Eli5: why haven’t we started considering or implementing large scale desalinization in response to our water shortages?
In: 307
*”While there are many variables related to the cost of desalinated water…..a good rule of thumb is $1.10-2.40 per 1,000 gallons for brackish water and* ***$2.46-$4.30 per 1,000 gallons for seawater desalination****.”*
Now that you have the salt out of the water, what do you do with it? If you throw it back in the ocean, pretty soon the ocean will be too salty to sustain life. No more fish? No more tuna salad sandwiches! Next, what about the chemicals used in the process? They gotta go somewhere!
What about the energy required to remove the salt? It’s my understanding that the process uses a lot of energy. That’s expensive and bad for the environment.
So, what do we do? Make drinking water or kill the planet?
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