As the drought bakes its way toward a fourth year, the state has a string of secret weapons in the works that could supply millions of gallons of new drinking water and help stave off disaster: desalination plants.
Seventeen plants are in planning stages along the coast to convert salt water from the ocean or bays, including one near Concord that would serve every major water agency in the Bay Area.
That plant is tentatively targeted to open in 2020, but could be kick-started earlier in an emergency, officials say - and once online, would gush at least 20 million gallons a day of drinkable water.
Starting up this string of desalination plants would be no easy skate, though.
Machines that filter salt out of water still face the same opposition they have for generations from critics who say they are too expensive to run, kill fish as they
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"If we didn't have it, the whole area would be in trouble. We're not under any rationing here, but then we've been practicing conservation for years already, so we are responsible about our water use.
"I would absolutely recommend desalination for other areas."
Bay Area project
Two hours north of Sand City, there is cautious enthusiasm for the $150 million Bay Area Regional Desalination Plant - as well as serious reservations.
The biggest water agencies in the area, including San Francisco's, have been developing the plant since 2003 and ran a successful small pilot version of it three years ago to make sure the location would work. The plant would sit in windswept Mallard Slough outside Bay Point and draw from delta waters flowing into Suisun Bay.
"Certainly, the project is years out from being done, but it could be in the back of people's minds as a 'what if' - and if we got into dire straits, money could be mobilized fast to finish it," said Steve Ritchie, assistant general manager for water for the San Francisco Public Utilities
Close Mon Valley: USS already has close to 25% of unused capacity. Currently (1990) they have approximately 14.4 million tons of capacity. The Mon Valley plant would add another 3MM in capacity which is not necessarily needed. Maybe there is an opportunity to shift some (or most) of the orders from this plant to
Yet, humans have limited control on natural events, so this only reinforces the importance of managing water wisely. Recently California’s government has begun to focus more on sustaining and restoring the water supply. Dale Kasler (2016) articulates in his article some of the steps they have decided to make to solve this serious issue. The government has made the following investments: “$415 million for watershed restoration and other environmental aid for Lake Tahoe; up to $335 million for two proposed reservoirs in California, including the Sites reservoir north of Sacramento; $880 million for flood-control projects on the American and Sacramento rivers in Sacramento; and $780 million for flood-control projects in West Sacramento” (para. 10). This could be the first step to restoring the water to California. But these
”Just over 95 percent of the state now faces severe drought conditions and nearly 60 per cent is in exceptional drought” (Source2). A lot of people are dependent on water. If we run out of water we won’t be able to do stuff like take showers, wash dishes, and sometimes go to the restroom. We could not take care of people that are sick and need water. Also cleaning your clothes would be a problem.
With 1,400 miles of water and 9 states using it- water is running out fast. Farmers that use the water are saying that they have more legal rights to use the water since they are growing food to give to everyone. Although, cities are needing water to keep their people alive as well.
This will help save water because seventy-five percent of our water is used by farmers who use flood irrigation which is very wasteful. The second way to be resourceful is xeriscaping which is dry landscaping. By Xeriscaping water is being saved there’s no need to water your lawn or plants. Residential Californian’s spend about fifty percent of our water on watering the outdoors; that’s more than the rainfall we receive to be wasted on plants and lawns. The third way to be resourceful is desalinization technology which is by taking water out of the ocean and treating the water so there aren’t any impurities or salt in the water so it can be digested. This method is very costly and could also cause harm to the environment. Dozens of desalinization plants have been proposed to be built in California, but it isn’t cheap. The fourth way to be resourceful is by water recycling which is being used in parts of California; but isn’t used for drinking. However, the groundwater replenishment system has purifiers which make recycled water safe to drink. This is one of the best ideas on how to be resourceful because we already have groundwater replenishment systems in California. Water recycling is cheaper than desalinization and doesn’t cause harm to our environment. Lastly in being resourceful is conservation the average Californian household uses two-hundred gallons of water a day. Some good ways to conserve are: taking shorter showers, turning off water when not in
The answer to our drought will not be solved in a short amount of time, as a complex issue such as this requires long-term thinking. The state needs to update the water capture delivery systems and fix the groundwater problem due to a lack of regulation.
“Israel now gets 55 percent of its domestic water from desalination, and that has helped to turn one of the world’s driest countries into the unlikeliest of water giants.” (Jacobsen) Desalination is not a new idea it has been around for along time as far back as Aristotle in the 4th century and re emerging again the 1800s. Desalination is probably not going to be the magic solution to California 's drought problem at least not completely after all even the world’s biggest desal plants are only supplemental. The plants tend to not make enough water to support an entire population. Israel 's desal plant provide enough water for 2.8 million people, but California 's population is five times as bigger than israel 's and our agricultural industry is about thirty two times bigger. It can also be twice as expensive as treating other water sources due to having to heat the water. And there is also the problem of what to do with the leftover water or brine. Apparently you can’t just dump it back into the ocean as it could cause death to the nearby sea creatures due to it being too salty.
In the his brief but effectual article “The Wrong Way to Think about California Water”, the author Michael Hiltzik presents to the reader “a guide to the wrong ways to think about California water, and the glimmer of a better way”(Hiltzik). In the short piece, Hiltzik argues that the current debate on how California should be spending its meager allowance of water during the current drought is being thoroughly misguided. Hiltzik writes that people should stop criticizing businesses that consume “large” amounts of water, rather, the water already being used should be utilized more efficiently and effectively. “The only lasting solutions include creating a better-functioning water market with transparent pricing and transfers, so that water
The state of California remains lost as to what action to take with the drought. What is the proper solution to the current predicament residents of California are in? The answer to that question is an improved form of desalination and mandating the amount of water that farmer’s are available to and what crops they should be limited to. California coastline runs along eight hundred and forty miles of the Pacific Ocean. With this easy access to this water, desalination is the most plausible solution to the lack of water. It is a process in which salt is extracted from ocean water through a process called reverse osmosis. This process is incredibly expensive and power hungry but creating a
An Average of 1.6 trillion gallons of water are extracted from the Delta for the Central Valley Project and State Water Project on an annual basis (Holyoke). With so much demand, the Delta’s ecological balance has been deeply affected. Furthermore, water supplies and local uses are considered to be in crisis due to crashing number of fish species and old weak levees (Lund, et al.) It is feared that during a strong regional earthquake, many of the levees would fail. Due to the increasing demand on water supplies, conservation efforts, and hundreds of interests, the Delta is also the jugular of California’s water
With the Pacific Ocean lining the California coast line some may ask why can’t sea water be filtered and used as a source of free water. This is actually an alternative that has been researched and even put into use in places such as the Netherlands, Aruba, the Middle East and even right here in the U.S. This process is called desalinating seawater. Saltwater in its pure form cannot be used for drinking water and is deadly to plants, however if it goes through the process of desalinating it can be used. With California desperate for water Carlsbad, California decided to construct a desalinating plant. An article on NBCNEWS website states that the plant can produce “50 million gallons of freshwater a day from the sea and pour it into a water system that serves 3.1 million people”
Currently California is facing a water shortage. The issue has been addressed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in February. He called for all state agencies to find the way to help in the statewide water shortage. This is California’s third consecutive year of drought and last spring and summer was the worst of the season because it had the lowest amount of water recorded and California’s reservoirs were at their lowest point as well which did not help in the water shortage. Many agencies have been acquired to find possible solutions to the water shortage, the Department of Water Resources has been directed to find solutions to the problem as well as asking people to conserve water.
The damming and flooding the Hetch Hetchy valley will resolve the insufficiency of a water supply in San Francisco. Approving the Raker bill will
U.S Bureau of reclamation made this project to help with farming conditions and the water from the colorado river it also uses the laguna dam and some power plants and the system canals.
Desalination is one of the more popular options being considered to attempt to terminate the drought. Desalination is a process through which salt water is pumped from the ocean in to a treatment facility, and then the salt is extracted to make it possible to be used domestically. This is a long drawn out process, which involves seven different steps. The steps of desalination include the