During a long voyage to a remote part of the planet, the S.A. Agulhas II needs to either have onboard--or make onboard--everything it needs to support human life and get everyone there and back safely. This definitely includes fresh water, which we use in abundance every day. We have been surrounded by water for the last 40+ days, so no problem, right? Not so fast!
When I look out my cabin window, all I can see is water for miles and miles. This water is salt water, however, which humans cannot drink very much of without getting sick. So, in order to satisfy the daily need for lots of fresh water on the ship, we need to either carry a lot of fresh water with us, make our own fresh water or clean and re-use the available fresh water we have aboard. In a way, we do a little bit of all three.
There are more than 100 passengers and crew aboard the S.A. Agulhas II right now, and each of us needs water to survive. At a most basic level, we need to drink a lot of water every day to stay hydrated. Each of us uses water to make coffee or tea, we use water when we shower or do our laundry and Chef Kurt needs water to prepare our meals. We could certainly use less water if the supply is low, but we all depend on a steady supply of fresh water to stay alive at sea.
