Water Supply: Ocean

[Aimster]

Anyone know if this is being done or why it can't be done?
Is there not a way to purify the ocean water?

Was reading about the water shortage in parts of the U.S and was wondering if we can't just use the ocean's water and purify it and use it for drinking water. The only thing I could think of is that it is costly.

Please shed some light water experts.

 

[necine]

desalinization... it's very expensive.

 

[KK]

they do it in saudi.

 

[Tobolo]

Yes very expensive and then you also have to figure out how to get the water inland. For instance, Georgia needs water in the northern portion of the state. The cost to build a pipeline would be huge and you also have to figure how to get the water to flow up aprox 900ft (above see level near atlanta).

So, anyway, there are many reasons why.

 

[soydios]

The energy cost is huge, and it only works on the coast. They're considering it for coastal San Diego, but we've got a nuclear power plant twenty miles north of the proposed site.

 

[91TTZ]

Originally posted by: Aimster
Anyone know if this is being done or why it can't be done?
Is there not a way to purify the ocean water?

Was reading about the water shortage in parts of the U.S and was wondering if we can't just use the ocean's water and purify it and use it for drinking water. The only thing I could think of is that it is costly.

Please shed some light water experts.

You can't be serious. There's no way that you thought about this for more than a minute before posting, otherwise you would've found your answer anywhere you looked.

 

[Wreckem]

Its extremely expensive and inefficent.

Some middle eastern countries rely heavily on it but they have oil revenue to offset the costs.

 

[warmodder]

They work great in simcity.


But yea, they're expensive like everyone else said.

 

[George P Burdell]

Originally posted by: Wreckem
Its extremely expensive and inefficent.

Some middle eastern countries rely heavily on it but they have oil revenue to offset the costs.

 

[potato28]

Why? I got a perfectly good stream near by, and a lake about 4 km south.

 

[gururu2]

we would save so much water if we used sterile ocean water for toilets, showers and other non-drinking applications.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

No current way to do it cheaply and quickly.

They do have plans for very large desalination plants. VERY large and expensive. Tey basically are large atriums that use condenation to their advantage. The condensation is then collected, making drinking water.

 

[TwiceOver]

Yeah its expensive. Also it leaves a concentrated very salty waste water product.

 

[daveymark]

Originally posted by: gururu2
we would save so much water if we used sterile ocean water for toilets

yes, but then dogs would go thirsty

 

[daveymark]

Originally posted by: TwiceOver
Yeah its expensive. Also it leaves a concentrated very salty waste water product.

just dump it in the ocean

 

[Aimster]

Originally posted by: 91TTZ

Originally posted by: Aimster
Anyone know if this is being done or why it can't be done?
Is there not a way to purify the ocean water?

Was reading about the water shortage in parts of the U.S and was wondering if we can't just use the ocean's water and purify it and use it for drinking water. The only thing I could think of is that it is costly.

Please shed some light water experts.

You can't be serious. There's no way that you thought about this for more than a minute before posting, otherwise you would've found your answer anywhere you looked.

I looked here and I found my answer.

 

[techs]

Originally posted by: gururu2
we would save so much water if we used sterile ocean water for toilets, showers and other non-drinking applications.

No can do. The salt would build up in a short while, clogging pipes, etc. Plus you can't really shower in salt water. Not unless you want to walk around with fine dusting of salt on you all day.

 

[mrSHEiK124]

Originally posted by: gururu2
we would save so much water if we used sterile ocean water for toilets, showers and other non-drinking applications.

You know, salty water would cause a lot of freakin problems in the shower.

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: gururu2
we would save so much water if we used sterile ocean water for toilets, showers and other non-drinking applications.

Have you ever been in the ocean? It does not make for good bathing water.

 

[FoBoT]

we don't even have an ocean here in missouri

 

[MegaVovaN]

If we had nuclear fission (safe/cheap reaction like on the Sun): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fusion
, then we would have pretty much free energy and this would have been possible.

With regular nuclear fusion plants, energy costs are too high.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: MegaVovaN
If we had nuclear fission (safe/cheap reaction like on the Sun): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fusion
, then we would have pretty much free energy and this would have been possible.

With regular nuclear fusion plants, energy costs are too high.

PSSST! You have it backwards. The sun uses fusion, current powerplants use fission.

ZV

 

[WildHorse]

my area invested the big bucks in a desalinization plant, as an emergency backup water supply if a then-prevailing drought continued much longer.

A whole lot of money was sunk into it, and it sat dormant for several years, I think they only ever turned it on once since the early 1990s.


http://www.countyofsb.org/pwd/water/desalination.htm

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Originally posted by: MegaVovaN
If we had nuclear fusion (safe/cheap reaction like on the Sun): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fusion
, then we would have pretty much free energy and this would have been possible.

Without regular nuclear fusion plants, energy costs are too high.

fixed?

I'd argue that fusion isn't necessary, fission is enough but with all the nuclearphobia that has plagued the U.S. for past few decades, getting new fission plants up and running any time soon is just about as optimistic as getting a profitable fusion reactor up and running within the next 50 years.

If we had gone full tilt nuclear (at least on the coasts) we could definitely do it and our only major worries then would most likely be how to deal with the brine (very salty sludge-like byproduct) pollution.

 

[heyheybooboo]

Kill Devil Hills (NC) Reverse Osmosis Desalination Water Plant

from 1999:

. . . major operating cost: the electricity used to generate the reverse osmosis (RO) pressure needed to push the feedwater through the RO membranes -- 2.981 kilowatt hours per thousand gallons (ptg) with cost of $0.134 ptg and the electrical cost is 30.5% of the total cost to produce the water...

Let's say that is around $.50 per 1000 gallons

Best info I can find on amortized capital costs (from 2003)

...future plants will be built at an average rate of $3.30 per 1,000 gallons...

From my short research the lifespan of the RO plants is shorter than that of a conventional water treatment plant and maintenance costs are higher - need to backwash the membranes frequently.

From direct seawater, recovery rates are around 40-45%; i.e., for every 100 gallons of seawater you get 40-45 gallons of potable drinking water.

The Kill Devil Hills plant uses brackish seawater and they claimed a 75% recovery rate.