Posted on 01/03/2015 2:35:39 PM PST by BenLurkin
The plant is expected to go online early this month after being finished in just six months, unusually fast in California. Projects of this sort typically take years, and often decades, of environmental reviews, public hearings and lawsuits.
Dozens of other cities and towns over the years have considered desalination plants as the way out of water shortages. Critics, however, say the technology is expensive, energy intensive and produces huge amounts of brine waste that damages the environment. California has 11 other desalination plants, and another 16 proposed.
Citing Brown's drought declaration, San Luis Obispo County and local Cambria officials announced the water-plant project in May and finished it by December.
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
The brine could potentially be recycled into ordinary table salt...
Well in the central valley they just let a lot of the water drain back into the ocean.... if they like built a dam.... Nah that is preposterous...
“The brine could potentially be recycled into ordinary table salt...”
Why not pump the brine to Death Valley? It’s hell on earth now.
Cut off the water supply to those who sue to stop the project. Then see if their thirst overcomes their political enthusiasm.
What California really needs is more immigrants and high speed trains!
And earthquakes.
Eh, whatever floats your boat. I’m not the richest man in the world, you know. Where I come from, we try to extract the most utility from whatever we use...
They should be building several of these instead of that stupid misbegotten “high speed” train to nowhere.
The government should have rewards for inventing items they deemed necessary for America survival. A 10 billion dollar prize for inventing desalination technology that first certain requirements would be a good start.
Only truly wacko environmentalists complain about pumping salt water back into the ocean (which is salt water).
Well, it will make the ocean more salty.
Or, just pump it back in the ocean.
Or used on winter roads.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/how-to/blog/lockheeds-better-faster-way-to-desalinate-water-15216615
Obstacle:
But working with such a thin material presents new problems, and engineers are still trying to find the best way to produce nanometer-wide holes in the membranes quickly and on a large scale without tearing the product.
Solution:
http://3dprint.com/31887/pure-3d-printed-graphene/
If the Fruit Loop state spent its money on desal plants instead of choo choos, they wouldn't have a water problem.
Yup. Unless it will increase the local salinity to a dangerous level.
Very astute observation! ; )
Deportation of Commiefornia’s illegal alien population would reduce water demand.
Just sayin.
True, but it just makes a very very small part of the ocean more salty until it redistributes. Of all things that get dumped in the ocean, sewage, street run off, oil... Salt isn’t the one I am going to worry about.
The drought is almost over—wait for the new storms.
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