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Potable water is a rare resource in many countries. In the 21st century, nearly a billion people in the world still do not have access to clean water, while more than 2.5 billion have no water treatment system. In light of these facts, researchers right across world are searching for solutions to produce potable water. However, there are gigantic reservoirs of fresh water that have not been exploited: icebergs.

Unlike floe ice, which consists of frozen sea-water and is populated by wild animals, icebergs are drifting mountains of fresh water. Calved from polar glaciers and continental icecaps, icebergs drift naturally in the ocean until they melt. Each year, tens of thousands of icebergs are produced this way from glaciers, all destined to melt and be lost in the oceans’ salt waters. And each year, the equivalent of a year’s consumption of potable water melts and disappears!