Eli5 if salt water turns to fresh water when it evaporates how do we have water shortages in coastal regions or water shortages in general?

Question

Eli5 if salt water turns to fresh water when it evaporates how do we have water shortages in coastal regions or water shortages in general?

In: 55

Answer 1

Sure, when it evaporates, it turns into theoretical fresh water. As long as it doesn’t come back down in the form of rain though, it might as well be sand for all the good it does us. The process of evaporation, cloud formation, and precipitation can start at the ocean, but the water will be deposited slowly much farther inland. That rate is more or less fixed, as in we can’t speed it up. If we consume or polute the fresh water faster than it is regenerated, we have shortages.

Edit: Technically, there is this thing called cloud seeding, which makes clouds release their rain faster. That’s a very short term hike in fresh water release though, and only farmers can seem to afford it.