Posted on 02/03/2014 6:36:24 PM PST by BenLurkin
SANTA MONICA (CBSLA.com) In light of Californias escalating drought emergency, the onetime dream of President John F. Kennedy of obtaining fresh water from salt water may become a reality in the very near future.
The process of getting usable fresh water from salt water, called desalination, stems from a technology that is already accepted worldwide, according to UCLA Professor of Chemistry and Bio-Molecular Engineering, Youram Cohen.
Its a technology that is now in widespread use all around the world, and I think that, in time, this is what we will see, Cohen said.
UCLA has reportedly developed a number of small desalination plants, including one at Port Hueneme near Ventura, that are said to be capable of producing clean drinking water for up to 24,000 people each day at a fraction of the cost of ground water that is imported by municipal water districts in California.
It is a lot cheaper than bottled water, and, I should say, that water is very tasty, Cohen said.
Additionally, contrary to the idea that desalination plants may be harmful to the environment, Professor Cohen says that global evidence suggests that the discharge from desalination plants may actually be beneficial to marine life.
The Australians will show you that marine life is (thriving more) in the area of discharge from the desalination plants than elsewhere, Cohen suggested.
A number of environmental organizations, however, including the Natural Resources Defense Council and The Orange County Coast Keeper, are yet to be convinced of the potential benefits of desalination.
Our stance on desalination plants is that it is a potential source for the future, Orange County Coast Keepers Ray Hiemstra said. We have a lot of work to do in developing desalination technology to where it is not as expensive and better for the environment. So, thats what we need to do; experiment, find out whats going to work and take our time and it will be a source for the future.
Californias first major desalination plant is currently under construction in Carlsbad, with a scheduled launch date some time in 2016, after a number of regulations are met.
While a number of scientists and environmentalists believe desalination is the technological wave of the future, the debate over when, or if, that future will ever become reality, continues.
I need a home desalinator and I’d never have to worry again.
the israelis treat the brown water from their cities and use that for agriculture. The Israelis and Singapore are leaders in the field. But their cheapest costs for desalinized water are still in the 500-600@ acre foot range last I heard.
Isn't this the dream of every individual who was standing by the ocean....and is thirsty?
We already reclaim a great deal of the water at our treatment plants but i believe the vast majority is used for irrigation rather than re injected into the aquifers despite it be clean and sanitary.
It’s all about government figuring out how to make money off America’s successes....regulate, tax, oversee, fine....pass it on to consumer....repeat as necessary to fund “social programs”.
JFnK also cured cancer between his triumphant whore-dogging of whores campaign.
We have a huge garden on our hobby farm and we have to irrigate (high desert). T-tape is amazing stuff and it puts the water right on the plant. Combined with heavy compost and wood chips on the pathways we have cut our water usage every year (from our well) even as the garden gets bigger.
Large scale farms requiring irrigation will adapt and become more efficient in the future because there is some truth to the fact that we are exceeding the sustainable rate for pulling water out of the ground for horribly inefficient irrigation systems. Drip systems that put the water directly on the plant/roots are extremely efficient as is the use of mulch for conserving water. The systems they use for orchard irrigation and grapes around here are pretty efficient and the return on investment is making more people switch.
I am Dr Paul Flammond. I am a prisoner here, just like you.
A year ago, I was close to perfecting the first magnetic desalinisation process.
So revolutionary, it was capable of removing the salt from over million gallons of sea water a day.
Do you realise what that could mean to the starving nations of the earth?
They’d have enough salt to last forever.
I never understood why a lifeboat wouldnt have a water desalination system to desalinate sea water
a shallow amount of salt water over a black surface in the sun would evaporate quickly... have a collector to grab the steam and condense. it would also double as a solar collector for electricity. of course, this woukd only work in bright sunny areas
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I took a water survival course many years ago and the life rafts did have such a device. They were inflatable and used evaporation from the sun.
James Taylor of "Fire and Rain" fame was a founder of the NDRC.
It's so disappointing what a left-wing scumbag he is.
We had a 4 cylinder generator on the boat that made 150 gallons of water a day from the exhaust manifold.
http://www.boxofficeprophets.com/column/index.cfm?columnID=15724
Top Secret is - among other things - the story of Nick Rivers (Val Kilmer), an American rock star who is invited to a cultural festival in East Germany. The trip takes on an ominous tone when it becomes clear that the Festival is a ruse and the East Germans (despite being a Soviet satellite state) are actually secret Nazis. To help with their whole taking-over-the-world thing, the Nazis East Germans kidnap eminent scientist Dr. Paul Flammond (Michael Gough), who has nearly perfected a water desalination machine. But the Germans have other plans, and force the good doctor to pervert his machine into a weapon of mass destruction.
You can guess the rest of the plan.
Nick gums up the works when he crashes a swanky dinner party and runs into Flammond’s daughter Hillary (Lucy Gutteridge), whom the police are pursuing. Because the plot requires it, Rivers immediately falls for her and decides to impress her with an impromptu musical number. This embarrasses the High Command - who also happen to be in attendance - and lands Nick in hot water. But it endears him to Hillary, who eventually discloses her status within the French Resistance, who are fighting to overthrow the government - presumably so that East Berlin can once again be proud and French.
Thanx
Protip: don’t live anywhere you can’t drink the water.
How clever of you! But would it be a bi-product or a by-product of desalination? We can't have any of that bi-stuff around here!
They just dump it back into the ocean so when we catch fish they can be pre salted!
And I never understood why lifeboats don't have built-in short-wave radios, so that the survivors could radio for help.
And a thousand-gallon tank of fresh water. Then the survivors wouldn't need a desalination plant.
And...
Regards,
Oh no the oceans will disappear.
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