News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on An unsolved math problem on the Colorado River.

Re:An unsolved math problem on the Colorado River by coltonmorris on Friday April 01, 2022 @01:00PM (#30880477)
About time California builds a desalination plant rather than take water from these states the Colorado actually passes through.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:An unsolved math problem on the Colorado River by tenuousemphasis on Friday April 01, 2022 @01:08PM (#30880581)
The problem as I understand with desalinization is what to do with the salty brine that remains?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:An unsolved math problem on the Colorado River by bequanna on Friday April 01, 2022 @01:56PM (#30881201)
Why not just put it back into the ocean? Obviously, some distance away from your inlet.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:An unsolved math problem on the Colorado River by eesmith on Friday April 01, 2022 @03:14PM (#30882177)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desalination#Outflow . In short, it needs treatment due to contaminants, and diffusion or dilution because high salt concentrations damage the ecosystem.

These can be managed, but it's not "just" a matter of pumping the outflow directly back into the sea.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:An unsolved math problem on the Colorado River by tenuousemphasis on Friday April 01, 2022 @04:43PM (#30883108)
Because that kills anything near the output, and changes the surrounding ecosystem.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:An unsolved math problem on the Colorado River by adgjlsfhk1 on Friday April 01, 2022 @02:00PM (#30881272)
Even better: extract lithium and deuterium and then pump it back.
[ Parent | on HN ]