MIT engineers and collaborators developed a solar-powered device that avoids the salt-clogging issues of other designs. Engineers at MIT and in China are aiming to turn seawater into drinking water with a completely passive device that is inspired by the ocean, and powered by the sun. In a pap
This is a huge problem with all desalination of sea water, and why desalination cannot be a sustainable primary water source, even with free energy.
We need to close our water systems such that waste water is not cleaned just enough to be dumped into rivers and oceans. We need to recycle the fresh water we have. Urban wastewater takes much less energy to purify than sea water and produces more pure water with less untreatable waste.