Desalination Pros and Cons

Desalination may be a solution to California’s shortage of water. Desalination involves bringing water from the ocean into a factory plant, then filtering out salt, dirt, and silt by pushing the water through several different membranes, leaving the plant with clean drinking water. This process is called reverse osmosis. Countries such as Israel are already using this technique to supply most of their water, which is something that’s been working well for them, and it may be helpful in times of drought without further depleting the over-allocated Colorado River’s water.

However, there are some cons to desalination, such as brine. Brine is made when all the salt taken out of the water gets dumped back into the ocean, creating overly salty water that may be harmful to marine life. Desalination is also energy-intensive and much more expensive than other, easier, perhaps better options, including conservation, rainwater, and recycling.