The earth, where we live today, 70% of it is made up of water. But of the 70% volume of water on earth, 97.5% is saltwater, and only 2.5% is fresh water that can be consumed by humans. The amount of fresh water on this earth is still mostly in the form of ice sheets at the poles, which must be very difficult to drink unless we make sweet iced tea in a roadside stall. But, as the title of this article asks why seawater is salty and river water is not? And why is there salt and fresh water in this world?
In The Beginning
The beginning was because of the rain. In short, the rainwater that fell to the earth struck various types of rock. The rainwater breaks the rocks on the land and then carries salt and other minerals in the rocks with it. The rainwater then went to the river carrying salt and other minerals there.
After a long journey, then the salt and other minerals reached their final destination, namely the sea. Because there’s no place to go anymore, the salt and the other minerals, eventually all gathered together, in the ocean.
When the seawater evaporates to form clouds, the salt that is in the sea remains in the sea. As for the cloud, it will then become rain, and then it will erode the rock, and then it will repeat the process, for millions of years, and it will continue until now.
But why don’t we just refine the seawater for us to drink? Consequently, seawater treatment itself is still expensive and requires a lot of energy. Compared to if we treat fresh water that already exists. In addition, obstacles such as the presence of algae, which often clogs filtration, also make seawater treatment still complicated and very troublesome.
So, like Khalil Gibran said. It turns out that, in this realm, everything is so interconnected. Then, does reading this article make you thirsty? Have a drink, but don’t use seawater because now yo know why seawater is salty and river water is not. Thanks.
