California is in the 4th year of a severe drought, but it’s right next to the biggest
ocean on the planet.
Some of our viewers want to know, why aren’t they just using that?
Hey everyone, Julian here for DNews.
California is thirsty.
On top of having almost 39 million residents, California grows an unbelievable amount of
food.
With agriculture being a 36 billion dollar industry in the state, it’s more than twice
as big as any other states.
And that means that in 2010 the US Geological Survey estimates California used almost, I
hope you’re sitting down for this number, 52 trillion liters of water.
That’s 142 billion liters a day.
But California hasn’t been getting the precipitation it needs for the past 4 years and now they’re
scrambling for new sources of drinking water.
Los Angeles county is offering to buy water from Sacramento valley farmers.
The state is urging people to conserve water and was threatening to fine people during
the ice bucket challenge.
But, hello, guys.
the pacific ocean is right there.
Saltwater minus salt equals water, let’s go, do I have to think of everything?
Actually San Diego county had the same idea, they’re currently building the biggest desalination
plant in the western hemisphere to the tune of 1 billion dollars.
When it’s finished next year it will make 204 million liters of potable water daily
and sell at a dollar for every 616 liters.
Wow, we’re in the clear.
Eh, not so fast.
While it sounds like a lot of cheap water, the opposite is true.
That price is 80% higher than San Diego pays for treated water outside the county, and
even though this plant is huge it can only make 10% of the county’s needs.
And it’ll use a lot of energy because it’s forcing pressurized water through a membrane
to separate the water from the salt in a process called reverse osmosis.
It’s drought-proof and doesn’t rely on recycling a resource we’re running out of
but as a practical way to solve California’s water woes, it’s more of a small puzzle
piece than the ultimate solution.
To put it in perspective, there are countries where water desalination is crucial.
Israel is one such country, and their desalination plants provide 35% of their drinking water,
or enough for 2.8 million people.
California’s population is 5 times the size of Israel’s, and the agriculture industry
is 32 times bigger.
4 desalination plants may be fine for Israel, but it’s not enough for the west coast.
Not by a long shot.
California also needs water urgently, so focusing more on conservation and recycling may be
a better strategy than building desalination plants that won’t come online until at least
next year.
Like I said, we covered this topic because we got comments asking about it on our other
video about California’s drought.
See, we listen to you guys.
We love you guys.
If you want to check out said video, here it is right down here.
And while you’re at it if you have any other questions you want us to answer or topics
you want us to elaborate on, feel free to tell us in the comments.
I’m also on the twitters @JHug00, and until next time, thanks for watching DNews.