https://stream.echo6.co/videos/watch/59d583d8-d177-445a-9854-eb48c13f7458 An overview of seawater desalination: removing salt to make drinkable water from the ocean. Correction: The Carlsbad plant produces 50 MGD, which is roughly 190,000 cubic meters per day (not 23,000 as stated). It might surprise you to learn that there are more than 18,000 desalination plants operating across the globe. But, those plants provide less than a percent of global water needs even though they consume a quarter of all the energy used by the water industry. The oceans are a nearly unlimited resource of water with this seemingly trivial caveat, which is that the water is just a little bit salty. It’s totally understandable to wonder why that little bit of salt is such an enormous obstacle. Watch this video ad-free on Nebula: https://nebula.tv/videos/practical-engineering-why-is-desalination-so-difficult?ref=practical-engineering Signed copies of my book (plus other cool stuff) are available here: https://store.practical.engineering/ Practical Engineering is a YouTube channel about infrastructure and the human-made world around us. It is hosted, written, and produced by Grady Hillhouse. We have new videos posted regularly, so please subscribe for updates. If you enjoyed the video, hit that ‘like’ button, give us a comment, or watch another of our videos! CONNECT WITH ME Website: http://practical.engineering Twitter: https://twitter.com/HillhouseGrady Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/practicalengineering Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/PracticalEngineering Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PracticalEngineerGrady​ Patreon: http://patreon.com/PracticalEngineering SPONSORSHIP INQUIRIES Please email my agent at practicalengineering@standard.tv DISCLAIMER This is not engineering advice. Everything here is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Contact an engineer licensed to practice in your area if you need professional advice or services. All non-licensed clips used for fair use commentary, criticism, and educational purposes. SPECIAL THANKS This video is sponsored by Brilliant. Stock video and imagery provided by Getty Images, Shutterstock, and Videoblocks. Music by Epidemic Sound: http://epidemicsound.com/creator Tonic and Energy by Elexive is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6fBPdu8w9U Video by Grady Hillhouse Edited by Wesley Crump Written and Produced by Ralph Crewe Production Assistance from Josh Lorenz Graphics by Nebula Studios Wed, 15 Apr 2026 09:48:00 GMT https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html PeerTube - https://stream.echo6.co https://stream.echo6.co/client/assets/images/icons/icon-512x512.png https://stream.echo6.co/videos/watch/59d583d8-d177-445a-9854-eb48c13f7458 All rights reserved, unless otherwise specified in the terms specified at https://stream.echo6.co/about and potential licenses granted by each content's rightholder.