Many people in France live on boats and apart from mooring cost the only other great expense is fresh water. The port authorities have a monopoly on this, thus charge a premium for it so the boat owners started looking and exploring options. A friend who is part of this boat owners community has tried and tested the alternative which bascially is pumping in and filtering river water to a very pure state. Bacially they have a series of filters like below 20" x 4.5 25 Micron sediment 20" x 4.5" 10 Micron Sediment 20" x 4.5" Carbon Block filter 20" x 4.5" 1 Micron sediment 6 gpd UV fitting This water is now used for everything from toilets to showering but filtered again with a reverse osmosis system for drinking and food prep. areas. Just thinking that this option might also suit anyone else who has access to a water source.
I was reading the article below on turning salt water into drinking water. I have heard many times that it is so hard to make ocean water potable. I do not live near and ocean or a huge river but this is useful information to consider- Please follow this link to read the three methods of distilling salt water. How To Turn Salt Water Into Drinking Water Are these truly the best methods, I do not know because I do not have an ocean close by to experiment with.
Where was that post of the guy who used 2 liter bottles with a small portion of the bottom cut out to sun distill salt water... hmmm ... can't find it. It was a very clever low tech solution
Correct me if I am wrong but I think the U.S. subs use reverse osmosis to process salt water into fresh water.
If they do, it's something they have started since I was in service. RO takes power, the stills we used back then used waste heat.
Well, you might be surprised at how much of that "waste" is(/was) actually used and how comparatively economic to run they were(are) matched against the diesel boats.
New California plant tests US appetite for seawater desalination Desalination and water resource management in Kuwait Kuwait has been desalinizing salt water since the 1950s.