The US Politics |OT|

[SanAndreasX]

Pemalite said:

Bofferbrauer2 said:

Hoover Dam, most probably. Which is already getting depleted at an alarming rate without it...

What is the USA's stance on the use of desalination plants?

Many large-scale mining operations over here use desal plants to provide clean water for operations, which is actually energy intensive... But they are generally supported by renewable energy.

There are a lot of obstacles to desalinization in Arizona, the first being that the state doesn't border any oceans. The nearest source of seawater to Arizona is the Sea of Cortez, which is in a foreign country (Mexico), so that would largely be at the mercy of international relations with the Mexican government. 

There is a desalinization plant in Yuma, a city which sits on the Colorado River at the junction between Arizona, California, and Mexico. It was actually built not to desalinize water for Arizona, but to satisfy a water treaty with Mexico, which was receiving brackish water through the Colorado from Arizona agriculture. Furthermore, Mexico has declared the delta area of the Colorado that flows into the Sea of Cortez, the Cienega de Santa Clara, a protected area. In addition to the huge expense of restarting the Yuma plant, pumping brine into Mexico would likely upset the Mexican government. So due to geological, geopolitical, and financial issues, this plant has only been operated twice since its 1992 opening, and one of those times was for a demonstration. 

There is also a proposal to fund the building of a desalinization plant in Mexico at Puerto Penasco on the Sea of Cortez, in which case the treated water would be piped to Arizona at an estimated cost of $3000/acre foot, which is the average annual water use of a family of four, spearheaded by an Israeli engineering firm, IDE. 

Last edited by SanAndreasX - on 29 January 2023