Persuasive Desalination

One solution that has been put in place is the 96 million shade balls that the mayor of Los Angeles has put in the LA Reservoir. The purpose of this is that the balls supposedly block sunlight from hitting the water, therefore preventing evaporation and other chemical reactions from occurring. This will improve the overall water quality and will save the city 300 million gallons of water. This is reportedly enough drinking water for 8,100 people for a year. The operation has cost around $34.5 million USD. This is a lot of money for California, that is already facing an economic crisis, however compared to other methods of water saving this is relatively cost effective. The mayor of LA said that the shade balls are “emblematic of the kind

Desalination is when sea water has the salt extracted from it, consequently making it drinkable. Desalination seems like a very smart option, the Pacific Ocean is right by California and is the largest body of water in the world. Most of the coast is not suitable for desalination plants to be built because of earthquake factors and other environmental issues such as sea levels rising (another results of climate change). Desalination is a relatively new technology however, and needs improvements to be made before it can become truly sustainable. Desalination is a process that produces over 3.5 billion gallons of fresh water a day. In San Diego the world’s largest desalination plant is being built, this has cost over $1 billion and is allegedly going to be able to desalinate over 50 million gallons of water a day. This is an extremely expensive endeavour and will supposedly only supply San Diego with 7% of the water it needs. However not everyone is behind this solution. Many people claim that desalination is an energy wasteful process, is extremely expensive and can damage the environment, particularly marine life. When the seawater is sucked in to be desalinated, plankton and fish and even birds can be sucked in and killed as well. When the salt water is extracted from the fresh water, the salty ‘brine’ is put back into the ocean where it sinks to the bottom because it is denser than normal sea water. This could have unknown consequences but because the process is so knew it is hard to tell how detrimental they will be. It is issues like that which have stopped a plant like this being built in the past. However, after extensive reviews and approvals it has been stated the the plant will not be loud, produce odor or have an environmental impact. It has also been stated that the plant "will have significant economic benefit for the region, including $350 million in spending during construction, 2,400 construction-related jobs,