Read the following article "Fresh Drinking Water Soon on its Way to California" https://newsela.com/articles/desalination-drought/id/6034/
Do you think desalination is a viable option to fixing California's water problems? Please use evidence from the text and any other source to support your reasoning. Please respond to at least two other student entries.
74 Comments
Natasha
12/9/2014 06:20:09 am
Yes, because then we won't be in a drought. I agree with the city of Carlsbad's plan. We can just add fresh water to the extra salty water. Some people might think that we are making water, and losing water, so we'll have the same amount of water that we started off with after the desalination process. I think that we can save 80% of the water, and then use the leftover 20% of the water for making the extra salty water less salty. This way we still end up with water at the end.
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Sofia
12/9/2014 07:01:25 am
I do not agree with you Natasha because Carlsbad is wasting drinking water by putting it back in the ocean.
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Tommy
12/9/2014 07:12:48 am
I do not agree with you if 20% of the ocean water is used we will not have that much drinking water the article said we need twice the amount of salt water to make drinking water
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charlotte
12/9/2014 07:35:25 am
I guess I agree with what you're saying, that it would put an end to this horrible drought, but remember that it's not only the water's changes of the amount of salt that's effecting the sea life, but that the machines that suck in the sea water can also accidentally have small animals being caught and killed. Some people might think that those smaller animals might not matter to sea life, but they probably provide energy for other animals. I don't think that the Desalination Scheme is reasonable. It threatens sea life.
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#jor+den#
12/9/2014 08:11:32 am
I completely ageree with you except for the 50-50 water thought because if we added fresh water it would be taking up water so I think it may be like 80-30 level.
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leilah
12/9/2014 09:46:39 am
i dont agree with you.Carlsbad is taking used drinking water and putting it in the ocean.
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Justine
12/9/2014 09:46:40 am
I disagree because they are wasting energy and water that they used in that 20%.
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alex
12/9/2014 12:30:59 pm
I do not agree.First we will only get half of the water that goes through desinilation and then if Carlsbad's plan proceed we will only get 30% of the water Also desinilation will harm sealife and some sea creatures might grow endangered. We will also might e scarce in $ or electricity after we are done with desinilation. So, no Ido not think we should conyinue in deninilation.
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*Sofia*
12/9/2014 06:59:48 am
I do not think that the desalination is a good and bad idea. I think it is a good idea because we are in a big drought and we can't afford to waste the water that we get to use. I think it is a bad idea because maybe in a 100 years there will be another drought and there will be not enough ocean water for everybody. Maybe people in the future will never be able to eat fish or any other sea animal. I do not agree with the Carlsbad plan because what is the point of taking the salt out of water and then using some to put back in the ocean. That is just wasting water.
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Nola :) (:
12/9/2014 07:26:57 am
I agree Sofia it's good for our drought but it will hurt sea life badly
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charlotte
12/9/2014 08:20:41 am
i don't find anything wrong with the desalination other than plants and money. I don't agree that the desalination is actually wasting water, because all of the water that is taken from the ocean is being put to good use. And I don't agree that the ocean will soon run out of water, because they are putting water back into the ocean to desalt the water, and to fill it up more also. I don't think that we should worry about the ocean running out of water just yet.
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Tommy
12/9/2014 07:09:30 am
Yes I can help with our drought but we need twice the amount of sea water to make drinkable water. And water that can not make drinking water goes to the ocean much salty then before. The plan was to mix salt water with drinking water to not make it to salty but the problem is that it will be less salty then before. I also think it can harm the fish in the ocean if the building uses to much water and the ocean is a big resource to many animals. I think the salted water can be very dirty there are people swimming sometimes there are oil spills in the ocean making the water contaminated and dangerous to drink. I think it is a bad idea
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#BRIAN#
12/9/2014 07:20:20 am
I don think we should do this because after like 45 years later we might have no water at all and it might kill a lot of animal. And if oil gets in there we might drink it.So I think it is a bad idea.
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charlotte
12/9/2014 08:43:53 am
I agree that the desalination scheme can threaten sea animals, but not because we might run out of water. The desalination is adding water to the ocean so that the ocean doesn't become too salty, and I'm sure that it's keeping a good amount of water in the ocean, and even if they weren't adding water to the ocean, I don't think that there won't be anymore water left in the ocean in 45 years. the only reason that I don't think that the desalination should continue is because it threatens life in the sea and because it's expensive.
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lesly :^(
12/9/2014 12:43:18 pm
Brian i agree with you because oil can get in the ocean and we might drink that water and die.
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charlotte
12/9/2014 07:20:57 am
I think that the Desalination might help the people in California, but for sea life's sake, I don't think Carlesbad should continue to let their machine freshen the water from the Pacific Ocean. all of the species living if the ocean are being life threatened. Especially because they have already adapted to their way of living and their environment. If the water ingredients change, then it might even take years for the animals in the water to adapt to their new way of living. pretty much all of my cares are about the animals living in the ocean, but I also think that the desalination scheme is a waste of money and time. It has already rained and has shown signs of the drought ending. Maybe though, we could start to freshen the water for a very short period of time, just to give California a little bit of water for the time being, but then again, once it's too much, what would we do with the amazing creation? put it to waste?
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Nola :) (:
12/9/2014 07:32:59 am
Yeah charlotte your wright all the species in the ocean are being threatened by desalination.
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Alexandra
12/9/2014 11:56:05 am
Benicio Curiel
12/9/2014 08:50:27 am
You are right Charlotte because where would we put the project. It would have to be used and then thrown out.
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Justine
12/9/2014 09:42:10 am
I agree with you because the machine is killing sea life and might take too much of the oceans water.
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sarah
12/9/2014 11:07:27 am
I agree. It is harming and killing the fish.
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Alexandra
12/9/2014 11:57:29 am
I agree with Sarah because they are killing our sea life
Nola :) (:
12/9/2014 07:23:15 am
I think desalination can help the drought, but it's also horrible that it can hurt sea life. It's good that the machines will use fish screens but will still kill the very small sea life, like fish eggs. I think that the desalination is good for the drought because, then we will have more water to drink, although it is very expensive.I agree that we are in a crisis with water, and it's excellent that they're using desalination, but it can kill ocean or sea life and it is also extremely expensive.
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Ashley
12/9/2014 08:17:48 am
I agree with you Nola because sea life has to be protected.
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Alex
12/9/2014 12:23:00 pm
Yes desinilation can help the drought , but it will harm sealife. I would not proceed in the desinilation because CA might get scarce in $ or electricity if we proceed in desinilation. Also we will only get half or less of the water that goes through desilnilation to drink
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violet
12/9/2014 01:33:46 pm
My dear Nola i agree with you all the way .Ocean life is an important thing in many food chains.bears and other animals will dive into a stream then go"oh no, their are no fish today and mabye forever ." your paragraph shows you are on both sides and i would be to if it weren't for my love of nature.so i might not agree with you all the way but i still agree with you.
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Wolf
12/9/2014 08:00:49 am
I think that because the process kills a lot of life (anything that passes through it ) that we should not do it and because the process disperses large amounts of salty water into the sea.
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JORDEN
12/9/2014 08:02:24 am
I can go either way with the desolation factory because it will help us with the drought but will be painful to ocean life.My thinking on this blog is that they should only use the machine for half the year instead of 24/7 hours a week because it will both help with the drought and will keep most ocean life alive.They said in the article that there would be screens and everything that goes into it will die including fish eggs.It would also be putting fish in danger because there would be extra salt water lying down at the bottom of the ocean.Scientists said that it is like oil and water.It would also take a lot of money and Calif. would have less money.
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BENICIO
12/9/2014 08:45:29 am
I agree with you Jorden because we need water and the sea life needs water.
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charlotte
12/9/2014 08:52:07 am
I agree that the desalination scheme both helps and hinders the environment. It's threatening sea life, but we need the water for living too!
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Ryan XD
12/9/2014 11:41:21 am
Jorden I agree it can go either way. It will help the drought but it can hurt sea animals.
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violet
12/9/2014 01:31:33 pm
Dear,Aidan
Aidan
12/9/2014 08:05:54 am
No, I don't think it is a good idea because if the people are trying to take water from the ocean sea life will die off. Like the food chain and food web all animals need each other to survive. If men are trying to take water and desalt it it won't help because tiny living creatures might be really small. and people could drink sea life. Of coarse people might think that it's good for the drought, but it's killing sea life. Desalination is not that helpful to sea life, but it's helpful for humans and we could survive the drought. The sea life not to much.
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#jor+den#
12/9/2014 08:16:03 am
I completely agree with your thinking except you spelled coarse instead of course.
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Ashley
12/9/2014 08:21:10 am
I agree with you Aidan because in the future might be no more water and sea life for everyone be amazed and fascinate.
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Sasha
12/9/2014 11:55:13 am
I agree with you Aidan because it is taking over our sea life
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Lesly :^)
12/9/2014 12:55:39 pm
Aidan, i agree with you because the food chain or food web is very important and the desalination process will kill animals that other animals eat which will kill the food that we eat.
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Ashley
12/9/2014 08:15:11 am
I don't think desalination will help California's water problems because it is just making fresh water for people in the county. It is a good thing to give fresh water by a machine for people but while collecting the water, tiny organisms get washed away in the machine and fresh water come out, but the tiny organisms die. Another bad thing is that when the water gets put in the machine and the water is done desalinating and gets out to the sea the water gets twice or one time as salty as much as the ocean water. Then the water won't be as fresh anymore. These are the reasons why it is bad to have desalination.
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JAHDIEL!
12/9/2014 09:13:12 am
I don't agree with you Ashely because if there are tiny organisms should'nt they be protected!
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Elena :-(
12/9/2014 11:15:21 am
I agree with
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BENICIO
12/9/2014 08:42:14 am
I think we should go on with the desolation project because if we didn't, we wouldn't have much more water and sea life would still be living so I would think it is fair to just take maybe a third of the sea water so there would still be sea life and we would have more water. I think this solution is fair because nothing would die. It would be a great way to save sea life and ourselves.
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Jahdiel!
12/9/2014 09:00:47 am
Yes I think that desalting ocean water is helping about the C.A. drought because there is a lot of water in the sea. If we don't take that much water sea life can be possible and also ourselves. Another reason I think desalting ocean water is helping is because right now it is not raining that much but in the future it might rain even more!
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Ryan XD
12/9/2014 11:39:31 am
Jahdiel I disagree with you because it is also killing small organisms that other animals need to survive with. Some of those animals we eat like fish.
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Jacob reply to jahdiel
12/9/2014 01:35:47 pm
I think you ARE correct jahdiel because we do need water for ourself
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Aidan
12/11/2014 08:35:05 am
I don"t agree with you because people might drink the ocean life because the water does not clean all the small living animals in the water. It would be nasty
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JACOB
12/9/2014 09:21:23 am
I think that they should not go on with the desolation because first of all it is very expensive second of all the fish screen could kill fishes if they go through it but the little fish could go inside. But the good news is that we would not be in a drought I guess!!! :- | But then when only half of the water is drinkable the sent the water back to the sea and it is 2 times saltier and I think it is bad for the sea creature and I don't want the sea creature to be extinct. that is why I think they shouldn't desolation water!!
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Jahdiel!
12/9/2014 09:28:28 am
I agree with you Jacob because the text does say that it is very expensive and takes a lot of electricity.
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Justine
12/9/2014 09:38:04 am
I think that desalination is not a viable solution to put an end to the California drought because it is not good for the sea life. But they have a plan. They will put back 20% of the water that is unsalted in the water they throw back into the ocean. Even though they have a solution to the extra amount of salt in the water, they wasted a lot of energy and money in that 20%. In the article it says,"A lot of people are against it because it is so expensive."
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#$LEILAH$#:)(:
12/9/2014 09:43:23 am
I don't think desinilation will help California's water problems .What is the point in taking the salt out of water and putting it back in the ocean.It can kill fish .The ocean will die off and every animal needs a food chain or a food web to live.
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Gael
12/9/2014 10:20:16 am
it is a good idea and bad idea I think the water they will clean should happen it would be good for our community but I don't think that they should take the water and probably kill the fish trapped in the water it not just about us humans we have to remember about the nature and its animals
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Gael
12/9/2014 10:22:22 am
Leilah your right about the animals dying.
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sarah
12/9/2014 11:01:54 am
Not at all. I don't think that because, first , like it said in the article," Desalination involves taking in a lot of seawater. Unless it's done carefully, it can kill ocean life." I love ocean life. With all the fish, whales, dolphins, e.t.c. If they put saltier water than the animals are used to, they will die. Reason 2. It's using a LOT of money for the electricity. We could be using that money and electricity for many different things. Lastly, reason 3. It relates to my reason 1. When they put fish screens for the fish to get out, the big fishes food the tiny fish stay in the water. The big fish will run out of food and die. In the article it said," Fish screens are like window screens that keep bugs out. They allow water in, but most fish out. The problem is they do not keep out the smallest fish." That is all I have to say about this article.
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Elena :) :) :)
12/9/2014 11:11:27 am
I agree with you sarah because saltier water more than they are used to is really bad for them. And they take the smaller fish in and leave the bigger fish with no food. They take to much money and electricicty.
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Jaya
12/9/2014 11:04:18 am
I agree with the desalination and I don't. The reason I agree with the desalination is because we do need water badly because of the drought we are going through. The desalination would be a big help, but it does have consequences for our ocean sea life. Even though the are going to desalt the water before it goes back in the ocean, that doesn't mean that it is completely safe. Even though it is only going to be one-fifth saltier than the regular ocean water, it can still kill the tiny fish at the bottom of the sea. Although, it will be better than just putting the water that doesn't turn into drinkable water back into the ocean as a very salty mess. We need the water, and they do desalt it. So, it's not all that bad.
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Elena
12/9/2014 11:06:56 am
I think the desalination should be banned because it is making the food webs get smaller and smaller in the oceans. It is killing the fish yeah sure they have a fish screen but the small organisms are stolen for the water. The regular fish are dying because that is what they eat, the plankton and crill and small fish. "The leftover water is returned to the ocean. It is called discharge water. However, it is much saltier than it was before. Most discharge water ends up twice as salty." they say. There is another way that they are killing more ecosystems is the discharge that is twice as salty. Also they are also they are killing outside the ocean they are using electricity and money for better things in life. The water is getting more and more polluted. That is why they should quit desalination.
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sarah ;)
12/9/2014 11:14:17 am
I agree. It is making the food webs and food chains get smaller. The animals who eat the animals that are getting extinct will get extinct also. Then the animals how eat the other animal will get extinct. And that will happen on, and on, and on, and on.
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Elena ;)
12/9/2014 11:16:37 am
Thank you!
Ryan XD
12/9/2014 11:37:42 am
I think it is both a good and bad idea. It is a bad idea because it using water and right now we are in a drought. But it is also a good idea because people need water to drink water. With out water we would be very thirsty also, if we just drank juices and other stuff it would not be healthy.I also think desalination is not a viable option because it is killing sea life which breaks food webs and food chains. Some of the animals that we eat might go away because they need food to survive but, desalination is killing small organisms that they eat so now they won't have any food to eat.
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Alexandra
12/9/2014 11:52:58 am
I do not think desolation is a viable opinion to our drought. It can threaten our sea life and HALF of that water isn't going to be drinkable. This comes to a problem of also the salty water issue. Our sea life is life threatened like this. Also, it takes a lot of sea water to do the desolation process. This is also a good thing because California is in a serious drought. However, people are finding new ways to save those conditions. So, I disagree and agree partly.
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julian $
12/9/2014 12:08:13 pm
i agree with it and also i dont agree, too. i agree because if this project works, the terrible drought in california will be resolved. everyone in the state will have enough water to drink, water to water plants, etc. the bad part about this resolution is that 50% of the water is put back even saltier before. it will kill small organisms which larger animals depend on for food. therefore, i think this may be a good resolution to the drought, but since there are worse things to it, i have to say that i don't agree with the desalination project.
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Arlon
12/9/2014 12:22:30 pm
I do not agree with you Julian because that 50% of salty water get mixed with non salty water to make it so that it would be able to put back into the ocean
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Minervä
12/9/2014 01:04:18 pm
I agree, Julian, the desalination kills small organisms, WHICH THE WHOLE FOOD CHAIN DEPENDS ON. ( So they should clean out rainwater so we can drink it, is what i think, because the idea of cleaning out non-drinkable water is a good one.)
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Gavin
12/9/2014 12:14:56 pm
I do NOT think desolation is viable to the drought in California because people are dumping water into the sea and I think the drought is happening because of the wasted water dumped into the sea life.Also I think it gives us less water to drink
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Alex
12/9/2014 12:16:44 pm
I somewhat agree with desinilation. I know CA is in a bad drought and desinilation will help with the drought, but it does cost an enormas amount of $ and also uses a lot or electricity. After the drought we might have a scarce amount of $ or electricity. Also we only get half of the water that goes trough desinilation. Also to prevent the ocean from having big salty areas we would have to take some of the fully fresh water to mix with th salty water so I would not do desinilation b/c it is not worth it.
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arlon
12/9/2014 12:19:19 pm
I think that the desalination of salt water is a good way of fixing California's water drought because it said in the paragraph that they use salt water to make fresh water!It is a bad idea though because it sometimes kills ocean life but they use fish screens to let only water come through,but some little fish can fit through and die.Also,only half of the ocean water is turned into fresh,drinkable water.But they do have a way to help that problem,they add in some non salt water and mix it with the salty water to make it regular amount of salt water.
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Connie
12/9/2014 01:41:52 pm
True. Even though desalination has good and bad sides, people are able to provide fresh water for California Drought.
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lesly
12/9/2014 12:22:46 pm
Yes, it is a viable option because if they do this then we will have enough fresh water for everybody. It;s a good idea because the ocean is right there and they just get the water from the ocean and convert it into fresh water. I like what it said in the article "The leftover water is returned to the ocean."(paragraph 13.) But the problem is that the water usually ends up back to the ocean twice as salty than the regular sea water, and that can kill sea life! But what I think is that they should add a different pipe only to make the water that goes back to the ocean to remove the extra salt and turn it into the salt that we use to sprinkle on the food we eat.
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Connie
12/9/2014 01:25:04 pm
I agree with you, Lesly. I like how you wrote that the extra salt should be turned to the salt we eat. That was a great solution.
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Celeste
12/9/2014 12:45:43 pm
I belive that desalination should not be an option because the drought is a very serius mater and that any way to get water is a good one, except making the whole ocean into a "dead sea the second" so to speak. If all of California that had a drought did desalination then the ocean would be made of salt with half of it dead just to keep us alive!
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Minervä is awesome
12/9/2014 12:58:39 pm
I think we should desalinate recycled water and rainwater that we caught. But i don't agree with desalinating seawater because most animals at the bottom of the food chain die in the processing plants and the animals above them would die out because they depend on them. Then the whole food cycle gets messed up and all the flora and fauna die out because of desalination. So i think we should clean out recycled water and rainwater, but i know it would not be called desalination then because de- , the prefix, means to take out or rid something of something, and sál, in spanish means salt. So desalination means to rid the water of salt, not to clean everything out of the water. So in conclusion, we should clean out water that was recycled to solve the "running out of drinkable water" problem.
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Violet
12/9/2014 01:14:11 pm
“It’s (it's meaning the sea) drought-proof, that’s one of the most important things", said water-use expert Bob Yamada . And it is.But it doesn't give use an invite to use this water for using it for the drought . Yes the drought is important i know but we don't have to use water in which living organisms and non-living organisms once used as their homes .It is sad and hard to believe that workers are working for a good cause for us Californian's but not to the environment.IT IS NOT ONLY ABOUT US HUMANS BUT ALSO ABOUT OTHER LIVING ORGANISMS! Something we can do to prevent these organisms (these organisms can be a part of a food web and if they die off others will too)from dying of because of us (known as the humans who are helping but also threatening nature /wildlife.)taking there water and also practically there life .The way i think i would of course help getting water or if you wan't "salt water" is to trade with a place that gets to much water .For example Seattle or Portland can give you gallons of water and in trade we i mean i will give them materials that they don't have .this is a way we can get water with out hurting poor relentless ocean life .I think the ocean life no matter what type of sea creature . what do you want? ocean life and other ways to get water or lots of water but no more salmon teriyaki or tuna sandwiches.
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Jacob reply to violet
12/10/2014 01:15:44 pm
you are right violet because it is not only about us but for the animals
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Connie
12/9/2014 01:18:53 pm
Even though it takes up a lot of electricity, the people still will get the water they need. It could destroy ocean life such as fish eggs and organisms for fish food. Desalination discharges the super-salty water into the ocean. The super-salty water will be mixed with the unsalted water before returning to the ocean. Other cities are trying to save more water by recycling water or catching more rainwater. Even there are problems while desalinating, it is still a viable option to fixing California's water problems.
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Jacob reply to connie
12/9/2014 01:37:08 pm
I think your right connie because it could destroy a lot of things
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