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30" of water column is about 75cm, that is well below 1 bar of  pressure differential. You need about 75cm of mercury or 10m (more than 30 foot) of water column.

And even if you get boiling at the top of a 10m water column, you have to get the vapor out of it. You can not do distillation with static pressure only.

EDIT: I just had a look at the linked pdf. Seems possible. But what is the reason for a 100:1 pumping ratio? That's very high.

Regarding the paper linked: There is a formula for finding the the desalinated volume of water in their paper claiming a linear relationship to a temperature differential. Next to it is a graph of the same things that looks pretty linear to me, but where they write in the caption that it looks exponential. Also unsure if the graph is experimental or theoretical.
Also, energy consumed does not include the energy to heat the water meaning there is a HUGE discrepancy between the calculated energy required and the actual energy required. 

How are you going to get the base of the water column to be at atmospheric pressure when there's 30" of water pressing down on it?

It's a good point--you expose it to atmospheric pressure and suddenly air bubbles shoot into your vent and disrupt your vacuum. I'm interested to see the physical setup.