Why don’t we get our drinking water from the ocean?

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Manish Kumar |

TED-Ed

• March 2025

Humans have been transforming seawater into potable freshwater for millennia. Today, billions of people can’t access clean drinking water, and 87 different countries are projected to be “water-scarce” by 2050. So, how can we use seawater desalination to combat water scarcity? And can we do it without further harming the environment? Manish Kumar digs into how scientists are creating freshwater. [Directed by Vitalii Nebelskyi, and action creative agency, narrated by Addison Anderson, music by Stephen LaRosa].