Break through in desalinization!

[Chemical Ollie]

Forget about the waste salt, just dump it back in the ocean. You would have to produce enourmous amounts of desalinized water to have any environmental effect. Local areas with higher salt concentration could be avoided by a proper distribution, like underwater brine pipelines with distributed emission.

"The solution to pollution is dilution"

[bipolarbear]

Those of you in the wetter parts of the world may not care but for those of us who aren't this might be big news. Scientists in Israel have begun construction of a desalinization plant which uses a break through new design. Reverse osmosis is a process where a semi-permiable membrane is used to filter out contaminents from water thus making the water clean and drinkable. You can think of it as a plastic sheet which has very tiny holes in it which water molecules can go through but which bacteria and other contaminents cannot. Traditionally, Reverse Osmosis could only be used to clean fresh water (not salt water) because the desolved salt ions were smaller then the water ions thus the salt would pass through any membrane the water could. Until now!

Using a new process which uses special filter which contain magnetically charge layers and high pressure tubes salt water can be turned into fresh water cheaply and economically. Currently, the Israelis estimate the desalinized water will only cost about 20% more then cleaning regular fresh water supplies plus it will be cleaner. As the process is mass produced and the membranes are perfected prices are expected to fall even lower.

That means the world's big shortage of clean drinking water might just be solved. Previously desalinization cost 400%-500% more then cleaning fresh water so only a few plants in very rich countries were built. The new technology is cheap and easy to replicate even in the worst of conditions. That means every seaside city should be able to have a safe, clean, and reliable source of drinking water in the near future.

Cracker, this schnitzel ain't that new, I did a report on reverse osmosis 2years ago for extra credit in my biology class.
and the odds are that water will become the new oil, and only those with desalinizing technology or access to potable water will be like the oil barons etc. and Kevin Costner will grow gills, and liveo ut in the middle of the ocean driinking his own urine and growing tomatoes.

[Ned]

I live on the California coast. I can affirm the relative humidity is just about perfect all the time. We may have the best weather in the world.

[chequita guevara]

And that's why we hate you!

[Ned]

It's also why the average house costs $500k+.

[chequita guevara]

Which is why everyone rents, apparently.

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
What could we do with unlimited water and power?

Arrg, Hose down them college wenches on Spring break!

[The Mad Monk]

Talking like a pirate is so last night...

[chequita guevara]

[Ben Kenobi]

Avast, that's verrey good news for we pirates

Now we won't have ye filthy landlubbers to the south craving our water.

[Geronimo]

Originally posted by Chemical Ollie
Forget about the waste salt, just dump it back in the ocean. You would have to produce enourmous amounts of desalinized water to have any environmental effect. Local areas with higher salt concentration could be avoided by a proper distribution, like underwater brine pipelines with distributed emission.

"The solution to pollution is dilution"

so true

[Japher]

Yeah for desalinization!

Isrealis have been doing a lot for enviro-friendly sciences as of late... and cloning!@

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

The "Left Behind" folk are jsut spinning over this one.

[Straybow]

Cracker, this schnitzel ain't that new, I did a report on reverse osmosis 2 years ago for extra credit in my biology class.

No, this is a different way of implementing reverse osmosis that is much cheaper than old designs.

[Dis]

Originally posted by Pekka
drosedars, hey I drove through the Nevada deserts. There's no 'sensible desert' and 'insensible desert'. It's really a desert, and just because there are small areas where some grass grows, it still is a desert. The people who really want to live there, by all means, they should do that if they want to. But they are moving into desert. Fact.

To me, it's like 'hey I want to move in a war zone'.

He lives in the "high" desert. which is a different type of desert. They get more rainfall than us. Not a whole lot more, but more.

I was born in the desert (a hospital actually ). I do not intend to move. We have a sizable river flowing next to our city. It's not like we don't have water. It's just that California and Arizona takes it all for irrigation and other uses. We lack politcal power.

As for this technology . But it won't help my state at all. Sure California can make more water, but they still won't let our state have more Colorado river water. Californians are *******s .

Deserts are not inhospitable. Native americans have been living here for years. But there are limits to how much population deserts can handle. And I believe Las Vegas has exceeded that limit. But if we could have a little more of that river water... The river goes through our state before it gets to California. I think that should entitle us to more water. But they don't see it that way.