California's Plans for Biggest Desalination Plant Are a Go

[ensho]

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/05/californias-plans-for-biggest-desalination-plant-ar-a-go.php


The $320 million desalination plant planned for Carlsbad, California was approved earlier this week, making it a prime opportunity to test out how desalination might work as a way forward through the water issues the state faces.

The New York Times reports:

The plant, to be built near Carlsbad, north of San Diego, will be the first large-scale desalination operation on the West Coast and the largest in the hemisphere. “If they build it well and it operates well and the price is right, we will see more,” said Peter Gleick, the cofounder and president of the Pacific Institute in Oakland, Calif.
“I think there’s going to be some hesitancy to really expand desalination until this plant is up and running,” he added. “There’s going to be hesitancy on the part of everyone — regulators, water agencies and municipalities.”


The hesitancies come from the unknown factors involved in desalination. The process is energy intensive, and the benefits might not outweigh the burden not only on energy needs, and the ecological impact of pumping 100 million gallons of water a day from the ocean, turning it into 50 million gallons of drinkable water, then spitting large amounts of brine back out into the sea.
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at least Calif. isn't sitting on it's duff waiting for a water miracle to come along.

hope everything goes well and the people get drinking water.

[Richard D]

1. This makes me nervous

What will the fuel sources for these plants be? Hopefully solar, but somehow I doubt it.
That leaves either fossil fuels or nuclear. Neither one is particularly comforting nor good for the environment.

[bananas]

2. It uses the cooling intake of an existing power station. nt

[ColbertWatcher]

3. Yup.

What I'd like to know is why the hell is this thing being built in California's notorious 50th district, home of some of America's most corrupt GOPers?

[bananas]

4. No, it's not at San Onofre, it's at the Encina plant in Carlsbad, down in San Diego County

It's not the nuclear plant at San Onofre,
it's the Encina power plant in Carlsbad.
http://www.carlsbad-desal.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlsbad,_California

[ColbertWatcher]

5. Is that near California's 50th? n/t