California Drought Tests History of Endless Growth [NYT pretends desalination doesn't exist]

New York Times ^ | April 4, 2015 | ADAM NAGOURNEY, JACK HEALY and NELSON D. SCHWARTZ

[kaila]

No, California does not get to steal our Washington water.

[justlurking]

I remember as a kid I wrote a report on desalination plants that were being designed at the time. Taking cold water from the depth and as it warmed it would create steam which was used to generate electricity to run the plant, and then the condensation was captured as fresh water.

If you read through the article that I cited, there's some discussion about various measures used to increase the efficiency and reduce/recover energy usage. The numbers I cited were the ultimate usage, for the largest amount (and highest efficiency).

There are some new developments that may reduce the energy requirements for desalination, but they are still in the lab.

[Morpheus2009]

If there's an accident at a desalination facility, it's less bad than a nuclear power plant. FWIW, you could even set up a massive solar array to power the desalination plant. Have liberals lost their imagination?

Has THE NOTHING gotten to them?

[rbg81]

It will only become real to them when they turn on their tap and nothing comes out. Then they will immediately scream for a solution. At the same time, they will blame Big XXXX for the problem.

[Morpheus2009]

Yes, and that’s the sad reality about the whole dilemna. We’ve had desalination for a long time. The Middle East uses it extensively, we have very little. It would be wise to just get water out of the ocean. By desalination our naval personnel on Carriers and Submarines have no problem with their water supply while they are out on the open ocean, the only issue for them is food. They have plenty of water while floating on an ocean of salt water, think about it. Not even just the water, but the mineral content of ocean salts, with sodium, chlorine, and potassium, is also useful for a great deal in an industrial society as well. To paraphrase Booker T. Washington, the water is there, so cast down your bucket.