Desalination Plants

[nighttrain]

any of you people in California keeping up with this topic? And your thots?
train

 

[snackdaddy]

Haven't been keeping up with it. But apparently there is debate on whether or not its worth it. It would be very costly to run. Would take quite a few megawatts of power. They say the annual costs would be in the billions. Since its California you know there will be environmental issues to deal with. All that stuff usually means it will be even more expensive to live here.

I've heard people ask why can't they import water from places like Oregon and Washington who get a lot of rain. Apparently that process could be even costlier than desalination plants.

Here in the central valley we rely on ground water. With farmers drilling deeper wells the water levels are shrinking. They say the tap water here is safe but it don't taste like it used to. I only drink filtered water.

 

[nighttrain]

life w/o water don't happen, and something has to change, Colorado river is drying up.
train

 

[Riverumbbq]

Israel's desalination plants are now refilling the Sea of Galilee.
California is much larger in geography & population, so desalination will be extremely helpful, although not the end all for curing our situation, it's just one of several methods we should be investing in.

Israel refills the Sea of Galilee, supplying Jordan on the way

When the floodgates are open, a torrent of water gushes into a dry river bed and races to the shore of the Sea of Galilee, a biblical lake in northern Israel that was being lost to drought and the growing population around it.

www.reuters.com

 

[OregonRamsFan]

The reason I moved back to Oregon from Texas and New Mexico, the water.

 

[TSFH Fan]

California has them.
Here in this part of the OC, we use well water.

 

[nighttrain]

California has them.
Here in this part of the OC, we use well water.

Don't have them on the coast and that's where the population is and where the plants would be.'
train

 

[Riverumbbq]

I've heard people ask why can't they import water from places like Oregon and Washington who get a lot of rain. Apparently that process could be even costlier than desalination plants.

I see it as far more about politics than cost, seems everyone likes to hate on California. A pipeline from the Columbia River in Oregon to the Shasta Reservoir in California would appear as extremely cost effective. Most of that Columbia River water comes from Canada and then dumps into the Pacific. Desalination is mostly effective for those coastal cities where inland counties can make better use from other sources. California, Nevada & Arizona has huge dry land reserves where solar & wind turbine energy can create and cover the cost for the energy required to operate future desalination plants.

 

[TSFH Fan]

Don't have them on the coast and that's where the population is and where the plants would be.'
train

I'm not sure what you're saying, but here's one:

Desalination | Santa Barbara County, CA - Official Website

The City of Santa Barbara Charles Meyer Desalination Facility was built in 1991 and 1992 as a temporary emergency water supply in response to the severe drought of 1986 to 1991.

www.countyofsb.org

Also, talking about population in the context of California water usage is nice and all, but my recollection of data a few years back, is that agricultural usage, on a state-wide basis, as measured in acre-feet of water, was a bigger consumer of water than people.

 

[Loyal]

Examine what Israel is doing with desalination plants, because it's a true wonder. They now have an abundance of water in that nation. So much so, that their water starved neighbors purchase water from them AND they have water for irrigation of crops in the desert. If memory serves me, they get 90% of their water from these plants.

 

[snackdaddy]

I'm not sure what you're saying, but here's one:

Desalination | Santa Barbara County, CA - Official Website

The City of Santa Barbara Charles Meyer Desalination Facility was built in 1991 and 1992 as a temporary emergency water supply in response to the severe drought of 1986 to 1991.

www.countyofsb.org

Also, talking about population in the context of California water usage is nice and all, but my recollection of data a few years back, is that agricultural usage, on a state-wide basis, as measured in acre-feet of water, was a bigger consumer of water than people.

I've heard that farmers in the San Joaquin Valley use almost ten times more water than residential use And they say residents should get used to brown lawns to conserve water.

 

[nighttrain]

I've heard that farmers in the San Joaquin Valley use almost ten times more water than residential use And they say residents should get used to brown lawns to conserve water.

maybe so, but the Israeli thing is a marvelous engineering feat, and one to be copied
train

 

[oldnotdead]

People scoffed at the plant built in Carlsbad by the power plant. Now they create enough water for 7% of San Diego Cty. Cost? What will the cost be for fresh water when the river dries up and the groundwater is pumped dry?

Then you have the deniers like in Kingman AZ who planted thousands of nut trees. Nut trees are hugely water intensive. They are pumping the groundwater dry. So what do these denying politicians say? Restrict household water because the trees are more important. The corp Agri and railroad consortiums control the water in CA. RR you ask? The land grants they were given back in the 19th century give them a stranglehold on the water. Lake Arrowhead is a private lake owned by a lumber company. They make more money selling water than lumbering.

I have friends who have farms in Porterville, CA. They are considered small farmers but they belong to a corp collective. They were told not to farm and to sell their water rights to the collective for twice to three times what they would have made planting crops.

Get the picture? Ultimately CA will have to turn to desalination to break the stranglehold of big corporations and collectives. But it takes 5-10 years to build the things. There was supposed to be a 50 million gal/ day plant in Huntington Beach but it was denied a license due to corporate water rights holders. A smaller one is proposed at Doheny Beach but won't be operational for years. Smaller plants are inefficient.

20 years ago there was a plan to pump seawater to the Mohave desert where domes would collect evaporation on a massive scale. Calif politicians laughed at the proposal as pure fiction. Saudi Arabia is building a series of them along the Red Sea.

In other words, it simply comes down to political will. But the clock has basically run out. It's like talking about fire prevention in the middle of a forest fire.

 

[snackdaddy]

The storms in January did help, but not enough to take us out of the drought. Where I'm at we don't rely on the Colorado river. We rely on snow melt from the Sierras and runoff to replenish ground water. But we're still on restrictions due to agriculture needs. So its not as severe here as in the south.

I read that Lake Mead probably won't get back to normal levels in our lifetime. I don't know how they can figure it out, but I also read the recent stretch of dry climate for the river is the longest in 1200 years.

 

[nighttrain]

Israel's desalination plants are now refilling the Sea of Galilee.
California is much larger in geography & population, so desalination will be extremely helpful, although not the end all for curing our situation, it's just one of several methods we should be investing in.

Israel refills the Sea of Galilee, supplying Jordan on the way

When the floodgates are open, a torrent of water gushes into a dry river bed and races to the shore of the Sea of Galilee, a biblical lake in northern Israel that was being lost to drought and the growing population around it.

www.reuters.com

reports just in from UN's Secretary General Secretary that raising sea levels threaten Los Angeles and New York with flooding making Desalinations Plants (like Israel's) a real necessity to be built, and a lot of them, no joke. Israel is restoring the of Galilee, we could do the same with Lake Mead, plus taking care of California's and Arizona's inland farmers, and also halt the dissipating of the Colorado river! All really great Developments!
train

 

[Riverumbbq]

reports just in from UN's Secretary General Secretary that raising sea levels threaten Los Angeles and New York with flooding making Desalinations Plants (like Israel's) a real necessity to be built, and a lot of them, no joke. Israel is restoring the of Galilee, we could do the same with Lake Mead, plus taking care of California's and Arizona's inland farmers, and also halt the dissipating of the Colorado river! All really great Developments!
train

Interesting idea, and seemingly far less expensive than a pipeline from the Mississippi River to Lake Powell.
Makes me question whether we could conceivably kill two birds with one stone, ... save the Salton Sea & Lake Mead.
Could we run a pipeline filled with seawater to the Salton Sea, replenishing it 100%, build a desalination plant on the east side of the Salton Sea, and then pump the clean water north to Lake Mead ? Plenty of cheap open desert land for pipeline access & solar/wind generated energy in this region.

 

[oldnotdead]

Hell no the Salton Sea is a lithium gold mine as it continues to evaporate. They estimate there is enough lithium there to stop importing it from China as it would meet 100% of US domestic needs for decades.

 

[Riverumbbq]

Hell no the Salton Sea is a lithium gold mine as it continues to evaporate. They estimate there is enough lithium there to stop importing it from China as it would meet 100% of US domestic needs for decades.

Fixing the environmental mess which currently is the Salton Sea need not impose severe limitations or restrictions on the Lithium or Geothermal Plants which are already or soon to be operating in the surrounding area of the Lake. It's not like what they seek is in the middle of the lake, two of the larger Lithium Plants are off the south shore ... It's not an open pit mining operation. In fact, one of the big hopes is that the increased economic development as a result of Lithium and the Geothermal plant development will allow for a major environmental overhaul, something long past due.

The Salton Sea could produce the world's greenest lithium, if new extraction technologies work

Amid the shrinking, toxic Salton Sea, there's enough lithium to meet the United States' entire projected demand and fuel the electric-vehicle revolution.

www.cnbc.com

Drilling for 'white gold' is happening right now at the Salton Sea

General Motors is helping to fund the lithium and geothermal energy project.

www.latimes.com

 

[oldnotdead]

The Salton Sea was created by a man made accident. Now nature is simply correcting it. It has never been used for agriculture water or anything else. Let's clean up the water rights issue in CA first. That will go a long way in resolving the problem. Restoration of the ground aquafers is IMO a much higher priority that has consistently been overlooked for decades.

 

[Riverumbbq]

The Salton Sea was created by a man made accident. Now nature is simply correcting it. It has never been used for agriculture water or anything else. Let's clean up the water rights issue in CA first. That will go a long way in resolving the problem. Restoration of the ground aquafers is IMO a much higher priority that has consistently been overlooked for decades.

What exactly is nature correcting ?, the dust/pollution coming off the Salton Sea area is toxic and leading to illnesses, and this dust has been known to reach L.A., much less the surrounding towns. The high salinity levels are killing fish & birds in huge numbers.
Yes, restoring aquifers is vital, so is the Sacramento Water Tunnel Project, but California does have the ability to chew gum and walk at the same time. The Feds are demanding an agreement between the Western States which use the Colorado River resources, and they are likely to pick-up a portion of the bill to resolve some of these issues. Wealthy conservative Agra-businesses believe they are privileged and only want cheap water access, they do little to conserve, they avoid drip irrigation, and they plant crops which have exceptionally demanding water needs.