But the first concerted efforts to produce drinking water from seawater were not until the 16th century , when european explorers on long sea voyages began installing simple desalting equipment on their ships for emergency use .

但直到16世纪人们才开始一致努力从海水中提取淡水，当时欧洲探险家在进行漫长的航海旅行时，开始在船上安装简易淡化装置，以备不时之需。