Posted on 04/14/2014 12:18:05 PM PDT by topher
UBBOCK, Texas (AP) — Wichita Falls is so far behind on rainfall that city leaders are asking state regulators for permission to use treated toilet flushes as drinking water.
(Excerpt) Read more at mysanantonio.com ...
This could be done for Dallas/Fort Worth, San Antonio, Austin, as well as other major Texas cities (and not so major ones).
There would be a cost involved, but Salt Water can be found almost everywhere. When oil/natural gas is drilled for, there are places where there are pockets of Salt Water underground.
Not to mention the Gulf of Mexico...
Thoughts?
http://www.waterefficiency.net/WE/articles.aspx?taxonomy=Desalination
Cost.
> Thoughts?
Wow. Drinking fecal matter. Its sort of like watching 0bummer give a speech (okay, reading a teleprompter)
I’ll stick to Diet-Pepsi, thank you very much.
Many (maybe most) waste water treatment plants produce potable water. That’s what they are for. They take sewage and make it safe for the environment (which is to say it is safe to drink). I’m sure this is simply a bureaucratic regulatory thing.
In industrial buildings that require a waste treatment plant, the waste water leaving the plants can be drank from the discharge pipes (at least initially). It tastes fine.
Saltwater can be found underground in places where oil and natural gas are drilled for...
So it is possible to use Texas' vast natural gas reserves to change salt water into fresh water...
You two are likely drinking treated water every day that came from a waste water treatment plant. That is, unless you drink well water.
Silly FReepers.
The first link at your list:
Carlsbad Desalination Project Wins 2013 Global Water Awards ‘Desalination Deal of the Year’
This will be the largest desalination plant in the western hemisphere. But they don’t even mention the cost.
This is a Billion Dollar plant.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Desalination-plants-a-pricey-option-if-drought-5239096.php
There is a cost for the energy plant and the energy, but there is an abundance of saltwater. When one drills for oil/natural gas, the oil companies have to deal with saltwater.
Just boil it (using de-salination process), and one has fresh water...
That is my tangent - start producing fresh water in dry areas using de-salination plants...
Having lived in that dreadful city (Shepherd Air Force Base) the water from the treatment plant will be an improvement. I have never tased or smelled such awful tap water in all my travels. I hope never to return to that place.
It is the operating costs that are critical.
If you look at what the Obama Administration spends on GREEN NONSENSE, then spending 10 or 15 billion on de-salination is not a bad thing -- at least taxpayers would get something...
The Obama GREEN PROJECTS have basically been flushing money down the toilet and into the pockets of Obama supporters...
Are we talking about Ubbock?
I’m not familiar with that West Texas town./S
With desalination (changing saltwater to freshwater), one should be able to get good drinking water...
With desalination (changing saltwater to freshwater), one should be able to get good drinking water...
Sometimes when one cuts and pastes, a 'chop' happens.
I chopped something off that I should not have...
Keep in mind a desalination plant does not just produce fresh water.
It also produces a lot of very salty water as well. Not much of a problem if the plant is on the ocean. More of a problem when hundreds of miles from the coast.
Help me out here. Don't we have de-salination plants aboard nuclear vessels that use salt water for cooling?
I don't know what a de-salination plant costs to build, but if they can use salt water for cooling and capture the steam, viola! Fresh water as a by-product of "capturing" nuclear energy.
I'm sure I have over-simplified it.
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