3 ms·

How feasible is desalination? If they can make that work on a large scale, then there's quite literally an ocean of water available to California.

acomjean 12y ago
Desalination is expensive and not great for the environment, but its starting to happen. http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/533446/desalination-out-of-desperation/ http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/533446/desalin...
- akkartik 12y ago
  Don't forget solar desal. For example, http://waterfx.co http://waterfx.co. That would eliminate any pollution.
  - ceejayoz 12y ago
    It probably wouldn't. Desalinization leaves a lot of salty brine to be disposed of.
    - refurb 12y ago
      Put it back in the ocean? That's where it was before anyways. It's not like that would have any impact on the salt concentration of the ocean.
      - ceejayoz 12y ago
        > It's not like that would have any impact on the salt concentration of the ocean. Ocean-wide, no. Where it's dumped, definitely.
        refurb 12y ago
        My understanding is that desalination doesn't give you crystalline salt, but rather more salty sea water back. Of course you'd have to be careful where you dumped it as a small bay doesn't mix that well. I don't see why you couldn't pipe it out 1-2 miles from the coast. It should mix quite well.
    - deleted 12y ago
      [deleted]
- ghshephard 12y ago
  Desalination used to be expensive. In the last 4-5 years ultrafiltration (UF) membrane technology for the pre-treatment process plus double pass reverse osmosis process to produce potable water has resulted in costs dropping to around $500/acre foot, ($0.50/m^3 or 1000 liters). Completely reasonable for coastal cities, if we could be certain they were needed.
gmarx 12y ago
supposedly much more cost effective to clean waste water
lotsofmangos 12y ago
Depends on the process. Is usually extremely energy intensive, but there are some interesting developments happening. Direct contact membrane distillation - http://www.usbr.gov/research/AWT/reportpdfs/report134.pdf http://www.usbr.gov/research/AWT/reportpdfs/report134.pdf Seawater greenhouse - http://www.seawatergreenhouse.com/process.html http://www.seawatergreenhouse.com/process.html

acomjean 12y ago

Desalination is expensive and not great for the environment, but its starting to happen. http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/533446/desalination-out-of-desperation/ http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/533446/desalin...

akkartik 12y ago
Don't forget solar desal. For example, http://waterfx.co http://waterfx.co. That would eliminate any pollution.
- ceejayoz 12y ago
  It probably wouldn't. Desalinization leaves a lot of salty brine to be disposed of.
  - refurb 12y ago
    Put it back in the ocean? That's where it was before anyways. It's not like that would have any impact on the salt concentration of the ocean.
    - ceejayoz 12y ago
      > It's not like that would have any impact on the salt concentration of the ocean. Ocean-wide, no. Where it's dumped, definitely.
      - refurb 12y ago
        My understanding is that desalination doesn't give you crystalline salt, but rather more salty sea water back. Of course you'd have to be careful where you dumped it as a small bay doesn't mix that well. I don't see why you couldn't pipe it out 1-2 miles from the coast. It should mix quite well.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
ghshephard 12y ago
Desalination used to be expensive. In the last 4-5 years ultrafiltration (UF) membrane technology for the pre-treatment process plus double pass reverse osmosis process to produce potable water has resulted in costs dropping to around $500/acre foot, ($0.50/m^3 or 1000 liters). Completely reasonable for coastal cities, if we could be certain they were needed.

gmarx 12y ago

supposedly much more cost effective to clean waste water

lotsofmangos 12y ago

Depends on the process. Is usually extremely energy intensive, but there are some interesting developments happening. Direct contact membrane distillation - http://www.usbr.gov/research/AWT/reportpdfs/report134.pdf http://www.usbr.gov/research/AWT/reportpdfs/report134.pdf Seawater greenhouse - http://www.seawatergreenhouse.com/process.html http://www.seawatergreenhouse.com/process.html