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Everything we do affects the environment. Locally making the ocean a little bit saltier by removing water and not removing salt sounds like a very minor problem

by jules 3y ago

Everything we do affects the environment. Locally making the ocean a little bit saltier by removing water and not removing salt sounds like a very minor problem.

cplusplusfellow 3y ago
Seems like we could also just add it to the other places where water is flowing into the ocean. Do we not disrupt the ocean ecosystem with our fresh water runoff?
- steve_adams_86 3y ago
  Freshwater runoff is normal. The continents and the sky dump freshwater into the oceans constantly at very high volumes.
- toast0 3y ago
  If you had a lot of fresh water runoff, you might use that fresh water for drinking rather than desalinating seawater though. But... If you are using this water for drinking, it's going to come back through the sewage system, and maybe you can dilute the brine with outflows from local sewage treatment plants. Depending on details, the combined outflow could be more or less salty than the seawater input to the desal plant.
  - CydeWeys 3y ago
    Only some of it comes back through the sewage system. A lot of it just ends up lost to evaporation, or being incorporated into products. Think about your typical use of water to irrigate farmland (which is the majority use of water in many places); you don't really get any of that back as freshwater discharge at all. If you did, that means they're irrigating too much to the point that they're flooding their fields and causing runoff.
    - toast0 3y ago
      Sure, but do people really pay desal prices to irrigate fields? Also, a lot of places are using desal to augment other supplies. If you've got 15% of your municipal water supply coming from desal, sewage treatment outflows should be significant compared to brine.
      - CydeWeys 3y ago
        I mean, they do if they're watering their lawns and that's where their water is coming from.
benatkin 3y ago
I think the answer is that it depends where. I haven't heard of any coral reefs at the Sea of Cortez, which is one place they're considering desalination, for Arizona (importing water from Mexico). Edit: I checked and there are coral reefs along the Sea of Cortez. :) I don't know where would be safer to do it, but I'm sure it makes a difference where. And sadly it may not be as important at places where we've already destroyed the habitats. Edit 2: Some are very concerned about its potential effect on Sea of Cortez: https://tucson.com/opinion/local/local-opinion-desalinating-sea-of-cortez-is-the-wrong-path/article_140259a6-89d1-11ec-bcde-a788bf87578e.html https://tucson.com/opinion/local/local-opinion-desalinating-...

by jules 3y ago

Everything we do affects the environment. Locally making the ocean a little bit saltier by removing water and not removing salt sounds like a very minor problem.

cplusplusfellow 3y ago

Seems like we could also just add it to the other places where water is flowing into the ocean. Do we not disrupt the ocean ecosystem with our fresh water runoff?

steve_adams_86 3y ago
Freshwater runoff is normal. The continents and the sky dump freshwater into the oceans constantly at very high volumes.
toast0 3y ago
If you had a lot of fresh water runoff, you might use that fresh water for drinking rather than desalinating seawater though. But... If you are using this water for drinking, it's going to come back through the sewage system, and maybe you can dilute the brine with outflows from local sewage treatment plants. Depending on details, the combined outflow could be more or less salty than the seawater input to the desal plant.
- CydeWeys 3y ago
  Only some of it comes back through the sewage system. A lot of it just ends up lost to evaporation, or being incorporated into products. Think about your typical use of water to irrigate farmland (which is the majority use of water in many places); you don't really get any of that back as freshwater discharge at all. If you did, that means they're irrigating too much to the point that they're flooding their fields and causing runoff.
  - toast0 3y ago
    Sure, but do people really pay desal prices to irrigate fields? Also, a lot of places are using desal to augment other supplies. If you've got 15% of your municipal water supply coming from desal, sewage treatment outflows should be significant compared to brine.
    - CydeWeys 3y ago
      I mean, they do if they're watering their lawns and that's where their water is coming from.

benatkin 3y ago

I think the answer is that it depends where. I haven't heard of any coral reefs at the Sea of Cortez, which is one place they're considering desalination, for Arizona (importing water from Mexico). Edit: I checked and there are coral reefs along the Sea of Cortez. :) I don't know where would be safer to do it, but I'm sure it makes a difference where. And sadly it may not be as important at places where we've already destroyed the habitats. Edit 2: Some are very concerned about its potential effect on Sea of Cortez: https://tucson.com/opinion/local/local-opinion-desalinating-sea-of-cortez-is-the-wrong-path/article_140259a6-89d1-11ec-bcde-a788bf87578e.html https://tucson.com/opinion/local/local-opinion-desalinating-...