OK! I saw a news story this morning that has me thinking!

[MTboatguy]

There was a story on the CBS morning news, that got me thinking in San Diego, CA they are getting ready to complete a desalination plant to draw sea water in and produce fresh water to help combat the drought, this plant will draw 100 million gallons of water a day and produce 50 million gallons of fresh water a day, which is enough for about 300,000 homes. After doing some checking and deep thinking, I discovered that the average ocean has about a 3.5% salt factor, so if they are taking 100 million gallons a day times 3.5% salt, they will be deriving 3.5 million pounds of salt a day. They are planning 4 of these plants for California on the coast, so that would be approximately 14 million pounds of salt a day taken out of the sea water. Then if you multiply that by 365 days a year, that is an astronomical amount of salt being removed from the ocean every year!

What I am wondering, would this actually affect the climate and change the oceans of the world? Talk about climate change!

 

[nwcove]

i think your math may be flawed......8.35 ( lbs/usg) x 100000000=835000000lbs of water x 0.035=29190000 lbs of salt/day. i hope my math is flawed! lol ( maybe they will re-salinate the discharge of the wwtp's??)

 

[Tim Frank]

After doing some checking and deep thinking, I discovered that the average ocean has about a 3.5% salt factor

I'm not sure what deep thinking you needed to do after checking reference sources and finding that standard answer of 3-3.5%, and how that relates to a "discovery".....but that 3.5% is a W/W ratio, and you need to do a bit more deep thinking on your calculations, you are off by a factor of 10.

Gallons and pounds are archaic for this kind of calculation, but my conversion in NRN is ~ 30 million pounds of salt/day (based on one plant and intake of 100 Million USG.)

You would need to know the actual component fractions and yields of their process to derive really meaningful numbers.

Still a lot of salt....and there are lots of environmental questions being raised by various groups about desalination on a large scale.

From what I've read, it sounds like nobody is really sure, but "we'll find out eventually".

 

[transamconvert]

They don't actually take the salt out. They return it with the discharge water. If 100gal goes in, 50gal fresh comes out and 50gal goes back to the ocean twice as salty.

 

[MTboatguy]

My math is actually probably flawed quite a bit, which is the reason I posted this, it seems like a heap of salt to be taking out of the oceans of the world and could create some pretty serious situations, I was in the Army, not the Navy, but I figured a place where guys with boats and love of water could help me out!

From what I've read, it sounds like nobody is really sure, but "we'll find out eventually".

Exactly, this was my reason for seeking out those much smarter than I. Seems like that last couple of hundred years, the "We'll find out eventually" has not worked out so good!

 

[nwcove]

i think your math may be flawed......8.35 ( lbs/usg) x 100000000=835000000lbs of water x 0.035=29190000 lbs of salt/day. i hope my math is flawed! lol ( maybe they will re-salinate the discharge of the wwtp's??)

I'm not sure what deep thinking you needed to do after checking reference sources and finding that standard answer of 3-3.5%, and how that relates to a "discovery".....but that 3.5% is a W/W ratio, and you need to do a bit more deep thinking on your calculations, you are off by a factor of 10.

Gallons and pounds are archaic for this kind of calculation, but my conversion in NRN is ~ 30 million pounds of salt/day (based on one plant and intake of 100 Million USG.)

You would need to know the actual component fractions and yields of their process to derive really meaningful numbers.

Still a lot of salt....and there are lots of environmental questions being raised by various groups about desalination on a large scale.

From what I've read, it sounds like nobody is really sure, but "we'll find out eventually".

geez....missed the mark by 0.973% never was good at math!......how many bags of potato chips would that amount of sea salt ...salt?

 

[glenn property of pam]

They don't actually take the salt out. They return it with the discharge water. If 100gal goes in, 50gal fresh comes out and 50gal goes back to the ocean twice as salty.

that's correct. Its a expensive way to treat water but I guess they have no other options.

 

[bruceb58]

It's not going to be open until 2016 and it's going to be an energy hungry plant!
http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_25859513/nations-largest-ocean-desalination-plant-goes-up-near

 

[jester31]

Please Delete.

 

[jester31]

From what I've read, it sounds like nobody is really sure, but "we'll find out eventually".

You mean like Obama care?

 

[dingbat]

[h=2]What happens to the salt?[/h] The desalination plant typically uses three kilograms of seawater to produce 1 kilogram of fresh water. The extracted salt dissolves in the excess sea water used in the process to form so-called brine. The brine is returned to the sea where it is diluted again in its natural medium.

http://www.sidem-desalination.com/en/Process/FAQ/

 

[jester31]

I read this article. It is a sad state of affairs that a lot of our West coast is drying up! How can this happen in this day, & age? I feel so sorry for anyone that has to deal with this, also our boaters who find constantly shrinking waterways. Whatever happened to seeding the clouds, was that not practical? I'm not the best at it, but I do believe in saving, & preserving our natural resources when ever possible. It hurts me to see these rampant forest fires, and the massive devastation they cause to possessions, & people's dying, injuries, or sanity. It's also a shame other states are running out of water, or money to survive. I'll give this a rest right now, but one thing I need to say is, I was on a cruise ship yrs ago, and all the water was de-salinized,,, It was the worst water I ever drank, and I made it a point to avoid it whenever possible.

 

[MTboatguy]

Well if it is any consolation, I have never had a good glass of water in Southern California!

 

[roscoe]

Well, the earth, is a closed system.
Water is constantly being transferred and transformed all over the planet.

Google or click this : gallons of water evaperated from oceans

And start clicking and reading the links.

How much water evaporates from the ocean on a sunny day? - Yahoo ...

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid...



Jun 26, 2010 - Let's see, on average, the sun takes around 2,915,304,079 gallons of water from the ocean every SECOND
.
Google or click this : gallons of water evaperated from oceans

And start clicking and reading the links.


Furthermore, the salinity of the oceans are ever changing, and vary from region to region.

End result, the desalinization plant will have little effect if any at all, on the climate or ecosystems.

Too bad they couldn't power it with tidal flow.
Or maybe they could put 100,000 of those beautiful windmills of the coast. :faint2:

 

[sphelps]

I guess if your worried that the sea water will get to salty . Remember the ice cap is melting so it will freshen the water back up and counter any water taken out ..

 

[redneck joe]

I'll just have a beer.

 

[DayCruiser]

I don't see why we should be shocked that CA is in a severe drought since a good part of it is a desert. We could learn a lot from Israel about desalination.Anyway a strong EL NINO would cure the South West drought problems. A weak El nino is forming now

 

[bruceb58]

I don't see why we should be shocked that CA is in a severe drought since a good part of it is a desert.

LOL. Do you realize that for the most part, no one lives in the area where it is a desert? Farming takes up 80% of the water. That same water supplies most of the food for the western part of the US and beyond.

 

[DayCruiser]

I don't see why we should be shocked that CA is in a severe drought since a good part of it is a desert. We could learn a lot from Israel about desalination.Anyway a strong EL NINO would cure the South West drought problems. A weak El nino is forming now

Yea I know that. Still when you are that close to desert land then you are that close to being in a historic drought yourself. CA and Texas both have deserts and both have suffered earth cracking long term droughts. Other parts of the country have droughts but not nearly as severe

 

[bruceb58]

Yea I know that. Still when you are that close to desert land then you are that close to being in a historic drought yourself. CA and Texas both have deserts and both have suffered earth cracking long term droughts. Other parts of the country have droughts but not nearly as severe

So how long have you lived in California?