Hypothetically speaking, what alterations to our biology/genome would need to occur in order for us to be able to safely drink saltwater?

Could we, in theory, use something like CRISPR to give a new baby replacement super-kidneys (or whatever organ it is that makes drinking saltwater be a bad time)? It seems like if we cracked that, we’d be set as a species.

Thanks for your time.

CanadaPlus ,

Sea birds have an organ that pulls super-concentrated brine out of their bloodstream, like a kidney on steroids. IIRC it’s in their face. So, that.

However, we can’t even grow normal human organs yet, let alone whole new ones.

Contramuffin ,

Not a direct answer, but I want to point out that if you’re considering a technology that will help improve poor people’s lives, you must also consider that technology is prone to the same issues that caused the wealth disparity in the first place. Namely, that only rich people can afford new technologies. Suppose if we really are able to edit human genes to let people drink salt water. Would poor people (the people who may actually need this technology) be able to afford it? Or will it end up just becoming a gimmick for rich people?

As others have pointed out, there’s really no need to be able to drink salt water, since we already have the technology to desalinate water. It’s only that poorer areas don’t have the funding to build desalination plants. You can start to see that it’s the same issue as what I said above - there’s a new technology that would theoretically help poor areas, but then it ends up not benefiting poor people because they can’t afford the technology.

All of this is not to say that new technology is bad. It’s simply that we already have solutions for a lot of societal issues, and the reason we still have those problems is simply because we as a society don’t care enough to distribute the benefits of those solutions fairly

DragonTypeWyvern ,

Well the benefit of genemodding is it can be a self replicating system.

Siddhartha-Aurelius ,

This is such a great question. I have almost zero knowledge of biology so I can’t offer a meaningful answer. I just want to say this really is a genius question.

Everythingispenguins ,

Well I can’t tell you the exact gene would need to be changed, there are plenty of animals able to deal with the salinity of sea water. Basically the kidney has a certain ability to concentrate salt. The greater the ability the saltier the animal’s urine is and the saltier water can be consumed.

If I am remembering correctly the threshold for salinity of water that can be consumed is up to a level just below that of the threshold of the kidney’s ability to concentrate salt.

So we would not need “super kidneys” just normal ones similar to those of one of many animals in the sea. But we might have a shortened kidney lifespan because of it.

Chemical ,

Great question. Since we evolved consuming “fresh”, non-salt, water our physiology revolves around certain set points for normal neurological, renal, and basic cellular function. Consuming salt water changes the osmolality of the blood, which then causes shifts of fluid to try and balance the change of osmolality which negatively effects neurological function since we evolved to function within a strict range of osmolality, sodium level, etc. The body manages this from the pituitary/ adrenal / and renal perspective to maintain neurological function. If you could create a situation where the normal isotonic function is reset to a more hypertonic environment then that would be the start. I’m only familiar with human physiology and pathology but perhaps someone who is familiar with fish physiology could comment on how fish stay “hydrated”.

arthur ,

Sea turtles have an organ that excretes the excess of salt near their eyes to deal with that.

arthur ,

oliveridleyproject.org/…/why-do-sea-turtles-cry

ThrowawayPermanente ,

They cry because they remember

nezbyte ,

According to this article, a longer loop of Henle in the kidney could be the secret to what allows some mammals to drink sea water.

For reference on why we didn’t evolve this naturally, this Stack Exchange answer suggests that most land animals live near fresh water.

alvvayson ,

This is the best answer.

Also, we need a lot of freshwater for our food (plants and animals). The amount we personally use for drinking is neglible.

It would solve nothing.

Now, if we could grow something like corn or soy with salt water… That would be a game changer.

On the other hand, we already have the technology to desalinate water. It’s mostly a cost and energy issue, not a technology issue.

arthur ,

If we grow some crop with salt water, we will be literally salting the earth, so unless we are talking about hydroponics/aquaponics, that would be very damaging for the soil and environment. That needs to be consider as well.

Num10ck ,

hmm how about making a seaweed that grows meat tumors then.

photonic_sorcerer ,
@photonic_sorcerer@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

Or just eat the seaweed. Tons of nutrients in there. Plus it tastes great as a salad!

medicsofanarchy ,
@medicsofanarchy@lemmy.world avatar

“Nah, we had seaweed last night. Let’s have meat-tumors.”

alvvayson ,

Good point. Another reason to favor desalination.

Spzi ,

It’s a good point, but desalination has the same issue. Whenever you use seawater to produce something with almost no salt in it (be it desalinated water or crops), that means the salt has to go somewhere else. Probably in concentrated form.

Desalination may not salt the earth, but brine can create dead zones in the water. There are solutions like diluting it, and there are cases of operators who don’t care. Either way, salt is an issue if you use salt water. Has to go somewhere.

Buddahriffic ,

Diluting it is just undoing the desalination on the water used to dilute it.

Spzi ,

There are better ways to do this. Examples:

  1. Desalination plant provides town with fresh water
  2. Town’s waste water is treated before going back into the ocean
  3. Brine gets diluted into that treated stream

In theory, this could give and take the same amount of salt water to and from the ocean, while still providing desalinated water for use.

Another way to dilute brine is to add it to the ocean in small bits in multiple locations, so neither location exceeds a certain salt concentration.

Fondots ,

If you’re growing salt-tolerant crops and only ever intend to use that land as farmland, that could arguably be a benefit, don’t have to use as many chemicals to control weeds and pests if the weeds and pests can’t tolerate the salt

Probably need to make sure that the salt is being contained to the farm area, and I’d imagine you would need to periodically flush it with fresh water or something if too much salt begins to accumulate in the soil for even your salt tolerant crops.

arthur ,

Probably need to make sure that the salt is being contained to the farm area, and I’d imagine you would need to periodically flush it with fresh water or something if too much salt begins to accumulate in the soil for even your salt tolerant crops.

That seems hard to manage. And there is also the risk of that salt to reach underground water. I would say that it’s feasible to do it right, but at a high cost.

Hydroponics seems more manageable IMO.

CarbonIceDragon , (edited )
@CarbonIceDragon@pawb.social avatar

There are some plants that already grow in seawater, perhaps one way to achieve that effect might be to go about it the other way round, and try to breed or engineer one of these plants into something that can be used as a staple crop? Some quick wiki searching suggests to me that a few species of such plants are edible, though most I could find are so as vegetable type plants and not used like corn or potatoes or such. I did find reference to a salt tolerant plant that can be grown for cooking oil though.

ExLisper ,

And start farming the seabed to devastate even more ecosystems? I don’t think so. The best solution is actually to have less people. Better use the CRISPR to create some fun viruses.

CarbonIceDragon ,
@CarbonIceDragon@pawb.social avatar

I wasn’t referring to seaweed on the seabed, I was referring to land plants that grow in seawater. I figure that these kind of plants could be relevant in places like coastal deserts, since seawater is more available than fresh in such places, or in areas that have suffered from severe saltwater intrusion or which become partially flooded by seawater due to sea level rise.

Transcendant ,

Thanks for answering the question instead of jumping on a soapbox to preach.

incendiaryperihelion , (edited )

You make it sound like drinking salt water would solve all of our humanitarian problems or something. Lack of resources is not our problem, lack of fair and reasonable distribution of resources is. Never forget that five or six men own as much as the rest of the world combined.

SuckMyWang ,

They worked really hard for it though /s

OpenHammer6677 ,

I mean, they’re probably really working hard on trying to exist with humans

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