A new device may help desalinate water for many parts of the world that desperately need fresh drinking water. The innovative gadget consists of tiny channels built into a chip which pull salt out from water at little cost.

Water is a shrinking resource, and many parts of the world suffer from a severe shortage of water.  Desalination currently requires costly filters or large amounts of energy for massive desalination plants.

Arid coastal regions in Africa and the Middle East may greatly benefit from the new research. Saudi Arabia and some Caribbean islands currently utilize desalination-both places where there is seawater in abundance, but very little freshwater.

The technique, called electrochemically mediated seawater desalination, is described in the journal Angewandte Chemie. The chip, made of a row of minuscule channels, pulls salt from water. Researchers from the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Marburg, Germany developed the new technology. The  microchip device works by forcing saltwater down channels that split into two branches, each only 22 microns wide. Each channel connects to an electrode at the point where they branch.

After that, they applied 3 volts to the electrode. The electricity changes some of the chloride ions, which are negatively charged, into chlorine, which is neutrally charged. This results in creating a gradient across the two channels because the electrical field increases. Thus, ions are forced into one channel--- and the other flows with clean, fresh water.

Because the system won't get clogged or use massive amounts of energy, it will be much cheaper than filters or desalination plants. And this could be a boon to a billion people worldwide the WHO says don't have access to clean drinking water. "Water-stressed" areas comprise of almost a third of the planets' citizens. The new technology may eliminate the large amounts of infrastructure and money currently necessary to convert seawater to freshwater. Experts say millions of people die per year in water-starved regions, and the desalination device will save lives.