Wait For That Giant Sucking Sound

[Wonky3]

Amid Drought, California Experiments With Leasing Water Rights.


http://www.propublica.org/article/amid-d...ter-rights


We have water.
They don't.
They have a lot of money.
Watch for a BIG water pipe sucking all the water from Crater Lake. 
Or The Rogue.
Or The Columbia
Or Ashland Creek. 


They WILL find a place to buy some water. 


I'm gonna tear out my lawn and plant cactus. Or maybe just pave the whole place. 

[Hugo]

CALIFORNIAN LIVES MATTER!!!!

[bbqboy]

That was funny.

[Cuzz]

Of all the water sources you list, only the Columbia has the volume to satisfy California's wants. I'd hate to see that happen. I much prefer they figure out some way to update western water law. Though that's a pretty tall order and they'd probably mess it up even worse.

[Wonky3]

Of all the water sources you list, only the Columbia has the volume to satisfy California's wants. I'd hate to see that happen. I much prefer they figure out some way to update western water law. Though that's a pretty tall order and they'd probably mess it up even worse.

Hey Cuzz...
It's CALIFORNIA! They don't care about sources. They will run pipes from ALL sources into one giant pipe and suck us dry. But the joke is on the them. I'm thinking of moving to Bly. Who needs water. 

[Wonky3]

That was funny.

Over the top funny! 

Hugo gets 10 points. (Ten points will get you used (but clean!) underwear at Ye Ol RVF swap shop) 

PS: If there are some of you who "don't get it", well...
See BBQ is adverse to using the reply feature. (Something about his Commodore computer). Had he "replied" to Hugo's post, this would make more sense. 

[bbqboy]

I can't help it if you can't follow along.

[Wonky3]

I can't help it if you can't follow along.

Sure you can. Use the reply feature. Everyone else does.

[Cuzz]

I can't help it if you can't follow along.

Sure you can. Use the reply feature. Everyone else does.

Over and over and over.....  

[bbqboy]

It is amazing.

[chuck white]

They have a large coast line. The Pacific ocean has a lot of water.

[Wonky3]

It is amazing.

It is, really.
Being contrary for no good reason is just childish. 

Christopher Hitchens, famous and respected for his contrary views with regard to objections of organized religion that he saw as harmful to social and intellectual growth, had a point. We could agree, or not, but at least he was contrary with reason, and expressed it with an argument that was logical and reasonable. 

You, on the other hand, are contrary in the same way a child is who won't follow simple instructions that others respect. You don't feel the need to conform to the common function of this place because your are....? Special? 

Do as you will. And I will continue to make remarks about the occasional confusion you cause by not using the reply feature. 

[Wonky3]

I can't help it if you can't follow along.

Sure you can. Use the reply feature. Everyone else does.

Over and over and over.....  

Exactly. Over and over and over, he insists on "doing it his way" without regard to using the function provided that everyone else seems to use without a problem. 

[Wonky3]

They have a large coast line. The Pacific ocean has a lot of water.

Seriously? 

[chuck white]

They have a large coast line. The Pacific ocean has a lot of water.

Seriously? 

Yes, desalination works in many parts of the world.

[tvguy]

They have a large coast line. The Pacific ocean has a lot of water.

Seriously? 

Yes, desalination works in many parts of the world.

 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 suck in briny water, and spew greenhouse gases into the air from the energy they require to run.

But in recent years, as technology and techniques for desalination have improved, such plants have gained momentum - enough so that in Carlsbad near San Diego, the biggest desalination facility in the Western Hemisphere is under construction and set to begin operation in two years.

The $1 billion plant will tap the biggest water tank around, the Pacific Ocean. It will produce 50 million gallons of potable water daily, supplying more than 110,000 customers throughout San Diego County.

Another large plant, with a potential price tag of $400 million, could begin construction in Monterey County by 2018. It would be near the only desalination plant in California that fills the needs of an entire municipality - the one that has been supplying water to Sand City, population 334, since 2010.

"It's a miracle how we managed to get this plant," said Sand City Mayor David Pendergrass. "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 Commission.

San Francisco has been developing the plant with the East Bay Municipal Utility District, the Santa Clara Valley Water District, the Contra Costa Water District and the Zone 7 Water Agency, which serves the Livermore region. So far the consortium has spent $2.5 million in mostly state grant money on the plan.

Supplemental source

If built, the plant would be only a supplemental source for districts that collectively distribute about 750 million gallons of water a day. But that still makes it an important potential weapon in the fight for dwindling supply, proponents said.

The agencies' officials emphasized they would explore other options such as conservation, recycling and tapping new groundwater wells before turning to desalination. But even the prospect of the plant opening has some environmentalists concerned.

New plants require electricity that puts more greenhouse gases in the air, when simple conservation methods should be encouraged instead, some say. There is also the possibility that the pumps could suck in and kill small marine organisms and fish such as the endangered delta smelt, although the Concord-area plant's designers say that's unlikely because of its location at the side of a flowing channel.

Environmental fears

Also, though the delta water at Mallard Slough is brackish water rather than seawater - meaning it contains less salt and requires less energy to screen - the salinity level is expected to increase in coming decades as sea levels rise. And as the salinity goes up, so does the cost of screening the water. That cost would probably be passed on to water customers.

Similar environmental and cost concerns over the past couple of years have stalled plans to build desalination plants in Santa Cruz and Marin County.

"We actually support desalination when properly used, but you should look at the other options first," said Charlotte Allen, co-chairwoman of the Sierra Club Bay Chapter Water Committee.

The delta water plant - like the other 16 proposed along the coast and a handful of tiny plants already in use besides Sand City - would use a method called reverse osmosis, in which salty water is pulled in through filters. Typically, it takes two gallons of salty water to produce one gallon of potable water.

Mothballed plant

During the last major California drought, from 1985 to 1991, there was enough interest in desalination that a large plant was built to serve Santa Barbara. But it was promptly mothballed after being finished in 1992. By then, with the drought over, water from traditional sources was again about two-thirds cheaper than the $3,000 per acre-foot it cost to produce the plant's water.

An acre-foot is equivalent to one acre covered by water 1 foot deep, enough to supply two families of four for a year.

That cost gap has narrowed, however. With better screens and technology that helps the plants power themselves by recycling the energy used to suck in water - in a way, like a hybrid car regenerates power from its own motion - the typical cost of running desalination plants can dip below $2,000 an acre-foot. Because pulling up groundwater from wells and recycling water can now cost the same or more, desalination is suddenly relatively affordable for many areas - such as the Bay Area.

Surface water from reservoirs and mountain runoff, in plentiful years, can be as cheap as $100 an acre-foot. But that bargain has become scarce in the drought.

An expensive option

"In most areas of California we have exhausted a lot of the obvious water sources, and desalination is certainly an option - but it tends to be among the most expensive, even though the price has come down from what it was in 1991," said Heather Cooley, a senior water researcher with the Pacific Research Institute, a nonprofit in Oakland. "Certainly there are other options that can be looked at first."

She also noted that with no sizable desalination plants operating in California, there hasn't been much study on the full effect they could have on the coastline.

"I would argue there is a risk in building too early or too big," Cooley said. "Our understanding is improving. We know the technology works. But the challenge is that it is not appropriate in every location.

"It would be better to go forward very carefully."

[Wonky3]

They have a large coast line. The Pacific ocean has a lot of water.

Seriously? 

Yes, desalination works in many parts of the world.

 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 suck in briny water, and spew greenhouse gases into the air from the energy they require to run.

But in recent years, as technology and techniques for desalination have improved, such plants have gained momentum - enough so that in Carlsbad near San Diego, the biggest desalination facility in the Western Hemisphere is under construction and set to begin operation in two years.

The $1 billion plant will tap the biggest water tank around, the Pacific Ocean. It will produce 50 million gallons of potable water daily, supplying more than 110,000 customers throughout San Diego County.

Another large plant, with a potential price tag of $400 million, could begin construction in Monterey County by 2018. It would be near the only desalination plant in California that fills the needs of an entire municipality - the one that has been supplying water to Sand City, population 334, since 2010.

"It's a miracle how we managed to get this plant," said Sand City Mayor David Pendergrass. "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 Commission.

San Francisco has been developing the plant with the East Bay Municipal Utility District, the Santa Clara Valley Water District, the Contra Costa Water District and the Zone 7 Water Agency, which serves the Livermore region. So far the consortium has spent $2.5 million in mostly state grant money on the plan.

Supplemental source

If built, the plant would be only a supplemental source for districts that collectively distribute about 750 million gallons of water a day. But that still makes it an important potential weapon in the fight for dwindling supply, proponents said.

The agencies' officials emphasized they would explore other options such as conservation, recycling and tapping new groundwater wells before turning to desalination. But even the prospect of the plant opening has some environmentalists concerned.

New plants require electricity that puts more greenhouse gases in the air, when simple conservation methods should be encouraged instead, some say. There is also the possibility that the pumps could suck in and kill small marine organisms and fish such as the endangered delta smelt, although the Concord-area plant's designers say that's unlikely because of its location at the side of a flowing channel.

Environmental fears

Also, though the delta water at Mallard Slough is brackish water rather than seawater - meaning it contains less salt and requires less energy to screen - the salinity level is expected to increase in coming decades as sea levels rise. And as the salinity goes up, so does the cost of screening the water. That cost would probably be passed on to water customers.

Similar environmental and cost concerns over the past couple of years have stalled plans to build desalination plants in Santa Cruz and Marin County.

"We actually support desalination when properly used, but you should look at the other options first," said Charlotte Allen, co-chairwoman of the Sierra Club Bay Chapter Water Committee.

The delta water plant - like the other 16 proposed along the coast and a handful of tiny plants already in use besides Sand City - would use a method called reverse osmosis, in which salty water is pulled in through filters. Typically, it takes two gallons of salty water to produce one gallon of potable water.

Mothballed plant

During the last major California drought, from 1985 to 1991, there was enough interest in desalination that a large plant was built to serve Santa Barbara. But it was promptly mothballed after being finished in 1992. By then, with the drought over, water from traditional sources was again about two-thirds cheaper than the $3,000 per acre-foot it cost to produce the plant's water.

An acre-foot is equivalent to one acre covered by water 1 foot deep, enough to supply two families of four for a year.

That cost gap has narrowed, however. With better screens and technology that helps the plants power themselves by recycling the energy used to suck in water - in a way, like a hybrid car regenerates power from its own motion - the typical cost of running desalination plants can dip below $2,000 an acre-foot. Because pulling up groundwater from wells and recycling water can now cost the same or more, desalination is suddenly relatively affordable for many areas - such as the Bay Area.

Surface water from reservoirs and mountain runoff, in plentiful years, can be as cheap as $100 an acre-foot. But that bargain has become scarce in the drought.

An expensive option

"In most areas of California we have exhausted a lot of the obvious water sources, and desalination is certainly an option - but it tends to be among the most expensive, even though the price has come down from what it was in 1991," said Heather Cooley, a senior water researcher with the Pacific Research Institute, a nonprofit in Oakland. "Certainly there are other options that can be looked at first."

She also noted that with no sizable desalination plants operating in California, there hasn't been much study on the full effect they could have on the coastline.

"I would argue there is a risk in building too early or too big," Cooley said. "Our understanding is improving. We know the technology works. But the challenge is that it is not appropriate in every location.

"It would be better to go forward very carefully."

"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 Commission."


Curious stuff TVg. Do you have a link to this? 

[tvguy]

They have a large coast line. The Pacific ocean has a lot of water.

Seriously? 

Yes, desalination works in many parts of the world.

 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 suck in briny water, and spew greenhouse gases into the air from the energy they require to run.

But in recent years, as technology and techniques for desalination have improved, such plants have gained momentum - enough so that in Carlsbad near San Diego, the biggest desalination facility in the Western Hemisphere is under construction and set to begin operation in two years.

The $1 billion plant will tap the biggest water tank around, the Pacific Ocean. It will produce 50 million gallons of potable water daily, supplying more than 110,000 customers throughout San Diego County.

Another large plant, with a potential price tag of $400 million, could begin construction in Monterey County by 2018. It would be near the only desalination plant in California that fills the needs of an entire municipality - the one that has been supplying water to Sand City, population 334, since 2010.

"It's a miracle how we managed to get this plant," said Sand City Mayor David Pendergrass. "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 Commission.

San Francisco has been developing the plant with the East Bay Municipal Utility District, the Santa Clara Valley Water District, the Contra Costa Water District and the Zone 7 Water Agency, which serves the Livermore region. So far the consortium has spent $2.5 million in mostly state grant money on the plan.

Supplemental source

If built, the plant would be only a supplemental source for districts that collectively distribute about 750 million gallons of water a day. But that still makes it an important potential weapon in the fight for dwindling supply, proponents said.

The agencies' officials emphasized they would explore other options such as conservation, recycling and tapping new groundwater wells before turning to desalination. But even the prospect of the plant opening has some environmentalists concerned.

New plants require electricity that puts more greenhouse gases in the air, when simple conservation methods should be encouraged instead, some say. There is also the possibility that the pumps could suck in and kill small marine organisms and fish such as the endangered delta smelt, although the Concord-area plant's designers say that's unlikely because of its location at the side of a flowing channel.

Environmental fears

Also, though the delta water at Mallard Slough is brackish water rather than seawater - meaning it contains less salt and requires less energy to screen - the salinity level is expected to increase in coming decades as sea levels rise. And as the salinity goes up, so does the cost of screening the water. That cost would probably be passed on to water customers.

Similar environmental and cost concerns over the past couple of years have stalled plans to build desalination plants in Santa Cruz and Marin County.

"We actually support desalination when properly used, but you should look at the other options first," said Charlotte Allen, co-chairwoman of the Sierra Club Bay Chapter Water Committee.

The delta water plant - like the other 16 proposed along the coast and a handful of tiny plants already in use besides Sand City - would use a method called reverse osmosis, in which salty water is pulled in through filters. Typically, it takes two gallons of salty water to produce one gallon of potable water.

Mothballed plant

During the last major California drought, from 1985 to 1991, there was enough interest in desalination that a large plant was built to serve Santa Barbara. But it was promptly mothballed after being finished in 1992. By then, with the drought over, water from traditional sources was again about two-thirds cheaper than the $3,000 per acre-foot it cost to produce the plant's water.

An acre-foot is equivalent to one acre covered by water 1 foot deep, enough to supply two families of four for a year.

That cost gap has narrowed, however. With better screens and technology that helps the plants power themselves by recycling the energy used to suck in water - in a way, like a hybrid car regenerates power from its own motion - the typical cost of running desalination plants can dip below $2,000 an acre-foot. Because pulling up groundwater from wells and recycling water can now cost the same or more, desalination is suddenly relatively affordable for many areas - such as the Bay Area.

Surface water from reservoirs and mountain runoff, in plentiful years, can be as cheap as $100 an acre-foot. But that bargain has become scarce in the drought.

An expensive option

"In most areas of California we have exhausted a lot of the obvious water sources, and desalination is certainly an option - but it tends to be among the most expensive, even though the price has come down from what it was in 1991," said Heather Cooley, a senior water researcher with the Pacific Research Institute, a nonprofit in Oakland. "Certainly there are other options that can be looked at first."

She also noted that with no sizable desalination plants operating in California, there hasn't been much study on the full effect they could have on the coastline.

"I would argue there is a risk in building too early or too big," Cooley said. "Our understanding is improving. We know the technology works. But the challenge is that it is not appropriate in every location.

"It would be better to go forward very carefully."

"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 Commission."


Curious stuff TVg. Do you have a link to this? 

I was too lazy to post a link. I thought I C&Ped the entire article anyway. Just for the record you could find this article by Googeling a single sentence from the story... like  
"Seventeen plants are in planning stages along the coast to convert salt water"

But you probably knew that


  http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Desal...239096.php

[chuck white]

There are new technologies that haven't hit the street yet on desalination.
http://phys.org/news/2012-08-desalination-faster.html

[Wonky3]

Seriously? 

Yes, desalination works in many parts of the world.

 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 suck in briny water, and spew greenhouse gases into the air from the energy they require to run.

But in recent years, as technology and techniques for desalination have improved, such plants have gained momentum - enough so that in Carlsbad near San Diego, the biggest desalination facility in the Western Hemisphere is under construction and set to begin operation in two years.

The $1 billion plant will tap the biggest water tank around, the Pacific Ocean. It will produce 50 million gallons of potable water daily, supplying more than 110,000 customers throughout San Diego County.

Another large plant, with a potential price tag of $400 million, could begin construction in Monterey County by 2018. It would be near the only desalination plant in California that fills the needs of an entire municipality - the one that has been supplying water to Sand City, population 334, since 2010.

"It's a miracle how we managed to get this plant," said Sand City Mayor David Pendergrass. "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 Commission.

San Francisco has been developing the plant with the East Bay Municipal Utility District, the Santa Clara Valley Water District, the Contra Costa Water District and the Zone 7 Water Agency, which serves the Livermore region. So far the consortium has spent $2.5 million in mostly state grant money on the plan.

Supplemental source

If built, the plant would be only a supplemental source for districts that collectively distribute about 750 million gallons of water a day. But that still makes it an important potential weapon in the fight for dwindling supply, proponents said.

The agencies' officials emphasized they would explore other options such as conservation, recycling and tapping new groundwater wells before turning to desalination. But even the prospect of the plant opening has some environmentalists concerned.

New plants require electricity that puts more greenhouse gases in the air, when simple conservation methods should be encouraged instead, some say. There is also the possibility that the pumps could suck in and kill small marine organisms and fish such as the endangered delta smelt, although the Concord-area plant's designers say that's unlikely because of its location at the side of a flowing channel.

Environmental fears

Also, though the delta water at Mallard Slough is brackish water rather than seawater - meaning it contains less salt and requires less energy to screen - the salinity level is expected to increase in coming decades as sea levels rise. And as the salinity goes up, so does the cost of screening the water. That cost would probably be passed on to water customers.

Similar environmental and cost concerns over the past couple of years have stalled plans to build desalination plants in Santa Cruz and Marin County.

"We actually support desalination when properly used, but you should look at the other options first," said Charlotte Allen, co-chairwoman of the Sierra Club Bay Chapter Water Committee.

The delta water plant - like the other 16 proposed along the coast and a handful of tiny plants already in use besides Sand City - would use a method called reverse osmosis, in which salty water is pulled in through filters. Typically, it takes two gallons of salty water to produce one gallon of potable water.

Mothballed plant

During the last major California drought, from 1985 to 1991, there was enough interest in desalination that a large plant was built to serve Santa Barbara. But it was promptly mothballed after being finished in 1992. By then, with the drought over, water from traditional sources was again about two-thirds cheaper than the $3,000 per acre-foot it cost to produce the plant's water.

An acre-foot is equivalent to one acre covered by water 1 foot deep, enough to supply two families of four for a year.

That cost gap has narrowed, however. With better screens and technology that helps the plants power themselves by recycling the energy used to suck in water - in a way, like a hybrid car regenerates power from its own motion - the typical cost of running desalination plants can dip below $2,000 an acre-foot. Because pulling up groundwater from wells and recycling water can now cost the same or more, desalination is suddenly relatively affordable for many areas - such as the Bay Area.

Surface water from reservoirs and mountain runoff, in plentiful years, can be as cheap as $100 an acre-foot. But that bargain has become scarce in the drought.

An expensive option

"In most areas of California we have exhausted a lot of the obvious water sources, and desalination is certainly an option - but it tends to be among the most expensive, even though the price has come down from what it was in 1991," said Heather Cooley, a senior water researcher with the Pacific Research Institute, a nonprofit in Oakland. "Certainly there are other options that can be looked at first."

She also noted that with no sizable desalination plants operating in California, there hasn't been much study on the full effect they could have on the coastline.

"I would argue there is a risk in building too early or too big," Cooley said. "Our understanding is improving. We know the technology works. But the challenge is that it is not appropriate in every location.

"It would be better to go forward very carefully."

"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 Commission."


Curious stuff TVg. Do you have a link to this? 

I was too lazy to post a link. I thought I C&Ped the entire article anyway. Just for the record you could find this article by Googeling a single sentence from the story... like  
"Seventeen plants are in planning stages along the coast to convert salt water"

But you probably knew that


  http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Desal...239096.php

You won't believe this but thats' THE ONE THING I didn't know.   

Interesting stuff. Can you (we) even imagine what a world changer it would be if they could somehow get the cost down to do this! The whole planet could be green. My guess is that it may be a long, long time before it "comes on line". But, sometimes breakthroughs happen and things change fast. We can hope.