Posted on 03/22/2008 10:27:04 PM PDT by grundle
Ping!
drip-ping
Lake Powell is up 50 ft., Lake Mead 10ft. so far this year.
yitbos
“Environmental groups have rallied against the plant, which has been in the works since before 2000. Opponents complain the plant will be an eyesore”
Greenies or just NIMBYs?
They have no problem with burning Utah coal polluting Utah air and using Utah water for a massive (and gasp, coal powered) power plant in Utah where the bulk of the power goes to SoCal.
It’s going to get a lot more ugly before it gets any better.
No mention of cogeneration? There are beautiful systems in place throughout the world where nuclear power generation and desalination are combined into one efficient, continuous process.
I could see this happening in Mexico...and pumping the water north...maybe even Phoenix might want to get into this deal and divide the costs by 50 percent. The amusing thing...is that this type of treatment works 100 percent of the time but there is this slightly different taste to it...and I’m guessing everyone will switch over bottled water for daily consumption (from the beautiful glaciers of Arkansas). You can also figure that the cost of water will go up by double...which means the extra cost and the water you bought...is literally being flushed down the toilet or goes down the bathtub drain.
How will they dispose of the salt?
The Sea of Cotez already has at least two plants now.
Combined with a brine extraction/solar power the water is almost a side product. The pumping and pipelines would cost as much as the plants - but they could be solar powered.
Guess all those Old Farts that moved to Las Vegas and SoAz will have to move elsewhere.
Ever heard of DSRO?
Nevada could get ocean water right to their door — by having a canal from the Gulf of California to Death Valley. Instead of that valley being below sea level, it would be an inland sea — kept filled by inflowing seawater.
it turns out that the amount of energy required to desalinate seawater is the same as the amount of energy needed to pump an equal volume of rain water up 2000 ft. In other words, flood waters at St. Louis (elev. 1000 ft) could be pumped as high as Las Vegas (elev. 3000 ft). This seems more environmentally friendly than a coastal desalination plant.
They usually put the salt back in the ocean.
I never heard those exact 4 initials. Do you mean nuclear? Because I am in favor of that.
If your idea is better, then they should do it.
Japan has nuclear desalination. I think it’s a great idea.
The inflow of water would also be capable of generating a lot of electricity.
There are rules about that.
The brine effluent can increase local salinity to levels toxic to marine life.
The best solution would be to pair the desalination plant with a nuclear power plant and mix the effluent with the return flow of the nuke's primary coolant water.
Perhaps ship it to Utah?
“Mortons” has the infrastructure in place for that problem
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.