches out of the state.
Justice Oka made this observation after the BCCI had moved an application before the Bench seeking its deletion from the list of respondents and praying that the petition be disposed of.
Justice Oka responded, “We want you (BCCI) to make a statement that if in future, the problem of water scarcity once again hits the state, then you would not hold any IPL match.” The BCCI’s counsel refused to make such a statement, arguing that the pledge should come from the government.
“We do not maintain or water the pitches and also do not own the stadiums.
It is the corporations and the government that supply water for maintenance of pitches,” the BCCI counsel argued.
Irked by this, Justice Oka observed, “We would then direct the government and the corporations not to supply water during the problem of water scarcity in future.” In April last year, another Bench headed by Justice Vidyasagar Kanade had directed the BCCI and other cricket bodies to shift all IPL matches out of the state.

RWH systems are a must this rainy season.
Rejoice and despair folks, the first monsoon showers of 2017 have arrived.
It made Tamil Nadu the first State to make RWH compulsory.
RWH systems can be complicated but Chennai Corporation only mandates a continuous trench, 1M wide and 1.5M deep, filled with pebbles along site boundaries.
Rainwater falling within a site reaches the peripheral trenches, where it is inexpensively filtered and discharged into the ground.
This minimises run off onto roads or waste into sewers.
Sometimes a trench is connected to a well or borewell within the plot.
This rainy season, do not waste the water that falls on your property.
Whether it is from the rooftop or on the ground; please collect, channel and ensure rainwater reuse.
Water running off onto streets is a wasted bounty — and swinging annually between scarcity and deluge must be managed well.

Ground water levels declining fast in Maharashtra.
The Central Ground Water Board (CGWB), under the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development monitors water levels of designated water bodies including wells in various states, in an attempt to ensure sustainable development and management of ground water resources in the country.
Data from wells has shown that 70 per cent of the wells being monitored showed a decline in water levels in Maharashtra.
This study indicated a decline in ground water levels in 70 per cent of the wells monitored.
Ground water is primarily used for irrigation, drinking and industrial purposes.
The inadequate recharging of ground water, inappropriate cropping pattern and wasteful use of water accentuated the problem.
Maharashtra presently has 16,000 km of rivers and canals.
It also has water bodies spread over 3.83 lakh hectares.
There has been severe over exploitation of water bodies in the state.
The fourth Minor Irrigation Census conducted in 2006-07 said that there were over 21.5 lakh wells and borewells across Maharashtra.