eli5: If we have methods like desalination, why is the world suffering from a water shortage, when 70% of the Earth is water?

Question

Even though the water is saline, to the best of my understanding, you can convert saltwater into freshwater so why is there a water crisis?

In: Biology

Answer 1

Desalination is very energy intensive and (probably) has it’s own environmental side effects from sucking lots of water (along with marine life/by catch) and emitting a hot briny plume on the other end.