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Simple math will tell you that this increase cannot be due to desalination. Look: Volume of the Persian Gulf = Area (251,000 sq km) * average depth (50 m) = 12
by D_Alex 8y ago
Simple math will tell you that this increase cannot be due to desalination. Look:
Volume of the Persian Gulf = Area (251,000 sq km) * average depth (50 m) = 12,000 cubic km approx.
Total amount of desalinated water produced in the world, per annum = 86 million cu. m = 0.086 cu. km,
So if all of the world's desalinated water was taken from the Persian Gulf, for 150 years, the salinity would only increase by 0.08*150/12000 = 0.1%, roughly.
Edit: the entire article is bad, and the headline is sensationalist bullsh#t.
- freeflight 8y agoIt doesn't need to be responsible for all of the change, it might only be one among many contributing factors like climate change. In that context, it would be shortsighted and naive to pretend it couldn't have any impact at all even on bigger and longer scales.
- tda 8y agoAlways good to do some math. I double checked your input figure, and that should be per day, not per year. So 365 times as high. Other assumptions being the same that would give 0.2% rise per year, or 4% in twenty years. Not 50%, but not insignificant.
- D_Alex 8y agoYou are right, thanks for pointing this out. I hate making mistakes like that.