Why can’t we just pipe in saltwater to areas low on water and remove the salt for watering plants, etc?
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Desalination of water takes a lot of energy and creates super salty brine as a byproduct. Most of the time, it isn’t worth it. Even if the energy cost is worth it (California and Saudi Arabia are the only locations I can think of pioneering the technology).
The brine is also hard to dispose of. You can’t just dump it in the ocean or on the ground without destroying the local ecosystem. You also can’t sell the salts because salt is one of the cheapest resources on Earth. You wouldn’t be able to give it away fast enough with the amount of water we use.
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