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0 pointsBytesAndGears2y ago0 comments

Yeah, but if you’re pulling in water and disposing it from a specific region, eventually the water that you’re pulling in is progressively saltier, and you’re compounding the saltiness of that area.

I’m sure that ocean currents will eventually equalize the salt, but if you’re continuously dumping salt into a specific area, it’s going to make that region of the ocean saltier.

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konschubert2y ago

You need pipes to spread it out. And I think you may be underestimating the scale and force of ocean currents. Every tide probably moves more water than California uses in a year.

solardev2y ago

I don't think the ocean is equally saline everywhere: https://salinity.oceansciences.org/maps-global.htm

On average it's pretty close, but you can definitely get impacts from increased local salinity: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gcb.16859 (just random ecamples)

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/slaking-the-world... (view in incognito)

konschubert2y ago

Okay fair point.

anon848736282y ago

Crucially but overlooked so far in these threads, is that the proposal does not have brine exiting on the California coast; it has it flowing into the Sea of Cortez.

That should be an obvious non-starter for anyone remotely familiar with the unique geography and ecology of the area.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 pointsBytesAndGears2y ago0 comments

I’m sure that ocean currents will eventually equalize the salt, but if you’re continuously dumping salt into a specific area, it’s going to make that region of the ocean saltier.

0 comments

konschubert2y ago

You need pipes to spread it out. And I think you may be underestimating the scale and force of ocean currents. Every tide probably moves more water than California uses in a year.

solardev2y ago

I don't think the ocean is equally saline everywhere: https://salinity.oceansciences.org/maps-global.htm

On average it's pretty close, but you can definitely get impacts from increased local salinity: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gcb.16859 (just random ecamples)

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/slaking-the-world... (view in incognito)

konschubert2y ago

Okay fair point.

anon848736282y ago

Crucially but overlooked so far in these threads, is that the proposal does not have brine exiting on the California coast; it has it flowing into the Sea of Cortez.

That should be an obvious non-starter for anyone remotely familiar with the unique geography and ecology of the area.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse