Geoscientist David Kreamer of the University of Nevada-Las Vegas notes at least 37 percent of the world's population lives within about 60 miles of a coastline. That, said Kreamer, means desalinization -- removing salt from ocean water to create fresh water -- is a practical way to meet the growing need for potable water.

Kreamer says voyaging desalinization plants could help reach more people in need and "they could outrun a hurricane and steam within days to an area of natural or man-made disaster." He also notes such ships could harness wind, wave and solar power to help sustain operations.

He presented his plan last weekend in Houston during the 2008 Joint Meeting of The Geological Society of America, the Soil Science Society of America, the American Society of Agronomy, the Crop Science Society of America and the Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies.