Desalination cost reaches all time record low of 53 cents per cubic meter.

[Grover_Cleveland]

Over in Ashkelon, Israel, they just opened up a new desalination plant. It set two world records.

First, at 320,000 cubic meters of water per day, it's the world's biggest.

Secondly, at only 53 cents per cubic meter, it's also the world's cheapest. That's about 1/5 penny per gallon.

This particular plant has its own 80 MW gas power plant.

Here's one article on it:

http://www.ejpress.org/article/4873

Here's another article:

http://www.water-technology.net/projects/israel

And here are the technical specifications:

http://www.water-technology.net/projects/israel/specs.html

The plant was designed and built by a French company.

Of course I'd prefer using nuclear power instead of gas.

[terryg11]

1. what do people here think of desalination anyway?

I'll be honest, I don't know much about it except that they take salt water from oceans and seas and make it drinkable. It seems alright but at some point in time wht will the affects on the oceans be?

[Dead_Parrot]

2. I can't see it affecting the oceans per se...

The water taken out is only a tiny fraction of what's there, and after a quick adventure through some crops or people it goes back anyway. There might be a concern over what happens to the removed salt, but I don't know enough about the practice and ecomonics to comment on that. I'd be more worried about the power source used...

[jimshoes]

3. There's a powerful lot of water in the worlds oceans.

Desalinizing some of it would be negligible I would think.

[Grover_Cleveland]

4. That's an excellent question.

I think it's a great idea.

I found this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desalination

SDSU Center for Advanced Water Technologies has produced different results where water concentrations of salts are raised by only 10%, thus, from, say, 35,000ppm to about 38,000ppm, well within the ability of osmoregulators to adjust.

There are tradeoffs in everything, of course. For example, I'm a vegetarian. But even I know that growing wheat kills large numbers of rodents that live in the fields. I'm sure desalination does cause some harm.

On the other hand, desalination may be less harmful than draining the water tables.

And it's a lot better than not having enough water.

[CrispyQ]

9. Welcome to DU, Grover_Cleveland!

BTW, there is a veggie forum on DU if you'd like to check it out.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=231


:hi:

[Grover_Cleveland]

10. Thanks.

Thanks!

[MidwestTransplant]

5. I would think that the melting glaciers, etc dilute the oceans

far more and I haven't heard that it is even significant.

[thefool_wa]

7. It is the only answer

in some parts of the world. The oceans are the single most plentiful water sources in the world and only two things actually consume water without returning it to the oceans:

1) New biological life (humans are 70% water, I assume other animals are about the same)
2) Electrolyzing water into hydrogen and oxygen

So, really, desalinization of sea water provides an unlimited supply of water. The figures in the OPs article suggest that Israel's desal plant is actually less expensive than the sewage treatment plants in my area (on a per gallon scale), and we just dump that water back into the ocean.

This technology is the answer for any drought stricken country, unfortunately nobody wants to just share it with poorer nations who need it.

[demosincebirth]

12. I don't think so. Salt water will never run out.

[thefool_wa]

6. Double Edged Sword

What is the point of an innovative new technology that uses a fuel source that causes so many problems.

"Hey, we have potable water. Of course we are destroying the atmosphere to get it, oh and don't worry about those Oil barons that are gaining more of a foothold over our economy and government. Pay them no mind."

Nuclear would be better, but why not solar? Hell if you build the place right you could use the convertible water as a power source in and of itself. Of course I am no engineer, but come on, gas?

(question: natural gas or gasoline?)

[Massacure]

8. I've never heard of a power plant using gasoline.

Solar might actually be able to desalize water, but there would be at trick to it. The most efficient way would probably use the sun to boil it, and then transfer the vapor to an area where it could be condenensed again. Hell, you could probably even put a turbine along the way and generate some power with it too. It would probably be feasible in the southwest U.S.

[Dead_Parrot]

13. Ahh, well...

If you bloody breakaway colonists called gasoline "petrol", like Her Majesty does, you wouldn't have this sort of misunderstanding. :D

[Grover_Cleveland]

11. Those are good points.

I actually don't know if it's gasoline or natural gas. I was assuming it meant natural gas, but I could be wrong.

If there's any one area where solar power would be cost effective, it would be in precisely the desert areas where desalination is most needed.

[philb]

14. But this cost doesn't include the major externality costs, as usual

The salinity and toxics produced by the process are a major problem, and have a significant public cost.

[Oerdin]

15. Read the specs.

The reason this plant costs so much less then other desal plants is because instead of boiling the water, which uses a lot of energy, they are using a series of semipermiable membraines. This saves a lot of energy and so is a very good thing. You can power the plant any way you like with nuclear or solar or wind though the Israelis choose natural gas because it remains one of the cheapest energy sources around.

With all the whining I've seen on these boards about people over pumping ground water, taking to much water out of rivers, and talk of future wars over water I thought you folks would be happy that an affordable way to create potable water without diverting it from natural sources had been found. I guess it is true that some people are never happy.

[Grover_Cleveland]

16. That's true.

I am interested in knowing that those externalities are, and what effects they have.