California say no to new desalination plant

It would make more sense to place something like this in the Imperial Valley and use solar. The shallow groundwater is readily available, but is high in TDS (salts). The infrastructure, i.e., the All American canal and its diversions are already in place. To solve environmental problems sometimes you need to look outside the box.

 

But wouldn’t you say there is in practice no way to produce the water-intensive crops without the energy intensive method?

Water is essential, while energy is essentially essential. Even the water requires the energy.

Either the energy goes indirectly to essentials like electricity, or it goes quaisi-directly to inefficient crops.

I understand that the alfalfa “returns” after a convoluted chain, but if the chain breaks at link 2/3 the 12th is moot.

 

solar power and battery banks can run the plant

 

when you deplete the shallow aquifer you can get substantial land subsidence which then compresses the voids that at one time held water but no longer have the structural capacity to hold as much water

Land Subsidence - Water Education Foundation

Land subsidence is the lowering of the land-surface elevation due to changes that take place underground. Throughout California, subsidence has damaged buildings, aqueducts, well casings, bridges and highways. Common causes include pumping water, oil or gas, dissolution of limestone aquifers known as sinkholes, drainage of organic soils and initial wetting of dry soils, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

As the land sinks, flooding problems are aggravated. Subtle changes in land gradient can adversely impact sewer lines and storm drainage. In all, subsidence has resulted in millions of dollars in damage.

In general, the groundwater system responds to the climate. In wetter periods, water goes into storage, while in drier periods, or droughts, water is removed from storage.

Long-term overdraft or excessive pumping of a groundwater aquifer, can also result in subsidence and sinking ground surface.

 

It’s not an eyesore issue. Have you seen the existing utility plant at that location vs the desal plant south of the location in Carlsbad?

 

The population absolutely is an issue. LA used to rely on pumped groundwater decades ago but it barely uses it anymore; it’s depleted due to overuse and because development has paved over the area and it’s not refilling the groundwater. Now LA gets a lot of its drinking water from snow melt from the west side of the Sierras and Owens Valley east of the Sierras plus the Colorado River. All of these water sources serve populations not on a vast body of salt water like LA.

Taking more water from the California Aquaduct wasn’t even a mentioned solution so I don’t think ag is the answer. They mentioned reducing usage, stormwater collection and increased permeable surfaces to help replenish the groundwater. All good ideas but very shortsighted when they shouldn’t even get to rely on the Colorado River.

 

No, a single desal plant is not the solution. The Carlsbad Plant only provides enough water for 10% off San Diego’s water needs. LA needs several top supplements its existing sources.

 

Recycling wastewater actually makes more sense than the desalinization.
A Massive Water Recycling Proposal Could Help Ease Drought
Secure California’s future water supply and invest in recycled water
California Invests in Recycled Water as Droughts Take a Toll
https://www.usnews.com/news/news/ar...s-grow-wastewater-recycling-gets-another-look
Could LA water recycling be a miracle for parched West?

 

Ofcourse they do. 3 BILLION gallons of rainwater goes into the oceans annually and they have put zero effort into recapturing it. California and it's government is 100% insane.

 

I don’t think it would be prudent to offer any loans at this time with an almost 1 trillion pension liability. That’s about $80,000.00 per occupant.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ikebra...se-by-moving-emergency-services-in-house/amp/

 

I guess the counter argument is that some of the farms may have been there for ages, but then as more people moved there, including immigration, all of a sudden they have to share the water supply and eventually shut down. They may argue that isn’t equitable.

Seems to me they have a dire situation and need to support all options, including desalination. Turning it down because theoretically if you saved more or shut down agriculture doesn’t seem like a plan to me.

So people don’t want desalination, but they probably don’t want groundwater replenishment / recycling because of the “ick” factor. This is what happens when you all kinds of different parties each with the ability to impede progress.

 

Good Common Sense Article :
California has done this to themselves. The State is the greatest piece of real estate in the world.

California’s Mega Water Wasters › American Greatness

 

Maybe they should at least build more water retention reservoirs for all the snowpack that will just flood all over the riverbanks when it melts. Why haven't they been working to prevent that upcoming calamity?

 

An interesting article on some of the difficulties involved with desalination. There are two types of desalination: thermal (evaporate and condense the water) and filtration (use expensive membranes to filter the salt out of the water). The thermal option requires energy--a lot of energy. And it's a bit worse for California because the water off the coast of California is fairly cold, so you have to heat it even more before you can start to evaporate it. The northern part of the Pacific typically has a clockwise rotation, so that water to California comes down from an area off the coast of Alaska (the Gulf Stream delivers water to Florida through the Carribean, which warms it up). So the additional heat required makes it even more expensive than it normally is.

While San Diego gets 10% of its drinking water from desalination, the entire state gets less than 0.01% of its water from desal. There is also the issue of the brine that gets discharged: every gallon of drinking water comes with 1.6 gallons of brine. The salt concentrations are high enough in this brine to be toxic to marine life (until the brine is diluted to a safe level in the ocean).

Drinking water from the sea