According to the World Health Organization report, 1.1 billion people lack access to a safe drinking water supply.  

The world is not running out of water, but is not always when and where people need it. Fewer than 10 countries posses 60% of the world’s available fresh water supply

  World Water Forum

March 16 - 22, 2009

Desalination is an artificial process by which saline water (generally sea water) is converted to fresh water. Desalination process include: Thermal treatment that involves boiling saline water and collecting the purified vapor; Reverse Osmosis where sea water is pushed through a semi-permeable membrane that traps the salt and other impurities on one side and allows water to be filtered through a microscopic strainer and ;Electrodialysis, where electrolysis is used. This process is more suited for salty groundwater than seawater.

                         
                               Commercial Grade Desalination Plant

Reverse Osmosis (RO) is the process where a cellophane-like membranes separate purified water from contaminated water. RO is when a pressure is applied to the concentrated side of the membrane forcing purified water into the dilute side, the rejected impurities from the concentrated side being washed away in the reject water. RO can also act as an ultra-filter removing particles such as some micro-organisms that may be too large to pass through the pores of the membrane.
                                     
                                                  
                                     

Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) has become an accepted process for the removal of suspended solids, oil, grease, and other dissolved matter streams from municipal water treatment systems. It is a process which relies on uniting air bubbles coming from solution with suspended particles and subsequently, raising the suspended particles to the surface for removal.