[ticking]

Originally Posted by moguldreamer

[list]


One interesting proposal is to run a pipeline from the Gulf of California aka Sea of Cortez up to the Salton Sea (once a resort, but now disgusting and smelly), to replenish it with sea water. Then, use the existing geothermal energy sources there to power desalination and provide irrigation water to the Imperial Valley so that the Imperial Valley could then leave its share of the Colorado River behind Lake Mead. Berkshire Hathaway has already secured the rights to geothermal energy in that area. agricultural uses.

[/quote]

I like this idea and I hope it winds up being viable. the Salton sea is well below sea level and perhaps a natural place to store water for the area, It has endless solar power as well. Currently it looks like a disaster area so I like any idea to utilize the area in some way. Having the Pacific close by there has to be ways to utilize that water source. I keep hearing about California's billions of dollars budget surplus, huge viable projects to solve long term problems are how I'd like to see some of the money spent.

[jbgusa]

Originally Posted by logline

I've always had a crazy idea that just might work and be relatively inexpensive: flood Death Valley and the Salton Sea. They are both below sea level, so you wouldn't even need to dig much of a trench to let water flow downhill to do it. The elevation doesn't rise more than about 20 feet from the Gulf of California all the way there. We have enough sunlight to power a desalination plant at the water's edge, or just use the solar plant that already exists just on the other side of Stateline. It could even open up a small shipping channel for improved trade. So crazy it might work!

I like it!

[jbgusa]

Aren't these related, Lake Mead comes close to 'dead pool' status, posing serious risks across the Southwest?

[timothyaw]

Originally Posted by jbgusa

Aren't these related, Lake Mead comes close to 'dead pool' status, posing serious risks across the Southwest?

Yes, thank you for the link.

[jbgusa]

Originally Posted by timothyaw

Yes, thank you for the link.

I was hoping they'd be merged but since one is in current events I don't know if that's possible.

[Chappy2017]

I was thinking, that California has the Pacific. Why do they not have desalinization plants, that would reduce/eliminate their need for Lake Meade? I lived in Barcelona and would go to the town of Sitges. The water that came from the tap was salt water. Years later they had a desalinization system installed.
If climate change is causing rising sea levels, why not use technology and use that water?
In Valencia, Spain they had a problem with a river causing flooding, they diverted the river, now a park, and loved the problem.
We have oil pipelines from Alaska and Canada, why can we not have water pipelines from flood areas pumping water where it is needed. I guess water is not as valuable as oil, or so they think.

[moguldreamer]

Originally Posted by Chappy2017

I was thinking, that California has the Pacific. Why do they not have desalinization plants, that would reduce/eliminate their need for Lake Meade? I lived in Barcelona and would go to the town of Sitges. The water that came from the tap was salt water. Years later they had a desalinization system installed.
If climate change is causing rising sea levels, why not use technology and use that water?
In Valencia, Spain they had a problem with a river causing flooding, they diverted the river, now a park, and loved the problem.
We have oil pipelines from Alaska and Canada, why can we not have water pipelines from flood areas pumping water where it is needed. I guess water is not as valuable as oil, or so they think.

California has one major desalination plant. https://www.carlsbaddesal.com/ It took 10 years to get all the approvals needed to begin construction.

• It pulls in about 100 million gallons of sea water from the Pacific Ocean each day
• It produces about 50 million gallons of clean, fresh water each day, returning the balance back to the ocean
• The entire plant has been sound-proofed
• It provides clean water to about 50,000 people in San Diego County
• The facility operates with a net carbon footprint of zero <== read that again
• It costs about a half penny per gallon

Attempting to scale up desalination on the California coast runs smack-dab into the powerful California Coastal Commission:

The Commission is an independent, quasi-judicial state agency. The Commission is composed of twelve voting members, appointed equally (four each) by the Governor, the Senate Rules Committee, and the Speaker of the Assembly. Six of the voting commissioners are locally elected officials and six are appointed from the public at large. Three ex officio (non-voting) members represent the Resources Agency, the California State Transportation Agency, and the State Lands Commission.

The coastal zone, which was specifically mapped by the Legislature, covers an area larger than the State of Rhode Island. On land the coastal zone varies in width from several hundred feet in highly urbanized areas up to five miles in certain rural areas, and offshore the coastal zone includes a three-mile-wide band of ocean.

Here is the Commission's Mission Statement:

The Commission is committed to protecting and enhancing California’s coast and ocean for present and future generations.

Please note there is nothing in its mission statement associated with drought mitigation or, well, anything else except "protecting and enhancing California's coast and ocean."

The Commission has publicly stated they will oppose any future desalination plants. The Commission is the entity that must grant permission for a utility scale desalination plant. Frankly, the California Coastal Commission does not care about the megadrought of the SouthWestern USA because, well, a megadrought has nothing to do with "protecting and enhancing California's coast and ocean."

***


Recently (May, 2022) the California Coastal Commission denied a permit to build a second desalination plant in Huntington Beach, part of Orange County CA just south of Los Angeles. The proposal had come from the same company that built the Carlsbad desalination plant. The project had the support of California Governor Gavin Newsom who had said California desperately needs the desalination plant to cope with extreme drought and warned that a vote against the project would be a "big mistake."

All the usual environmental fascists came out of the woodwork to oppose the project. They have a unique business model wherein the enviro-nazis make a ton of money & pay themselves handsomely for defeating any development project. Far better that people die from dehydration, in their view, than a single fish might be harmed in the Pacific Ocean.

The project was first proposed more than two decades ago, and the long-running fight has encompassed a list of contentious issues. They include the proposed plant's impact on marine life, whether it was vulnerable to sea-level rise and the company's heavy political lobbying.

Before casting her vote Thursday night, Vice Chair Caryl Hart said the proposal raised many concerns for her.

"This desal proposal is privatization of water. It provides a large private profit," Hart said.

The Commission mistakenly thinks profit is a four-letter word.

[Chappy2017]

Originally Posted by moguldreamer

California has one major desalination plant. https://www.carlsbaddesal.com/ It took 10 years to get all the approvals needed to begin construction.

• It pulls in about 100 million gallons of sea water from the Pacific Ocean each day
• It produces about 50 million gallons of clean, fresh water each day, returning the balance back to the ocean
• The entire plant has been sound-proofed
• It provides clean water to about 50,000 people in San Diego County
• The facility operates with a net carbon footprint of zero <== read that again
• It costs about a half penny per gallon

Attempting to scale up desalination on the California coast runs smack-dab into the powerful California Coastal Commission:



Here is the Commission's Mission Statement:



Please note there is nothing in its mission statement associated with drought mitigation or, well, anything else except "protecting and enhancing California's coast and ocean."

The Commission has publicly stated they will oppose any future desalination plants. The Commission is the entity that must grant permission for a utility scale desalination plant. Frankly, the California Coastal Commission does not care about the megadrought of the SouthWestern USA because, well, a megadrought has nothing to do with "protecting and enhancing California's coast and ocean."

Exactly, I have a beautiful coastline to look at, but no water to drink or grow my vegetables and water my livestock but ain't that a pur-ty view.

[WRM20]

Originally Posted by Chappy2017

Exactly, I have a beautiful coastline to look at, but no water to drink or grow my vegetables and water my livestock but ain't that a pur-ty view.

"Why do we need a desalination plant when water is still coming out of the tap? If there was a shortage, then the taps wouldn't work." /sarcasm

[jbgusa]

Originally Posted by Chappy2017

Exactly, I have a beautiful coastline to look at, but no water to drink or grow my vegetables and water my livestock but ain't that a pur-ty view.

They can afford Poland Springs for all their needs. You and I can't.