Reverse Course: Creating clean water, from extreme recycling to solar desalination

Here & Now Anytime

NPR

News

4.1 • 953 Ratings

🗓️ 25 April 2025

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Chicago is set to break ground on a pipeline that will bring water from the Great Lakes to some suburbs whose groundwater is running dry. Joliet, Illinois, is one of those suburbs. Here & Now's Chris Bentley reports on the question of who is allowed to use Lake Michigan's water. And, as cities across the West brace for a drier future, they're investing in advanced water purification technology. Here & Now's Peter O'Dowd reports on scientists who are turning wastewater into drinking water. Then, desalination — pulling fresh, drinkable water from saltwater— can offer some relief in areas facing water shortages. Robert Bergstrom, CEO of OceanWell, explains how the company's desalination pods work. And mechanical engineer Amos Winter details how his team uses an electrodialysis system to purify groundwater.

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0:00.0	Support for here and now anytime comes from MathWorks, creator of MATLAB and Simulink software for technical computing and model-based design.
0:09.2	MathWorks accelerating the pace of discovery in engineering and science. Learn more at MathWorks.com.
0:17.5	WBUR Podcasts, Boston.
0:22.7	We live in an area that seems so water abundant.
0:25.5	Just seems like kind of crazy that there would not be enough water.
0:30.6	If you don't have water woes now, just wait.
0:36.3	It's here and now anytime from NPR and WBUR. I'm Chris Bentley.
0:46.5	Climate change and drought are putting pressure on cities to find new supplies of clean drinking
0:52.9	water. So lately, we've been going around the country
0:55.9	looking for it. Today on the show, three dispatches from the global hunt for fresh water,
1:03.8	including this question, would you drink purified sewage? A lot of people already do.
1:10.5	We think that this is that next bucket of water
1:13.4	that we need to tap into. After decades of drought, more cities in the West say recycling water
1:20.8	is part of the solution. That story and Peter O'Dowd's review of a popsicle made from
1:26.4	purified wastewater coming up in a little bit.
1:30.3	We'll also hear how researchers are looking for better ways to desalinate groundwater.
1:35.4	There's literally hundreds of millions of people who could benefit from this around the world.
1:39.6	Yes, desalination. It's not just for the coasts.
1:42.8	Two surprising new ways to turn salt water and brackish
1:46.2	water into something drinkable. That story coming up in about 20 minutes. But first, I recently
1:56.3	visited a city whose wells are running dry in a place that you might not expect. Some towns, just a short
2:03.1	drive from the world's greatest repository of fresh water, the Great Lakes, are facing a water
	...

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