As many of you know, California is going through some tough times water-wise. Not surprising, really, since most of Southern California is semi-desert and we and the millions of residents who call So Cal home wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for a few pipelines and aqueducts that bring us water from the Colorado River to the east and Northern California to the – um – north.
But what we DO have is an ocean at our doorstep. With lots of water. Unfortunately that water is full of salt. Undrinkable.
So some very bright folks thought, “Hmm. We live in a semi-desert. Not much rain in normal years, hardly any rain in recent years. But we’re next to an ocean. Lots of water.. Pity it’s salty. Can’t drink it. Can’t grow crops with it. But if only we could take out the salt...”
And now these very bright folks say they have a way to take the salt out of the ocean water. That little problem of drought and no rain? Solved!
But other folks – many of them “green” in outlook – say this plant will be a fiasco. For one thing, the desalination plant’s owners want to build it – naturally– next to the ocean. And this worries some environmentalists, who fear the plant will harm some of the nearby wetlands and the animals that make that wetlands home.
We’re not going to tell you how we feel about the desalination plant. But we will say this: We cannot but enjoy the irony over the fact that some people want to convert a plentiful and renewable natural resource to solve a vastly difficult and urgent problem – and that this worries some environmentalists....
[ 1 comment ] ( 59 views ) | [ 0 trackbacks ] | permalink |
( 3 / 817 ) 
Looking for a Green Office Solution?