During the winter of 2018-2019, one million tons of salt were applied to icy roads in the state of Pennsylvania alone. The salt from industrial uses like this often ends up in freshwater rivers, making their water undrinkable and contributing to a growing global crisis. How can we better protect these precious natural resources? Physical organic chemist Tina Arrowood shares a three-step plan to keep salt out of rivers – and create a circular salt economy that turns industrial byproducts into valuable resources.
In the first of National Geographic’s “Into Water” 360 series, travel by air, boat and jeep through the rugged Icelandic countryside with geographer and glaciologist Dr. M Jackson. She has spent the last decade documenting the incredible physical and cultural changes of the island nation as it experiences an unprecedented melting of its iconic ice. “Into Water: Iceland” is the first stop on an around the world 360 tour that documents the work of female Explorers who’ve dedicated their careers to water-related issues.
Today, one out of three people don’t have access to safe drinking water. And that’s the result of many things, but one of them is that 96.5% of that water is found in our oceans. It’s saturated with salt, and undrinkable. Most of the freshwater is locked away in glaciers or deep underground. Less than one percent of it is available to us. So why can’t we just take all that seawater, filter out the salt, and have a nearly unlimited supply of clean, drinkable water?
