Israel: Turning the sea into drinking water

Water is crucial to life on earth. Yet for many people across the planet, getting access to clean, safe drinking water is a challenge.  The United Nations says that by 2025 1.8 billion people will be living in areas "with absolute water scarcity."

In Israel, IDE Technologies, a company specializing in water treatment, is looking to the sea to ensure a secure supply of fresh water. The company says that worldwide, it supplies 3 million cubic meters of "high quality water" every single day. Their Sorek Project is, they say, the planet's largest and most advanced seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination plant. Sea water from over one kilometer out at sea is pumped to the plant, in Sorek, Israel. After impurities are taken out, the sea water is then forced through membranes under high pressure to force water through but leave the salt behind. "The Sorek desalination plant is producing 624,000 cubic meters (of water) per day, which is about 20 percent of the domestic usage in Israel," Miriam Faigon, senior director of water solutions and products at IDE Technologies, told CNBC's Sustainable Energy.

According to the International Desalination Association (IDA), as of June 30th last year, there were more than 18,000 desalination plants globally, generating 22.9 billion gallons of water daily. IDA states that over 300 million people worldwide depend on desalinated water for "some or all their daily needs".