Can Seawater Desalination Solve California's Drought?

In the year 2016, the people of San Diego County will be drinking seawater. Not straight out of the Pacific, of course; the water - up to 54 million gallons per day - will first pass through the Carlsbad Desalination Plant, the largest desalination facility ever built in the Western Hemisphere. Is purified saltwater the answer to California's drought? Businessweek's Sam Grobart investigates. (Video by: Alan Jeffries, Ryo Ikegami)

[hargobindsingh]

why isn't it powered with solar, wind and wave?

[blackvrtt]

"Plant uses 32-38 mega watts" - 32 million watts is definitely a lot of power on a consistent basis. To make desal viable for the future, they should be covering the top of the plant with solar, and adding battery storage capacity. Some wind power may also be needed where appropriate.

[Daywalkerr]

get some solar panels on that building yo

[korelly]

50 percent of the water used in a house is actually used by the toilet, and the toilet doesn't need drink water, it doesn't need fresh water, it doesn't need cleaner water at all. It can use the dirty water from the wash machine, from the shower and from the bath. Installing a special reservoir to recuperate those grey waters and use that water a second time for the toilet would cut the needs of water by half. After, all used waters could be reused for the agriculture instead of being just rejected into the ocean. After all it is unsalted water and it costs more expensive to make it drinkable again than desalinate the sea water. And another solution, use the water intelligently and stop wasting it.

[MyplayListsYY]

I'm not sure what the real motivation of opponents to desalination is. The issues I often hear are technological hurdles that can be overcome, even the cost will come down as technology advances and becomes more common place. It seems opponents have more of an ideological opposition to desalination.

[MattUK]

Sure it can. Ask Gran Canaria in Spain for help. They have over 50 years experience, they have advised Israel and the United Arab Emirates on their desalination system.

[mikeshafer]

It sounds like nuclear-powered desalinization is the key. Actually, nuclear is the key that a lot of people don't want to admit is the only solution we have for pretty much everything in our future.

[marvinwilson]

I think scientists should look into the idea of using the brine waste from the desalination process to store electric power before it is put back into the ocean!!!

[emmanuelr]

Brine lakes are the answer to the brine issue, and will lower the temperature in deserts. Pump the brine to the California deserts.

[malcolmsmith]

Could they maybe bring salt water inland to a basin let it evaporate and then seed the air near fields to reduce consumption?
Maybe you could also sell the salt that builds up cheap to bring in more industry?
I know theres areas of desert well below sea level. Are there any within a reasonable distance of the ocean so you don't need to lay to much pipe channel flooded tunnel ect?

[JusdoinstuF]

Love these videos. Short, informative, easy to understand, and interesting topics. Keep making them.

[drevilatwork]

Question for california residents: how much do you pay per month for house water alone? 25$? 50$? 200$?

[drseuss]

Could send clean soft water (has cloride via sodium chloride already in it) from the Atlantic to every home, then run soft / salt water to showers and toilets, then people have a small distiller at the kitchen which disinfects and removes salt for drinking, about a gallon a day per adult.

If the shower water is too soft people can buy a water de-softener, or whole house reverse osmosis system

[rhoelzel]

What are they using as an energy source to power the unit - Note that the desel plant is the single largest power user in San Diego Co. which is the major concern with many of the hydro plants going off-line and no solar, wind, or wave would not be able to fill the gap without exuberant O&M costs and a major footprint. Possibly a a dedicated nuclear facility on smaller scale such like the power plants found on many aircraft carries and submarines which would reduce costs equal to that of pumping groundwater.

[joking]

That's exactly what I had been thinking not even four days ago!

[John-oenb]

It is not lack of water, it is too many people wanting it. The earth is WAY overpopulated.

[madhatter]

Of course desalination is the answer, people simply need to pull their head out and start building more plants.

[zylzyl]

We are a "coastal" state, I can't see how the Government is not using some of the surplus money to invest in "desalination" plants
But then I do understand why the Government is not doing it, EVERY ONE IS POCKETING THE MONEY, money that is of aide FROM the Federal Reserve, and since WE, the lower class are the ones TAX for it not the rich nor any government on a higher chair

[RimWulf]

Gray water recycling. There's literally plans online from a company that extracts water from human waste during it into clean distilled drinking water with a fertilizing byproduct.

[movingforward]

There is everlasting freshwater under the earth that comes up to the top, it can't run dry so the questions is what's up with this so-called drought.