Comments on: Desal can mitigate California’s water woes

By: Ted Steele, CEO

Ted Steele, CEO — Tue, 04 Feb 2014 15:11:37 +0000

…or as Wendall Barry said……”Don’t piss in your cistern…”

By: Deepwater

Deepwater — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 14:44:46 +0000

Our father of Permaculture, Bill Mollison, taught us to not take what we can not give back to the earth. Our understanding of the marine and other aquatic environments from which we extract water for human needs must be intergrated with water supply by promoting the health of the planet. Desalination is an artificial supplement to the natural hydrologic cycle. When coupled with renewable energy sources and conducted under the principles of Permaculture, saline water bodies such as the Pacific Ocean and the S.F. Bay can provide us with a sustainable source of water with any salt content. This means we can extract water for aquaculture to give back to the Earth by aiding fisheries and other aquatic life, use the aquaculture controlled manmade environment as the desalination intake structure. This type of system removes the adverse impacts to the natural environment while providing positive and sustainable enhancements to the natural environment. And yes, the waste discharge (brine) from desalination can be integrated into the controlled aquaculture system. It is my opinion that we should couple our funding for marine preservation and research through the cost of desalination through the pricinciples of Permaculture. This is the path at the end which is also the beginning.

By: Ulysses Uhaul

Ulysses Uhaul — Fri, 24 Jan 2014 03:06:37 +0000

Skipped.

Hay feeds dairy cattle and sustains sheep and steers…..

Meat and milk products……dah?

By: bunkerqueen

bunkerqueen — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 20:48:23 +0000

In reply to The Ted Steele Conceptual Abstraction Unit. You really need to consult medical help for your stroke addled typing hand. Far too many "ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZs", and "????????????s" for polite company. Poor form really!

By: The Ted Steele Conceptual Abstraction Unit

The Ted Steele Conceptual Abstraction Unit — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 19:04:17 +0000

In reply to bunkerqueen. Hi Girlfriend! How's life way down iin the bunker????????????????????

By: The Ted Steele Conceptual Abstraction Unit

The Ted Steele Conceptual Abstraction Unit — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 19:03:24 +0000

In reply to SkippingDog.

Well said SkippingD—My God–Texas as a model for what???? Yikes!!!!

By: SkippingDog

SkippingDog — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 18:52:30 +0000

California agriculture uses 80% of the state’s water. Of that amount, 20% is used for growing hay – Hay! – and close to 50% is for orchard crops. Something on the order of 95% of the water used for agriculture is eventually lost through uptake and evaporation, which means that over 75% of our entire state water use ends up evaporating into the air.

Long before we impose additional residential water restrictions or begin the discussion about paying for new desalination plants, we should either reduce the amount of water available to low value crops such as hay or increase the price of water for such crops. It makes no sense for us to wast nearly 20% of our water on a low value/low return crop like hay and then claim we’re in the middle of a water crisis.

By: bunkerqueen

bunkerqueen — Wed, 22 Jan 2014 23:09:05 +0000

In reply to Ted Steele, CEO. Hi Tardsly!

By: Wayne Lusvardi

Wayne Lusvardi — Wed, 22 Jan 2014 18:30:57 +0000

My guess as to why desalination plants are abundant in Texas is cheap electric power from natural gas powered plants.

Along the California coastline there are many natural gas seeps where the gas burps up from the earth. California just lets its natural gas seep into the air without tapping it for energy production.

Desalination is costly at about $2,000 per acre foot of water even with the help of a co-generation power plant. It would work best in places like San Diego which does not have any natural groundwater basins. But desalination plants are located at low elevations near sea level and often have to find ways to pump the water uphill to convey it to customers rather than gravity flow.

Texas uses 595 gallons of water per household per day while California uses 696 gallons per household per day (see Texas Anti-Drought Plan is SWIFT; CA’s is SLOW). This is attributed to the control of water use by agricultural irrigation districts rather than by government.

Thanks for this article.

By: Ulysses Uhaul

Ulysses Uhaul — Wed, 22 Jan 2014 16:48:15 +0000

Yawn.