Massachusetts Considering Desalination Plants

Iphtashu Fitz writes "Despite a reservoir system containing some 412 billion gallons of water for Boston and surrounding communities, some eastern Massachusetts towns are facing water shortages and are now considering water desalination plants as a new source of fresh drinking water. The city of Brockton, 20 miles south of Boston, has plans in the works to build a $40 million plant and could begin construction as soon as this September. Currently there are fewer than 100 desalination plants in the US and most of them are in smaller communities, but that seems to be changing. The largest desalination plant in the country is located in Tampa, FL, which expects it to provide 10% of the citys drinking water by 2008. California also has at least 10 large scale plants on the drawing board. Some environmental organizations like the Conservation Law Foundation dispute the need for desalination plants however. They argue that many water shortages could simply be solved by better conservation of existing supplies."

Comments

Hostile To Business

[N8F8]

Maybe is your state were'nt so hostile to businesses the economy would be better.

From the CATO Institute:

For example, according to the Economic Policy Institute, the five states losing the most jobs between 1993 and 2000 were, in order, California, New York, Michigan, Texas and Ohio. According to figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Massachusetts also rank near the bottom, particularly when you take jobs as a percentage of population. The left-leaning EPI blames these losses chiefly on NAFTA, and perhaps that's partially the case. But aggressive tax and regulatory climates play a pretty big role, too.

Each year, CFO magazine asks financial executives to assess the business-friendliness of tax policy in their respective states, which the magazine then compiles and ranks. Ranking in the bottom 10? California, New York, Michigan, Texas, Ohio, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Massachusetts -- the very states that seem to be bleeding jobs. The most recent unemployment figures from the Labor Department put California, Texas, Ohio, Illinois, and Michigan all in the bottom 10 there, too, all with unemployment rates at 7.0 percent or higher.

Re:huh

[yulek]

Solution in the form of rationing = greens telling us how to live, meaning more power to them

oh come on! conservation is ALWAYS a good thing. fuck the politics. we're wasteful creatures.

Stupid.

[AyeRoxor!]

They argue that many water shortages could simply be solved by better conservation of existing supplies.

Yes, and nobody would starve if we all gave food to the hungry, and nobody would be poor if we all gave someone else some of our money. But it's not going to happen, is it?

These people are fucking morons. I'm sorry. I'm all for conservation, but I'm all for a reality check, too. You can't get everybody to conserve. As long as we're capitalists and we can just pay instead of working, we will continue to do so. That is irrefutable reality, no matter how rosy you WANT the world to be.