# Why don't we/can't we do more desalinization?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-cant-we-do-more-desalinization/433259>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 12, 2008, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-cant-we-do-more-desalinization/433259 "2008-01-12T05:35:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2008, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-cant-we-do-more-desalinization/433259/21 "2008-01-13T01:31:22Z")

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[Here](http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.11/salt.html)’s the [article that I mentioned](http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.11/salt.html) above from Wired magazine. Man, Wired does some nice journalism and isn’t bracketed by what a lot of people think (“oh, it’s a computer magazine” [I subscribe to the paper version]). Turns out, our treaty with Mexico is to ensure that enough water reaches them, but the plant can’t go online because the current waste runoff has created a wetland that shouldn’t exist, but does, and is now protected. If the plant were to go online, this artificial wetland would wither, and then what?

Oh, so one of the principal points is, it isn’t cost that’s prohibitive, but decidedly political factors.

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**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2008, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-cant-we-do-more-desalinization/433259/22 "2008-01-13T01:37:47Z")

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> [@Ashkelon](#):
>
> An energy recovery centre made up of 40 double work exchanger energy recovery (DWEER) devices, collects pressurised brine from each plant’s RO banks and reclaims the energy.

Is that mechanical recovery?

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**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2008, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-cant-we-do-more-desalinization/433259/23 "2008-01-13T06:27:07Z")

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It takes a lot of power to drive a naval vessel. The power plants that drive the vessel put out a lot of waste heat that has to be gotten rid of. Powering a desalination system is a good use for that waste heat.

There are land based industries (like electrical generating stations) that make lots of waste heat. Designers of desalination plants would do well to follow the naval example, and take advantage of that. Sadly, due to the fragmented nature of infrastructure, that is not likely to happen.

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