With the driest year on record still visible in our review mirror (at least for now) it makes sense that people in Los Angeles and Orange Counties are concerned about their water supply. Meant to measure support for a proposed Huntington Beach desalination facility, a recent poll shows just how concerned they are.
Of the 500 Orange County voters surveyed, only 6.8% believe that there is enough water to supply the county’s needs. Compare that to the 41.2% that realize that there is a water shortage, and that officials need to find new sources of water, pronto. 46% replied that OC has enough for now, but will need to tap more sources to meet future needs.
The survey, sponsored by the Orange County Business Council and the LA/Orange County Building Trades Council, goes on to show that:
- 33% would support seawater desalination as a means of ensuring adequate water supplies
- 31% would support conservation measures as a means of ensuring adequate water supplies
- 12% would support recycled or treated “waste” water
That last one is funny, since they already have a water recycling program. It’s not exactly “toilet to tap” as nay-sayers call it, because the water is purified, then pumped back underground to replenish aquifers. Mother Nature purifies it further, at which point it reenters the fresh water supply and is sent to homes. Disgusting, right? Of course not.
Considering that most people don’t really understand where their water comes from, much less the process of seawater desalination, I’d say this poll’s results are more than a little misleading. Deslination plants have an adverse impact on the area surrounding the plant, and use a lot of energy to create potable water.
Since nearly the same number of respondents would support conservation measures, let’s hope that officials – and residents – continue to pursue that path.
Photo credit: Randy Son of Robert from Flickr under Creative Commons License
Related stories: http://cleantechnica.com/2008/06/09/teatro-del-agua-the-seawater-greenhouse-that-can-change-the-world/
You can lead a horse to water, but can you make a horse drink.
The world’s freshwater resources are not sufficient to keep up with demand.
As the world population grows and water tables decline, a solution has to be developed. Right now, that solution is desalination and Water Desalination International, Inc. will unveil a desalination process the Passarell V.E.S. to solve that problem. This process separates potable water from the elements in seawater, using the gravitational influence in an ambient vapor field. The extraction of drinking water leaves a wet crystallized salt eliminating waste brine from being returned to the sea and thus preserving the environment. Crucial environmental enforcement is necessary to preserve the environment. There are Extra benefits obtained from the crystallized salt through the sale to commercial markets, lowering the cost of drinking water. To preserve the environment WDI has developed a multiple pod system a technique of subsurface ( below the seafloor) seawater retrieval. For this environmental practice and the reduction in costs, the Passarell V.E.S. seawater desalination process will reduce the cost of drinking water. WDI has broken the high price of drinking water from the sea, and lowered the cost of desalination by two third the costs of conventional process such as Reverse Osmosis. Soon-to-be operating in Saudi Arabia.