3 ms·

So the salt is just going back into the ocean. How is that different from other systems, they end up dumping the salt somewhere.

• jvanderbot 7y ago
  There's no difference. Except that the processing and shipping of ions is passive / much easier. Contrasted with large permeable membrane plants that have to burn power to push all that brine out into the ocean.
  • i_am_nomad 7y ago
    But the processing and shipping isn’t the problem with desalination. The problem is that dumping bribe or salt into the ocean can kill local wildlife.
    • markdown 7y ago
      They dump the salt outside the environment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m5qxZm_JqM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m5qxZm_JqM Seriously though, far out to sea away from any landmass it's pretty much a desert. Any salt dumped there would disperse very quickly and not pose a problem to wildlife.
      • ncmncm 7y ago
        Since the brine is denser than water, a long hose could deliver it to the ocean bottom for just the cost of the hose. There are lakes of dense brine on the sea floor already. Almost every part of the world ocean has been described as a desert, before people went under and looked. It turns out there's a huge amount of life everywhere you look, even miles down. But there is also a lot of room, so anything localized, unpleasant, and temporary can be swum away from.