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This is a great idea. Victoria, Australia built one and the drought conditions immediately abated making the entire thing pointless. I'm sure someone here can f

This is a great idea. Victoria, Australia built one and the drought conditions immediately abated making the entire thing pointless. I'm sure someone here can find a term for describe the sense of 'fate' created by seeing something created to protect against a now non-existent issue.* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_Desalination_Plant http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_Desalination_Plant *I realise Australia as a whole is likely to lapse into drought again and make having a desal plant good but until then it's amusing.

vondur 12y ago
This too happened here in California. The city of Santa Barbara build a desalination plant, and it opened just in time for the drought to end. It's been unused since 1991, they are now planning to get it up and running again.
- Dylan16807 12y ago
  Now? What took so long?
  - bronson 12y ago
    Because there was no need. Reservoirs were full and residents conserved: http://www.santabarbaraca.gov/gov/depts/pw/resources/system/sources/desalination.asp http://www.santabarbaraca.gov/gov/depts/pw/resources/system/... FWIW, this explains why it will take 20 mil to get it back on line: http://www.noozhawk.com/article/santa_barbara_desalination_plant_water_drought_20140131 http://www.noozhawk.com/article/santa_barbara_desalination_p... One eye-opener: reverse osmosis membranes break down with disuse so they were sold to Saudi Arabia.
beedogs 12y ago
This is sort of like joking about all the "wasted effort" that went into fixing the Y2K bug. It's not wasted effort if it averts an existential crisis.
vacri 12y ago
The problem with our desalinisation plant wasn't that it was built, it's that it wasn't made a 'roll-out' system, paying for and bringing online sections of the plant as we needed them. Instead we paid for the whole thing as a job lot. As for the end of the drought, no-one could predict it. People had been predicting the end of the ten-year drought of since year three or so. Melbourne's water was down to 14% of reserve, which was only worth a couple of years of rationed usage. Unfortunately, the people who campaigned against the desal plant convenient forgot that little tidbit...
spiritplumber 12y ago
So, the infrastructure equivalent of buffing your car because you know that'll make it rain the next day? :)

vondur 12y ago

This too happened here in California. The city of Santa Barbara build a desalination plant, and it opened just in time for the drought to end. It's been unused since 1991, they are now planning to get it up and running again.

Dylan16807 12y ago
Now? What took so long?
- bronson 12y ago
  Because there was no need. Reservoirs were full and residents conserved: http://www.santabarbaraca.gov/gov/depts/pw/resources/system/sources/desalination.asp http://www.santabarbaraca.gov/gov/depts/pw/resources/system/... FWIW, this explains why it will take 20 mil to get it back on line: http://www.noozhawk.com/article/santa_barbara_desalination_plant_water_drought_20140131 http://www.noozhawk.com/article/santa_barbara_desalination_p... One eye-opener: reverse osmosis membranes break down with disuse so they were sold to Saudi Arabia.

beedogs 12y ago

This is sort of like joking about all the "wasted effort" that went into fixing the Y2K bug. It's not wasted effort if it averts an existential crisis.

vacri 12y ago

The problem with our desalinisation plant wasn't that it was built, it's that it wasn't made a 'roll-out' system, paying for and bringing online sections of the plant as we needed them. Instead we paid for the whole thing as a job lot. As for the end of the drought, no-one could predict it. People had been predicting the end of the ten-year drought of since year three or so. Melbourne's water was down to 14% of reserve, which was only worth a couple of years of rationed usage. Unfortunately, the people who campaigned against the desal plant convenient forgot that little tidbit...

spiritplumber 12y ago

So, the infrastructure equivalent of buffing your car because you know that'll make it rain the next day? :)