Desalinization Desmalinization

The Las Vegas Sun took time out of its busy schedule of panning everything Republican and conservative to pen an article on Desalinization, even giving it a title "Desalinization Gets a Serious Look"

Unfortunately they didn't give it that look. Clouded by the unassuming smoothness of Pat Mulroy at the Water Authority and by Californian environmental groups they gave desalinization as an option less than a paragraph in the article. The rest of the time they praised the pipeline, lamented the possibility of dead fish, and crooned about the impractical if not impossible.

They did end it on what I am sure they consider a positive note with a PRO Nevada quote from Launce Rake "“This is a country that put a man on the moon, a country with enormous intelligence and financial resources. We can do this if we have the political will.”

While I am sure Launce meant well and was probably misquoted or taken out of context like the Sun tends to do but desalinization is NOT the equivalent of a moon shot. A desal' plant is the equivalent of building a factory, happens all the time and everywhere. The issue continues to be the amount of POWER needed to make it worth the effort. Unlike the moon shot, the technology is there and waiting.

For a mere $250 million we (meaning Nevada) can build a plant in Mexico and get the credit towards drawing more water from Lake Mead. Okay, $250 million is not chump change but compare that to the LVVWA plan to spend $2 billion on a pipeline (which will probably grow to $4-5 billion by the time there are done) we could build EIGHT DESAL' PLANTS for that!

Many Desal' plants already have alternative energy sources using waves and wind to power the process. Environmental groups complain that the salt goes back into the ocean and kills fish due to its high concentration. 1st that is a literal drop in the bucket and 2nd that salt can be a commodity for some entrepreneurial desal' plant operator.

So check out the article but keep the pressure on Mulroy and her friends in the Sun to push the Desal' plants as a legitimate alternative.