Recent advances in technology have made removing salt from seawater and groundwater a realistic option for increasing water supplies in some parts of the U.S., and desalination will likely have a niche in meeting the nation's future water needs, says a new report from the National Research Council.

As some U.S. regions face water shortages and growing contention over freshwater supplies, some communities are considering adding water through desalination -- removing salt either from seawater or the brackish groundwater that underlies large parts of the country.

A traditional windmill which drives a pump: that is the simple concept behind the combination of windmill/reverse osmosis developed by the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in The Netherlands.