ABSTRACT
The vast water supplies of the oceans have been a challenge for man's beneficial use at least since the beginning of irrigation agriculture. The challenge has been especially pronounced where semi-arid or desertic lands border immediately on ocean or sea, as on the shores of the Mediterranean, the borders of the Red and Arabian seas, the western coast of South America, and the Pacific coast of Mexico and the United States. Within the United States, the opportunity for ultimate use of these supplies and inland saline waters has beckoned more and more, as exploitation of fresh-water supplies in the western half of the country has approached marginal costs, or has been more openly subsidized from the federal treasury. Yet the actual use of salt, saline, brackish, and alkaline waters remains minor as compared to their availability, both in the United States and abroad. Aside from on-site marine uses (navigation and exploitation of animal life) and as a source of minerals (solar salt, bromine, magnesium, etc.), the total amounts of highly mineralized or moderately highly mineralized waters in use are small. As water for withdrawal purposes, sea water, and saline, brackish, and alkaline inland waters are much more items of future interest than of past record.
