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The Dirty Truth About Turning Seawater into Drinking Water

earther.gizmodo.com

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Re: The Dirty Truth About Turning Seawater into Drinking Water

#71

Post by scotty79 »

nickles wrote: post #32
zaarn wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think microplastic particles in the human digestive system are that big of a problem; most of it is fairly inert and will just pass through, the other stuff is in low enough quantities that our stomach should be able to deal with it.

> I don't think microplastic particles in the human digestive system are that big of a problem; most of it is fairly inert and will just pass through, the other stuff is in low enough quantities that our stomach should be able to deal with it. "The primary concern with human health in regards to microplastics is more directed towards the different toxic and carcinogenic chemicals used to make these plastics and what…

Still we are talking about ingesting few microscopic particles per day. If they were cyanide it might have been harmful but they are mostly inert undigestible polymer with possibly traces of some additive if they surivived all previous stages of plastics life. Like floating in saltwater for few years or perhaps even already being in digestive systems of some aninals.

I wouldn't bother with microplastics in salt. Not when I'm exposing my blood directly to mixture of hydrocarbons and soot with every breath I take.

Re: The Dirty Truth About Turning Seawater into Drinking Water

#72

Post by saagarjha »

salty_biscuits wrote: post #64

Easy solution, use brakish water or sewage for desalination rather than sea water. Not difficult. And stop flushing drinking water down the toilet.

> And stop flushing drinking water down the toilet.

What do you suggest using instead?

Re: The Dirty Truth About Turning Seawater into Drinking Water

#73

Post by jcobber »

I guess they didn't think of the byproduct when designing this. Question is, why didn't they add this on the lifecycle assessment, I'm sure they know from the start that there is a byproduct. How to handle this waste, ergo, toxic waste should've been treated as an important part of the process.

Re: The Dirty Truth About Turning Seawater into Drinking Water

#74

Post by nabla9 »

This is not a show stopper. If you discharge brine into the sea, you should have to have a plan to dilute and mix brine.

High concentration brine does not automatically mix into the sea water. The underflow goes into the bottom of the sea and forms a separate layer. But you can use nozzle diffusers, mixer etc. and discharge into high currents.

Re: The Dirty Truth About Turning Seawater into Drinking Water

#76

Post by pvaldes »

mcv wrote: post #58

I admit I had not expected this to be a problem. The salt water comes from the sea, I'd expected it to be fine to release the salt back into the sea. But I understand that untreated, this extra-salty water would, in large amounts, become a current of its own that's significantly different from regular sea water. And apparently there are added chemicals in it that I suppose were necessary for the desalination process?…

Is a bigger problem in shallow water. At open sea, salt will sink to the next deep water layer with the same density. (Marine organisms are relatively customed to deal with reasonable amounts of salt, the deeper the more customed).

Could be pre-diluted offshore with an unlimited amount of surface sea water available. But if there is more things than salt in the mix, or if we want to just dump it at the sea for saving some dollars, then we are creating a problem.

On the other thing, humanity needs salt, specially in badlands and deserts or in very cold areas. We could just refine, clean and then eat it.

Re: The Dirty Truth About Turning Seawater into Drinking Water

#77

Post by jaddood »

salty_biscuits wrote: post #64

Easy solution, use brakish water or sewage for desalination rather than sea water. Not difficult. And stop flushing drinking water down the toilet.

Sewage contains other volatile products that would evaporate and condense along with water. Cleaning sewage water for use in drinking is probably much, much harder than doing it with just sea water.

Re: The Dirty Truth About Turning Seawater into Drinking Water

#78

Post by salty_biscuits »

jaddood wrote: post #77
salty_biscuits wrote: post #64

Easy solution, use brakish water or sewage for desalination rather than sea water. Not difficult. And stop flushing drinking water down the toilet.

Sewage contains other volatile products that would evaporate and condense along with water. Cleaning sewage water for use in drinking is probably much, much harder than doing it with just sea water.

No it really isn't. Most people just think it is disgusting. It is less energy intensive than sea water.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEWater

Re: The Dirty Truth About Turning Seawater into Drinking Water

#79

Post by salty_biscuits »

saagarjha wrote: post #72
salty_biscuits wrote: post #64

Easy solution, use brakish water or sewage for desalination rather than sea water. Not difficult. And stop flushing drinking water down the toilet.

> And stop flushing drinking water down the toilet. What do you suggest using instead?

Grey water

Re: The Dirty Truth About Turning Seawater into Drinking Water

#80

Post by Tsubasachan »

aphextron wrote: post #28

I’m surprised this article mentions nothing about energy. Practically all desalination in existence is powered by fossil fuels, with Israel and Saudi Arabia being the worst offenders. The only reason it’s even economically viable is the externalized cost of carbon emission. It’s simply not a long term tenable solution until this is addressed.

Well the US is currently a net producer of oil and gas. The fracking boom is huge- America has more fossil fuels they know what to do with.

Desalination is good for drinking water but its not going to save California's farming though.

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