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Majority of groundwater stores resilient to climate change:
Fewer of the world's large aquifers are depleting than previously estimated, according to a new study by the University of Sussex and UCL.
[...] Previous global studies of changes in groundwater storage, estimated using data from the GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) satellite mission and global models, have concluded that intensifying human water withdrawals in the majority of the world's large aquifer systems are causing a sustained reduction in groundwater storage, depleting groundwater resources.
Yet this new study, published in Earth System Dynamics, reveals that depletion is not as widespread as reported, and that replenishment of groundwater storage depends upon extreme rainfall that is increasing under global climate change.
Aquifer depletion is occurring only in 5 localities.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday August 28 2020, @01:15AM (6 children)
Natural aquifer depletion may only be happening in 5 places due to climate change, but human driven aquifer depletion is increasing EVERYWHERE (that humans live, or grow food), and will only be getting worse until cold fusion or something similar makes desalination practical/economical for more than the top 2% of the wealth curve.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Friday August 28 2020, @04:22AM (3 children)
*nod* but what are we going to do with the salt? Desalination processes split a stream of salt water into two streams, fresh water and salt-heavy brine, and adding that brine back to the sea in any quantity amounts to pollution (even though it came from there in slightly different form).
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Friday August 28 2020, @02:21PM (2 children)
A "proper" desalination process would take the salt and spread it over a wide area. Since we've already got cheap energy, you can build and fuel supertanker sized "salt shaker ships" with that and send them on trans-oceanic voyages where they slowly dump the salt back into the oceans at a rate that doesn't negatively impact the water chemistry.
Rain clouds form from evaporation off the oceans which increases the salinity of the top layer - the salt shaker ships just have to spread it wide enough to reduce their impacts to an "acceptable level."
Meanwhile, it's a big planet. West Texas looks like a good place for salt mountain: national strategic bromide reserve.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1) by redneckmother on Saturday August 29 2020, @05:28PM (1 child)
The winds in West Texas will disperse the salts far and wide. Believe it or not, there are some prime agricultural lands there, and the salts would have a major impact on agriculture.
Mas cerveza por favor.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Saturday August 29 2020, @05:49PM
West Texas encompasses a pretty big area... I'm sure the locals would be pissed, but you could start by filling up the canyons around McKittrick / Guadalupe Mountains, that should cut down on the wind dispersal.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 4, Interesting) by PinkyGigglebrain on Friday August 28 2020, @06:31AM (1 child)
oooo, just had an idea!
We could solve several problems at the same time.
First, reprocess spent nuclear fuel rods to get the 3% of it that can't be used and recycle the rest. This reduces the amount of nuclear waste that needs to be stored. The average spent rod is 96% U-238, 1% Pu-238 (both can be reused) with just 3% of the fuel rod being various isotopes left over from splitting U-235 and Pu-238. Some of these isotopes are are neutron poisons and shut down the reactor so they when they hit 3% of the fuel rod the rod gets replaced or the reactor can't maintain a self sustaining reaction.. Now what make the 3% very interesting is that if you vitrifie the waste material you get a black glass that is both highly radioactive AND puts out a lot of thermal heat. So end product of cleaning up nuclear waste is a bunch or hot black glass that could be turned into marbles. Remember this part.
Second, build a modified Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) [wikipedia.org], which normally uses the temperature difference between deep cold ocean water and warm surface layers to generate both electricity AND fresh water. The temperature difference of the deep and surface water is usually 25 degrees C at best. But instead of using warm surface sea water use the vitrified nuclear waste in a pebble bed [wikipedia.org] configuration to heat sea water to feed into an OTEC power plant!! Enough of the vitrified waste could probably heat the water, via a heat exchange of course, to temperatures that the the OTEC could use.
Sure the efficiency of the plant would be low but so many problems would be solved.
What do we do with nuclear waste that has to be kept cooled?
How do we reduce the amount of nuclear waste that needs to be stored?
how do we cheaply heat water to steam distill it into drinking water?
How do we generate a electricity to meet base load?
answer: use the hot nuclear waste to heat the water to generate electricity and distill the steam into potable water.
The power plant would generate electricity and fresh water using the decay of radioactive isotopes. Clean nuclear power.
OK, I now open the floor to everyone who knows more about this stuff than I do and can explain why it wouldn't work.
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 28 2020, @02:55PM
https://www.offshore-technology.com/features/feature-the-worlds-deadliest-offshore-oil-rig-disasters-4149812/ [offshore-technology.com]