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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."

10 of 356 comments (clear)

  1. Waste of Money by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wouldn't it be just easier to buy bottled water than build a whole plant ??

    1. Re:Waste of Money by Kirill+Lokshin · · Score: 4, Funny

      According to the SimCity model of economics, buying water is cheaper in the short run, but then your neighbors will start raising prices on you...

  2. Simpson's Relationship? by mrpuffypants · · Score: 4, Funny

    The city of Brockton, 20 miles south of Boston,

    I hear that Ogdenville and North Haverbrook have also installed desalinazation plants and look....it put them on the map!

  3. Lets emulate Family Guy in real life by odano · · Score: 5, Funny

    They should do what I saw in family guy. They just had a machine combined an oxygen molecule with 2 hydrogen. The water it made was really good.

  4. Still asleep by VirexEye · · Score: 3, Funny
    Massachusetts Considering Desolating Planets

    When did Massachusetts get so evilly ambitious?

  5. Re:Enviromental issue anyone? by CrowScape · · Score: 5, Funny

    Oh if only we hadn't dumped all that salt into the oceans!

    Just another example of putting WAY too much emphasis on the "common" and none on the "sense."

    --
    common sense: noun
    What those who are ignorant of the subject matter think; usually wrong.
  6. Re:huh by GKChesterton · · Score: 5, Funny

    The environmentalists are whining about it because it involves living people. Anything involving people who are actually alive is evil, don't you know that? This planet is a precious web of (non-human) life that is balanced on a knife's edge. If you sweat too much, or do anything that you might enjoy... well... the whole planet could explode.

  7. Power? Not a problem by John+Jorsett · · Score: 4, Funny
    The main objection to desalination plants is that they are highly energy intensive.

    Big deal. Just build a nuclear power plant next to them. Problem solved. Oh, and the excess energy can be used to power the baby seal slaughterhouse and for rendering whale blubber.

  8. Sim City!? by nzgeek · · Score: 4, Funny

    Is it just me, or does this sound like a headline from the newspaper in the original Sim City? :)

    Right up there with "Metroville Builds Airport".

  9. Thank you Ted Kennedy by AtariAmarok · · Score: 4, Funny

    We can thank Ted Kennedy for pushing for this initiative. He is tired of salt water ruining his clothes when he goes driving.

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.