Overview on Nanotechnology: The Future of Seawater Desalination

It has been well documented that many societies around the world are currently experiencing the consequences of water scarcity, and this scarcity is likely to be one of the major resource crises of the 21st century. While over 70 per cent of the Earths surface is covered by water, most of it is unusable for human consumption. Freshwater lakes, rivers and underground aquifers represent only 2.5 per cent of the worlds total freshwater supply. Unfortunately, in addition to being scarce, freshwater is also very unevenly distributed. The United Nations has compared water consumption with its availability and has predicted that by the middle of this century between 2 billion and 7 billion people will be faced with water scarcity. Nanotechnology, offers the potential of new nanomaterials with the nanoscale (1-100 nm), for desalination of sea water. Due to its unique activity towards intractable pollutants and application flexibility, a research is going on many nanomaterials specially graphene. Recognizing the limitations of conducting cross-national research on water resources, presently an overview on desalination by nanotechnology with special reference to Graphene nanomaterial has been chosen for study. It is observed that economic development and connections to the global economy are key forces influencing water consumption.