During one of the most severe droughts on record in California, the water has been turned off in many houses and for many that’s been the case for months. Meanwhile, only a few miles away, the state’s farmers are still paying to dispose of 300 billion gallons of water every year. It’s a water paradox that seems difficult to figure out at first.
The issue is geological. The Central Valley’s soil is unusual in that it is full of natural salt. It presents a significant challenge for farmers, who need to avoid high levels of water run-off due to the potential damage that salt could cause.
However, that challenge is now being viewed as a potential opportunity and a new solar-powered desalination plant has been fast-tracked, with early 2016 currently the completion target, to potentially make enough water to provide for up to 10,000 homes or around 2,000 acres of farmland.
Desalination is usually an expensive technology and was designed as a way of extracting water from the ocean. However, Californian start-up Water FX recognised an opportunity where disposal of the water was already a significant financial burden on the water district and they’ve been successful in driving overall costs down by constructing smaller, inland desalination plants powered by solar energy.
Source: California Is Building The Country’s Largest Solar Desalination Plant
Lead image licensed under CC – credit Flickr user: Sandia Labs
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