As global warming gives rise to increasingly intense droughts and natural disasters like wildfires, companies are investigating methods to safely source drinking water from the sea, such as desalination. There are several detrimental factors of traditional desalination, however, that must be considered, such as brine discharge into the ocean or intake systems that are harmful to marine life. 

In response, companies such as OceanWell are developing alternative desalination technologies designed to minimize ecological impact. OceanWell’s design uses a “deep sea approach” where the natural pressure of the ocean is used to carry out a reverse osmosis process that filters out salt and produces drinkable water. This process leaves a very small concrete footprint while also ensuring that even small organisms, such as microscopic plankton, are kept out of the system through fine screening.

While the technology has drawn interest, questions remain about its economic viability. Director of the Human Right to Water Solutions Lab and co-director of the Luskin Center for Innovation Gregory Pierce noted in an interview with The Associated Press that this process seems promising, but expressed concerns over the cost. “It’s almost always much higher than you project…So that, I think, will be the make or break for the technology,” he said.