Why don't we just desalinate our ocean water instead of depleting and polluting our groundwater?

Question

We have a virtually infinite supply of ocean water yet instead we continue to pollute and deplete our scarce groundwater. Why worry about something that's temporarily expensive that will save us money (and water!) in the long run?

Answer 1

Water desalination is expensive, and uses considerable amounts of energy. There is also the environmental impact of the 'brine', the hyper-saline water that is the byproduct of this process. It usually is pumped back into the supply water body (downstream) where it impacts local aquatic life. It's okay on a small scale, but on a large scale it will be and ecological nightmare.

Answer 2

even as i became in college contained in the 80's they stated that lets run out of clean water interior 10 years. Then it became lets all die of Nuclear poisening from each and each of the nuclear reactors which could explode. Now it truly is we are death from a polluted earth. particularly, the earth is growing to be a lot less poluted now that CFC's are banned. it is going to take time for the ozone to fix. The carbon dioxide from the autos would not help besides the undeniable fact that it truly is not any the position close to as undesirable because the CFC's were. also, maximum SUV's bought right this moment have extremely-low emmissions. sure, they guzzel gas and therefor the arguement may be made that they are depleating organic aspects besides the undeniable fact that the emmissions are literally not large and a blip on the radar compared to commercial gasses and, truly frankly, agricultural gasses (i.e. cow flatulence). resembling we did not run out of water, we are no the position close to operating out of petroleum. So depletion isn't an argument. finally, you're saying "an identical could properly be stated of carbon ozone depletion". i imagine you're blending-up the theory of carbon dioxide with ozone. there is not any such issue as carbon ozone. So I quesiton once you've truly researched your position or are a experience reliable tree hugger. Oh yea, and my SUV makes me look cool and helps me %.-up chicks. So, you recognize... it truly is worth it to me.

Answer 3

Good question, and it's a optimistic, positive and a constructive one. I don't understand why we haven't started doing that a long time ago. We got so much water on this globe, it's kind of ridiculous that we have a water shortage. We also have a lot of heat that could be harvested. I think the problem is lack of initiative, lack of people who actually want to practice what they preach. And we lack people who want to organize a common effort towards a working solution. We need more pushers like you. Maybe you can help make it happen. I'll help. E-mail me at [e-mail]

Answer 4

Because the technology to do that has only recently become cost-effective. There are several desalination plants being built in the US.

In 10 years, every coastal city in the south and California will want one.

Answer 5

Because desalinating water is VERY expensive, and I doubt if most Americans could justify their taxes being raised or any other excuse their exploitive corrupt politicians could think of to get the public to pay for doing this.

Answer 6

Haha, don't be stupid, fish and other underwater animals live off saltwater. If you think killing a ton of fish is ok then thats whats going to happen.

Answer 7

because who is actually gunna wok for that purpose? how are the people who are working long hours getting paid? where are we gunna find employees? everything has to do with money, and money only.

Answer 8

if it was that easy we would have been doing it for ages
do you think that you are the first one ,who ever thought of that
this question has plagued man from when they first started to sail the seas about 36.000 years ago

some of my notes on water shortage
for you interest

water shortage


expanding populations use more and more Potable water(world population has doubled in the last 50 years)
expanding agriculture that needs to keep up with the expanding popultaions uses the most ,,even more than the cities about 75% of all water reserves.

potable water is becoming more precious by the day
we will end up killing each other over Potable water
some people already are

WE MUST START
controlling populations ,
promote sweet water production,(Masive reforrestation)
and take care of what we got (Nature conservation)
,plus strong policing on usage,as well as economic usage of water in agriculture

Waterharvesting .WILL also help solve the problems


huge storages of water are getting lost due to global warming(melting Ice) as well as over and irresposible usage

93% of all f the planets water is salt
of the 7 remaning % of sweet water 75% was locked in glaziers,mountain snows and the poles,
a lot of this is now melted and has joined the salt waters in the seas gone forever as drinking water.

we on the land have about o,o8 % to play with for agriculture and drinking .

and many rivers and lakes are now contaminated ,

Deep under ground Carbon aquifiers are pumped dry ,by irresponsible egoistic and greedy farmers

.these Carbon Aquifiers do not refill them selves causing sink holes often a few miles deep.


(http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...
.
better to pump surface underground water supplies coupled to WATERHARVESTING

the natural way of nature is to evaporate moisture for clouds and this gets blown to places with less water any way ,what obstruct the clouds from getting to deserts ,tend to be mountains that are in the way,
but generally speaking ,the normal weather patterns spread rain evenly over the planet to balance out the temperatures and humidity.

As far as catching rain is concerned ,we do this all the time ,and have done so already since Babylonian times,and is a part of the more advanced Agriculture,that existed with the Egyptians,Central ,and south American indigenous peoples,and many others ,today we call this water harvesting.

In Permaculture the rule is to harvest water to the point of Zero runoff.
this means that all of the rain that falls on an area is absorbed by the terrain and not a drop leaves it.

by building dams,ponds or swales, with interconecting ditches,
if there are enough of these ;the places ,where before the rain water ran over the ground into the rivers and on to the sea ,(in a matter of hours or days),It now runs into absorbant dams or swales and saturates the ground and eventually reaches subteranean water deposits ,taking many months to do so.
Or it fills up ponds that can be used for Aquaculture.
And so a convex situation that repels water is transformed in a concave ,absorbant one and turning the area in to a sponge.

in Spain and Portugal ,which still display many examples of the conquering Moorish influence,One can find many remnants of Waterharvesting,such as aquaducts and tanks underneath the patios ,which collect the rain water from the roofs ,to be used in dryer times.

in Arabia ,on a large scale ,land has been shaped to catch and lead,rain water into sandy areas or to agricultural lands.sand is almost as good as dams because it absorbs water and holds it.

to find out more about Water harvesting I recomend:
the designers manual by Bil Mollison,which cost about 40 dollars.
and is the best all round book you can get.(tagiari publishing, [e-mail])

Permaculture means permanent agriculture
a concept put forward by Bill Mollisson in the 60`s
which is a complete hand book for environmental design.
for those who seek an ambiotic relationship with our planet
With practical solutions for energy systems ,infratructure ,housing,
animal shelter ,water systems and sustainable agricultural practises.
With the world and it`s history as it`s source
From the chinampas of Mexico to the teraced gardens of the Andes.
From the dessert whadis to the steppes of Russia.
Covering all climatic conditions temporal, dessert, humid and dry tropics.
with chapters on soil ,Water harvesting and land design,
Earth working ,Spirals in nature,Trees and water ,utilising energy flows,
Strategy for an alternative nation Source(s) some other writers that are on the internet are
david Holmgren
Larry Santoyo
Kirk Hanson

Masanobu Fukuaka has written ,
One-Straw Revolution
The Road Back to Nature
The Natural Way of Farming
http://www.context.org/iclib/ic14/fukuok...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/masanobu_fu...

Simon Henderson
and Bill Molisson.

a representitive of the concept in USA is
Dan Hemenway at [e-mail]
[e-mail]
http://barkingfrogspc.tripod.com/frames....
http://csf.colorado.edu/perma/ypc_catalo...

read Plan B by Lester E Brown.who is the director and founder of the global institute of Environment in the United states .he has compiled a report based on all the satalite information available from NASA,and all the information that has
come from Universities and American embassies WORLD WIDE ,
his little book--a planet under stress , Plan B has been trans lated into 50 languages and won the best book award in 2003.


I am a permaculture consultant for the department of Ecology for the regional government of Guerrero in Mexico

i got a yahoo 360 which has some stuff in English as well as this spaces
http://spaces.msn.com/byderule
and to this day they have not found a viable or economic way to do this

Answer 9

Ask the enviro wackos...they are starting to turn their heads on windmill energy now.