California regulators are likely to approve a new water desalination plant today as state officials look for solutions to ongoing water shortages, as the state struggles through its worst drought in over 1,000 years.
California regulators are likely to approve a new water desalination plant today as state officials look for solutions to ongoing water shortages, as the state struggles through its worst drought in over 1,000 years.
My understanding is that it has a notable environmental impact since they have to pump that saline slurry back into the ocean which then creates an uninhabitable zone for fish. If you've seen anything about brine pools at the bottom of the ocean, it's basically the same concept but instead we're just creating a brine cloud in the ocean. On a global scale it's less significant, but on a regional level it can really hurt the creatures and mess up all sorts of stuff.
I don't see why they would have to do that, but I'm sure they will do it rather than store it on land or something (which would be its own form of pollution anyway). More research needed on my part