181–190 of 195 posts
entire regions being deserted is not a new thing (see mayan civilization). it's possible we'll see the cities of southern California (San Diego, Los Angeles) as remnants of an ancient culture in a few hundred years, left intact by the scorching heat and desert.
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They are among the top consumers in CA. They're going to pump aquifers dry.
Source?
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Desalination plants have been tried in Europe for some time, and they still are problematic. They use lots of energy. And then you need to get rid of hills of salt. Stuff that obviously can't be just put in any fertile soil or returned to the sea near the coast. A partial solution could be to use it in winter roads, but then you need to burn gas to move it to the North. At some time, you will cross the line where the…
The Carlsbad plant actually does return it to the ocean: "The desalination process converts two gallons of seawater to one gallon of drinking water, and one gallon of water with twice the salinity of seawater. The concentrated seawater is diluted before it enters the ocean" https://www.carlsbaddesal.com/environmental-faqs.html
The Mediterranean and the Pacific are very different in any case. At the coast this would cause a lot of shallow dead areas and would affect protected ecosystems like the Sea-grass beds that is required for sustainable fisheries
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Hope their byproducts are environmentally safe. Northern Mexico also has water scarcity, and it's been shocking to see the studies about how water is used in my state: - Residential: ~10% - Industrial: ~20% - Agriculture and farms: ~70% Residential water is being rationed, but it won't make a dent unless we address that 70%, which to make it worse, loses half of that to evaporation and inadequate distribution network…
> Hope their byproducts are environmentally safe. The byproducts are sea salt. You might pay less for it at the store. The environmental impacts come from having so much extra salt that there's nothing worth doing with it other than dumping it. Considering how tiny of a fraction Earth's freshwater (let alone that actually used by humans) represents of the total global water supply, the environmental concerns are argu…
1. It's not some food-grade "sea salt" that you get. It's brine, which, dumped into the ocean, wreaks havoc in the local ecosystem. It's heavier than sea water, sinks to the ground, etc. Not something you want in your backyard.
2. Energy is not free. No, nuclear isn't either. Want a uranium mine in your backyard? Or a coal mine?
Wasting less water could be the easier solution here.
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> Hope their byproducts are environmentally safe. The byproducts are sea salt. You might pay less for it at the store. The environmental impacts come from having so much extra salt that there's nothing worth doing with it other than dumping it. Considering how tiny of a fraction Earth's freshwater (let alone that actually used by humans) represents of the total global water supply, the environmental concerns are argu…
> The byproducts are sea salt. You might pay less for it at the store. 1. It's not some food-grade "sea salt" that you get. It's brine, which, dumped into the ocean, wreaks havoc in the local ecosystem. It's heavier than sea water, sinks to the ground, etc. Not something you want in your backyard. 2. Energy is not free. No, nuclear isn't either. Want a uranium mine in your backyard? Or a coal mine? Wasting less water…
Only if dumped such that it's concentrated. Either don't dump it or do so in a more dispersed manner.
> Energy is not free. No, nuclear isn't either.
You don't need free energy for desal to be more than worthwhile.
> Want a uranium mine in your backyard?
If I had a backyard, then sure, why not?
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strong agree! it comes out to just about 7% of the total water though doesn't it?
Is it really that little? The last few droughts to roll through California have been a non-issue. But maybe that's because domestic (non-agricultural) water consumption is like 5% of total water use
Aridification? I thought the place started out as a desert.
California has incredible fog forests also, home of the second tallest tree species registered in the planet. A desert would not have evolved giant slugs and arboreal salamanders. It was a much more humid place in the past, probably.
Aridification? I thought the place started out as a desert.
It depends what your criteria are, but most of the LA basin would not be considered to have a "desert" climate, instead a Mediterranean climate. A good amount is intermediate and considered "semi-arid". To get to a proper desert climate, you do have to go just outside the urban area, over the mountains into the rain shadow where you'll find the Mojave desert. The border between "Mediterranean" and "Semi-Arid" is (acc…