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As part of a project developed by San Francisco area start-up WaterFX, a giant solar receiver in Firebaugh, CA, rotates to track the sun and capture its energy. The 377-foot array, however, does not generate electricity, but instead creates heat used to desalinate water. The goal is to tap the abundant, if contaminated, resource in this parched region: the billions of gallons of water that lie just below the surface.
The water is tainted with toxic levels of salt, selenium and other heavy metals that wash down from the nearby Panoche foothills, and is so polluted that it must be constantly drained to keep it from poisoning crops. This, coupled with the record-breaking drought that California is facing means that irrigation costs are going to double or triple as farms are forced to buy water on the spot market.
"Food prices are going to go up, absolutely", said Dennis Falaschi, manager of the Panoche Water District. "This year, farmers in the Panoche district will receive no water. Last year, they received only 20 percent of their allocation", Mr. Falaschi said. In 2012, the allocation was 40 percent. Farmers elsewhere who rely on the State Water Project to irrigate 750,000 acres of farmland will also receive no water in 2014.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Phoenix666 on Monday February 17 2014, @07:50PM
If brine remains after solar thermal has evaporated water, can't you flush the brine with fresh seawater? The brine returning to the ocean will quickly be rediluted in solution, and we get a fresh volume of seawater to desalinate. If you can extract useful products from the brine directly, then so much the better--their sale can be used to defray the operation costs of the plant.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 3, Informative) by mrcoolbp on Monday February 17 2014, @07:56PM
So you suggest we just dump toxic salt into the ocean? Doesn't seem like a great idea....
(Score:1^½, Radical)
(Score: 2, Insightful) by weilawei on Monday February 17 2014, @08:06PM
The successor to global warming: Global Salting. Anyone want some tinned fish?
(Score: 2, Informative) by VLM on Monday February 17 2014, @08:51PM
They used to dump the saltwater into the nearby river but that'll salinate the river and kill everything downstream, so that's now a non-starter.
I did some google maps research and they'd need a 60 to 80 mile pipeline or canal (two of them) to get access to the sea shore.
Its probably a heck of a lot simpler and cheaper and more productive to simply move your farm out of the desert and into the great lakes area. No shortage of water or land here. Just keep the water in the same watershed.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by dry on Tuesday February 18 2014, @03:09AM
Its probably a heck of a lot simpler and cheaper and more productive to simply move your farm out of the desert and into the great lakes area. No shortage of water or land here. Just keep the water in the same watershed.
Seems it would be hard to grow things like oranges around the great lakes and a short growing season for other crops. Might have to go to more greenhouses eventually which will expand the areas where farming is profitable.
(Score: 1) by demonlapin on Monday February 17 2014, @09:43PM
You could use it to boost oil production... (runs and hides)
(Score: 4, Informative) by Angry Jesus on Monday February 17 2014, @10:04PM
The brine returning to the ocean will quickly be rediluted in solution
That's the environmental engineering equivalent of a "mere matter of programming."
Even minor variations in salinity can have extreme effects on the local ecology.