Desalination too expensive for the richest nation in the world

[Wolfstrike]

"We're running out of water!"
"We're running out of water!"
"We're running out of water!"
"We're running out of water!"
"We're running out of water!"
"We're running out of water!"


Hey I have an idea, let's build desalination plants.

"Out of the question, too expensive"
says who?

Guess we're going to have to cut back on immigration then.
"Nope!"

what's your idea then?

"let your lawn die. ticket everyone who doesn't cut their water usage. turn sewage into drinking water"


The people who run our government, state and federal, need to be removed.


it's the job of the politician to get water to the city, no matter how much is being used, not throw up their hands and there's a "drought".

 

[Iceweasel]

It's something I don't understand. What's more important than water? We had a desalinization system on a CG Cutter I was on and it worked great, so the technology has been around a while.

 

[Tom Sweetnam]

it's the job of the politician to get water to the city, no matter how much is being used, not throw up their hands and there's a "drought".

Fine, opt for desalinization, because water gluttons in California are sucking Colorado dry. Read 'Cadillac Desert' (there's a PBS video too). It's the best exploration of our water politics and water reality in the Southwest ever written. You know the Hoover Dam reservoir is at its lowest level EVER right now? It's California's agricultural industry that thinks it owns every drop of water on earth. If we don't start desalinization soon, and if California doesn't start digging new reservoirs soon, the Southwest is going to be in deep shit in less than 10 years.

 

[Shotgun_Sammy]

De sal is a power whore. Tampa has the only de sal plant in the country and is templating for everyone else.

Once enough data is available it will be streamlined by everyone else and made economical.

 

[waltky]

North America's largest desalination plant opens in Carlsbad, Calif....

California Desalination Plant Hopes to Ease Water Crunch
December 16, 2015 - North America's largest desalination plant opened earlier this week in Southern California, which has suffered severe drought conditions for the past four years.

The plant in Carlsbad, which has been under construction since 2012, cost $1 billion and will produce 50 million gallons of water per day for roughly 400,000 people in San Diego County. Supporters consider seawater desalination a partial answer to drought in the U.S. However, opponents say high costs and threats to marine life leave better alternatives, such as recycling and conservation.

Desalination plant

Poseidon Water, which developed and owns the plant, has signed a 30-year agreement with San Diego County Water Authority. The company estimates households in the region will pay an additional $5 per month on their water bill to help offset the cost of the plant. As big as it is, the Carlsbad plant barely cracks the International Desalination Association's list of 50 largest seawater plants, which are mostly in the Middle East. The plant uses a technology called reverse osmosis, which uses powerful pumps to shoot ocean water through 2,000 white fiberglass tubes to capture salts. Before that, however, silt and other solids are removed to prevent membranes from clogging.

The Carlsbad Desalination Plant in Carlsbad, Calif., north of San Diego, is the largest seawater desalination plant in the Western hemisphere and the latest one to come online worldwide.​

Peter MacLaggan, Poseidon Water project manager, said, "Every two gallons of seawater that go into the plant, we produce one gallon of fresh water. One gallon of double salty water that goes back to the ocean gets diluted on the way out of the plant so it does not harm the marine environment." Treated water is pumped uphill on a new 10-mile pipeline to San Diego's existing grid. The San Diego water agency said the plant will provide about 8 percent of the region's drinking water. Bob Yamada, water resources director, said desalination "is not going to be a silver bullet that solves all of our problems," but it has better positioned the region for drought.

Opponents argue conservation