Interesting questions desalinitation?

Question

here in QLD and australia for that matter there'sbeen great controversity over desalintated water, as some p[oliticians believe its the anwser toi the water cisis

but i was recently told the amount of water ittakestorun the desalinitation p;lant almost exceeds the clean watrer created

is this true if so how?

Answer 1

Where the sun is strong, solar desalination is a good option. Essentially, you need a greenhouse-like structure with a center trough for saline water and side troughs for fresh water. The heat evaporates the saline water, leaving brine. The water condenses on the roof and walls and drips down to the side walls to the troughs for harvesting. You then have to dispose of the brine. The amount of fresh water harvested is less than the amount of saline water input but 100% efficiency is too much to hope for, isn't it?

Answer 2

Well this sounds like a bit of a myth.

Water comes in several flavours if you will.

Clear water (drinkable)

Brown water (when you flush your toilet)

Grey water (not toilet waste, but you probably don't want to drink it, such as water going down your sink).

Desalination has a range of problems, one problem is energy used the other is salt wasted. The salt problem can be fixed by diluting it in water and running it out to sea. In which case you might be mixing it in with brown or grey water. So it is using water, but not drinkable water.