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Like a lot of desalination systems, this one shoves salt water through a filter, and spits out fresh water on the other side. Unlike those other systems, this one is designed to work 1,500 feet beneath the surface, where water passes through the membrane on its own because of the immense water pressure. OceanWell said compared to other membrane-based systems that take water from close to the surface, its technology uses 30 to 40% less energy to produce fresh water.

Despite the recognition of water tech as a promising investment for addressing climate challenges, the sector has not attracted substantial funding. Water’s ubiquity might be its own worst enemy. Why worry about something that is usually so widely available? But in reality, global freshwater demand could soon outstrip supply by at least 40% by 2030, according to the UN.

A new deep-sea desalination technology is undergoing testing in Southern California. Water managers hope it will offer an economical and environmentally friendly way of tapping the Pacific Ocean for fresh water. The CEO of the company that developed the technology calls it a moonshot to revolutionize how California — and the world — can transform seawater into drinking water. If the system proves viable, the company plans to build what it calls a water farm anchored to the ocean floor several miles off the coast of Malibu. Californians could be drinking water tapped from the Pacific Ocean off Malibu several years from now — that is, if a company’s new desalination technology proves viable.

As global water scarcity spreads and more regions begin to run out of the freshwater they need for daily life, desalination is heralded as the answer. It already provides countless people with reliable clean water, but it also carries some disadvantages as an energy-intensive process with high environmental costs. Now, OceanWell’s new offshore desalination system promises to overcome these downsides and offer another option. In this article, we explore the new technology and find out what makes it different.

A Californian start-up is investigating the feasibility of harvesting freshwater from desalination pods on the ocean floor. OceanWell is partnering with Las Virgenes Municipal Water District (LVMWD) in southern California to pilot the state’s first "blue water farm". The project will be the first to use OceanWell's purification technology to create a new supply of drinking water. OceanWell says its technology has the potential to turn any raw water source into drinking water, without the environmental impacts of traditional desalination methods, which is energy intensive and creates a brine byproduct that can harm eco-systems.

In a strategic collaboration, OceanWell, a forward-thinking startup, is delving into the ocean’s depths to investigate the potential of harnessing fresh drinking water through specialized desalination pods positioned on the ocean floor. By partnering with the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District in southern California, it is dedicated to evaluating the viability of this inventive endeavor. Conventional desalination techniques usually come with high energy costs and result in the creation of saline byproducts detrimental to marine ecosystems. OceanWell is on a mission to transform this procedure by integrating desalination with cutting-edge offshore energy technology.