Will Turning Seawater Into Drinking Water Help Drought-Hit California?

npr ^

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Is this a trick question?

[manc]

Haven’t the Arab states been doing this for years?

[SandRat]

Maybe, but it will P.O. Al Gore with all of the carbon/electricity it will use.

[Parley Baer]

Nuclear desalination plants are the answer.

[rsobin]

No. It makes too much sense.

[samtheman]

Good thing they don’t have any evil nuclear power.

[al baby]

Billions for the bullet train nada for desalination plants

[livius]

Of course it will help. Israel has been doing it for decades, and it has been under discussion in CA for about as long. Discussion was frequently rejected off the bat for “environmental” reasons, but there’s no reason it couldn’t work there.

Also, while the drought is bad, the bizarre water use policies there, which are aimed at restricting the use of available waters for “environmental” reasons (might be the habitat of the useless micro-guppy, for example) have also complicated the problem.

[BenLurkin]

“We are living in the age of insanity.” - George Putnam

[discostu]

I remember 20 odd years ago people were saying CA needed to build de-salination plants, and they didn’t.

[ansel12]

Santa Barbara built a desalination plant in 1991, then the rains hit, and they mothballed it in 1992, now they are reopening it and Carlsbad is building the largest desalination plant in the Western hemisphere.

In 2011 the United States, along with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Spain was among the top 4 markets for desalinated water, it isn’t like we don’t know about it, or won’t incorporate it as the market dictates.

“Despite these hurdles, however, the United States ranks fourth among markets for desalinated water behind Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Spain, according to an International Desalination Association presentation from 2011.”

http://www.bna.com/us-desalination-industry-n17179876105/

[Fungi]

Will the choo choo train to nowhere, with no funding and no guarantee it will not go over budget, help or hurt the liberal nightmare named California? Is the moon made of blue cheese? Yes, I mean no, I mean.....never mind.

[Fungi]

George Putnam, the living legend is in heaven, still broadcasting his show everyday. God bless you George.

[null and void]

Just because it works in Australia and Israel, doesn’t mean it will work in California.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

I KNEW it! Environmentalists are going to go nuts if we dump too-salty water back into the ocean!!

“...’unintended consequences to marine life...from...the discharge [of salty brine from the desalination plant]’ says Marco Gonzalez, the executive director of the Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation.”

Plus the kooky author thinks we can get enough power from windmills and solar cells to run these energy hog desalination plant. These people really live in la-la land.

[Regulator]

Carlsbad (evil Republican country) already has a new desal plant:Carlsbad Desal

Jerry didnt like it.

[Nuc 1.1]

Gonzales is an idiot.

[Sasparilla]

When liberals run government, chaos is the predictable result.

[Fungi]

Surely you jest most honorable Nullness. Or has the Void got the better of you?