Do folks here understand the expense and energy use associated with desalination plants?

[CreekDog]

146. desalination is not necessary for most of our urban areas

our existing supplies will not dry up, they will still exist

we use so much less water than we did per capita than during the mid-70s drought.

it's hugely expensive and counterproductive to try to maintain a supply to feed a system that consumes too much water --and it's more expensive to supply energy to move that much water

move what we need, produce what we need

don't move what we waste, figure out how not to waste it, save that energy for some other better purpose.

we aren't doing ourselves any favors by inventing technology that simply allows us to continue doing something stupid (aka, using potable water to irrigate alfalfa in the western Central Valley, whose fields then need to be flushed with more potable water because of the salts left behind after evaporation and irrigation.

if we use our talents and abilities to keep doing something that stupid (and there are plenty of places to grow alfalfa other than the San Joaquin Valley) then we aren't going to make things better. we're going to use our best talents to sustain stupidity.

and that's not smart.