Generally, natural freshwater resources are scarce or limited in many areas of the world, including areas such as, for example, deserts and arid lands, due to low precipitation and high salinity of surface and underground water. Shortage in supply of potable water and fresh water is increasing at a vast rate, as deserts expand and overtake fertile land, and as many of the natural ground water resources are being depleted. Furthermore, shifts in patterns of the global climate over time have resulted in a drop in the rate of rainfall in many areas. For example, hunger and starvation is spreading in areas such as, for example, Africa, because of shortage of fresh water to raise domestic animals and crops for food.
Sparse population and scattered population pockets in many areas make expensive application of water desalination and other water treatment technologies uneconomical due to the low demand and the high cost of water distribution from a central system over a wide stretch of land. For example, such methods of supplying potable water may be inaccessible to remote and/or impoverished areas of the world due to lack of natural resources, wealth, infrastructure and technical expertise. Alternatively, transportation of loads of fresh water is costly and exposes water to contamination en route and during handling and storage. For example, remote areas of the world may lack the necessary transportation infrastructure to allow transportation of potable water to these remote areas.