California: Desalination Plants May Be State’s Only Solution Despite Environmental, Energy Concerns

International Business Times ^ | July 27, 2014 | Angelo Young

[grundle]

Full title: California Sand Fire: Desalination Plants May Be State’s Only Solution Despite Environmental, Energy Concerns

One of the solutions could be something parts of the Middle East began adopting decades ago: desalination plants, an energy-intensive process of converting seawater into drinking water.

Meeting California’s water needs might not help combat the effect of global warming, but an ample supply of water would at least help keep back the dry conditions from around residential communities, and it would help the state’s massive agricultural industry meet its own water needs.

Currently California is building the largest desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere in Carlsbad. At a cost of $1 billion, the plant will produce 50 million gallons a day for San Diego County by 2016. The plant, and others like it in California, use reverse osmosis technology, which uses less energy than the thermal desalination process of evaporating and re-condensing seawater. Fourteen other desalination plants are in the works. Critics say the process is too costly.

"This [Carlsbad project] is going to be the pig that will try for years to find the right shade of lipstick," Marco Gonzalez, an attorney who sued on behalf of environmental groups that tried to halt construction, told the San Jose Mercury News last month. "This project will show that the water is just too expensive."

“As the cost of imported water is on the rise and technological advances are bringing down the cost of converting seawater into potable water, desalination has become the only truly drought-proof process to deliver a new source of clean, safe, high-quality water in a cost-effective and environmentally sound way,” Allan Zaremberg, president and CEO of the California Chamber of Commerce, wrote in a letter to the editor in the Los Angeles Times recently.

[grundle]

Israel has been using large scale desalination for a long time, and has solved its water shortages. California has chosen to avoid doing this, and is now suffering the consequences.

[Gaffer]

How are they going to power these science miracle plants? With wine and cheese farts from San Francisco?

[boycott]

It’s the enviro whackos that are to blame.

[bubbacluck]

So, build nukes and de-saltifiers side by side up and down the California coast. Why is this a problem?

[txrefugee]

Duh...they are concerned about the cost to provide water to drink but are going ahead with spending billions on the Brown’s foolish train project. That is an egregious example of misplaced priorities.

[Pox]

The environmental groups that are doing everything they can to stop Desal plants are the reason California is “avoiding” this solution.

Fortunately, the nutbars have been shut down in my area as I live very close to the new Desal plant being constructed in Carlsbad. It's progressing nicely despite the naysayers.

[Nuc 1.1]

It is way past time for arid ocean front western states to start large scale desalinization to augment water resources. There simply isn’t enough water for the increasing populations in the west.

[mowowie]

But what effects will this have on the Tree Newt, the Desert Tortoise, the Sand Mouse and the Piping Plovers?

I dunno about this.......

[realcleanguy]

I’ve been saying this for 25 years. Environmentalists would rather place demands and restrictions and impose bans than work towards a solution

[factoryrat]

California has two nuclear powerplants on the coast, San Onofre (currently offline), and Diablo Canyon. Use those two plants to provide power and process heat for desalinizing operations.

[InterceptPoint]

Meeting California’s water needs might not help combat the effect of global warming, but an ample supply of water would at least help keep back the dry conditions from around residential communities, and it would help the state’s massive agricultural industry meet its own water needs.
++++
LOL. But what if we are actually in a long term cooling trend? This would help reverse that trend, eliminate the evil Climate Change and bring Nirvana to The People’s Republic of California.

[HangnJudge]

Long thread on similar subject

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3181628/posts

20 Signs The Drought In The Western United States Is Starting To Become Apocalyptic

[sheana]

http://capoliticalnews.com/2014/02/09/drought-wars-where-did-the-farm-water-go/

[Bubba_Leroy]

The absolute last things that the enviro whackos in California want are cheap energy or available water. They want to drive the remaining middle class out of California so that the rich liberals and their illegal alien servants will have it to themselves.

I am being totally serious here.

[allendale]

Environmentalists have stopped almost all long term soltions to drought. The Red River and the Mississippi often floods uncontrollably.It would not be impossible to build large pipelines to run along interstates and pumps to be powered by gas that is now just burned off to bring that water into the Colorado and the arid southwest

[Ken522]

US Naval Station Guantanamo Bay gets all its fresh water from a desalination plant.

[I am Richard Brandon]

You missed out the grunnion.

[Aria]

"This [Carlsbad project] is going to be the pig that will try for years to find the right shade of lipstick," Marco Gonzalez, an attorney who sued on behalf of environmental groups that tried to halt construction, told the San Jose Mercury News last month. "This project will show that the water is just too expensive."

Wow, the trifecta - a Hispaic environmetal attorney. I wonder what he would think the water is too expensive if he were REALLY thirsty?

[M Kehoe]

If I lived in a desert, I would prefer water over a train, but that's just me.

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