Desalination Plant Begins Operation in Tampa

ambisinistral writes "The Tampa Tribune reports that the first commercial desalination plant in the U.S. is set to begin operations today. By March the plant is expected to be operating at full capacity, producing 25 million gallons of fresh water a day (10% of the water currently provided to the area from well fields). There are ecological concerns about returning highly saline water from the plant back into Tampa Bay. Proponents of desalination claim the natural tide cycle will effectively flush the bay of the saline rich discharge, while opponents of the plant feel the ecology of the bay will be badly damaged. Both sides plan on strict monitoring of the situation."

Comments

It's about time

[dschuetz]

We in the US take water for granted. It's basically free -- cheaper than all other utilities, our water bill is about $15 a month, tops.

Not only do we take it for granted, we tend to take it at the expense of the environment or others downstream. The Colorado River, for example, is only a trickle of a dried-up stream where it used to dump into the ocean, and many Mexican communities have been lost, all because people keep moving to LA and, well, needing water.

We need to be much more aware of how we use water in this country, and most importantly, start looking for alternative sources whenever local demands start to affect the ecology or overall flow levels of major rivers.

Desalinization is a great step -- but the next big step would be builidng the huge pipelines (or canals, which'd be much cheaper) to bring water from the coasts to interior cities (though, since most of the population, and thus, most of the worst of the water problems, are near the coast, this isn't as bad as it might be). (yes, I'm ignoring cyclical dust-bowl problems or interior water-starved cities like San Antonio).

Of course, if this current effort flops, then it'll be much tougher to get other cities interested in the program.

It'd be, obviously, preferable of they could use some kind of distillation system, rather than permeable membranes, to arrive at "pure" water with disposable solids (that might themselves be mineable for things like table salt or other chemicals). On the other hand, it might be possible to pipe the very salty "leftover" water back into the ocean, but through a wide-ranging diffusion network over several hundred square miles.

At any rate, I really hope this works!

2 Sides to Every Story

[ConeFish]

I believe that both the proponents of the project, as well as the ecology-defenders, have valid points.

But, just remember to take everything with a grain of salt...