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Environment & Energy
In reply to the discussion: DU: Beware the Water Desalination Movement and it's Lies. [View all]NYC_SKP
(68,644 posts)16. Under the right circumstances, this might yield some water, not sure if it's economical.
A great deal of energy is needed just to transport and the water in this state in a good year.
The reservoirs available for such a project are many miles from the sea and from the communities that need to be served so I think the cost of building and maintaining the infrastructure on something experimental would be better spent on proven conservation technologies, like grey water reuse:
Check this out, I want one:
We're livin' too large, Mo!
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There's a big push for that in California, while our good, clean water is sucked up by Nestle
arcane1
Apr 2015
#1
Lets take California as a start. there are 38.4 million residents who live there.
CentralMass
Apr 2015
#2
You know I do think that's what he is suggesting. I missed it until you pointed it out. nm
rhett o rick
Apr 2015
#38
Desal is a scheme to preserve our wasteful way of life. New tech or not, it's a loser.
NYC_SKP
Apr 2015
#10
They technically, environmentally, and regulatorily are different substances, yes.
NYC_SKP
Apr 2015
#75
"if you put hundreds or thousands of them along the coast, you will disrupt the entire coast ecolog"
pbmus
Apr 2015
#88
"Building desalination plants is the Right Wing Corporatist approach to solving the problem."
Ghost in the Machine
Apr 2015
#43
So I went to do the math again. Humans consume +/- 3,000 km^3 per year worldwide...
NYC_SKP
Apr 2015
#57
SORRY. There are no "new technologies that are coming online" that will provide more water.
NYC_SKP
Apr 2015
#42
That line of thinking brought us horizontal drilling, fracking, and oil shale and tar sands...
NYC_SKP
Apr 2015
#69
I liken "advancements" in water exploitation to those used in fossil fuel extraction, yes I do.
NYC_SKP
Apr 2015
#76
Is there any beneficial use for the salts that are removed during the desalination process?
tularetom
Apr 2015
#6
Desalenizaton uses three liters of salt water to make one liter of freshwater.
Agnosticsherbet
Apr 2015
#18
Ahistorically wet; long dry periods are "normal", some of them lasting centuries.
Spider Jerusalem
Apr 2015
#23
Filling a salt wate lake would kill local vegatation nad indigenous animals that need the fresh
Agnosticsherbet
Apr 2015
#15
Under the right circumstances, this might yield some water, not sure if it's economical.
NYC_SKP
Apr 2015
#16
It might work in the short term but eventually all that salt that was filtered out would
tularetom
Apr 2015
#70
We simply use too much. No need for desal plants, better to invest in greywater systems.
NYC_SKP
Apr 2015
#19
No, we are not getting enough water. This is a symptom of climate change.
Agnosticsherbet
Apr 2015
#21
I don't understand the concept of areas of the country that get too much water.
rhett o rick
Apr 2015
#39
We've had flooding back east. What I suggest is we set up a naton wide system
Agnosticsherbet
Apr 2015
#49
My initial impression is that you are suggesting that some areas steal water from other areas.
rhett o rick
Apr 2015
#52
That seems to be the suggestion being made. It was a failure then and would be again.
NYC_SKP
Apr 2015
#61
Alternatively: water demand is too high, the amount of water is the natural amount.
NYC_SKP
Apr 2015
#20
The residential water needed is actually state population X gallons/person/day.
NYC_SKP
Apr 2015
#55
Better if it's closed at the top, need to maintain high temp, humidity , closed system.
NYC_SKP
Apr 2015
#44
This could be a great improvement, provided the high temps can be reached and maintained.
NYC_SKP
Apr 2015
#53
Do some mirroring, not just transparency, so it functions a bit more like a solar oven?
Erich Bloodaxe BSN
Apr 2015
#56
I'd keep it closed, mirrors might work well, and flotatation would be build in.
NYC_SKP
Apr 2015
#58