Drought and Desalination

Are you worried about the news of severe drought occurring now out west? Many people are very concerned and looking for fast answers.

I lived in the Southwest for about 6 years about 25 years ago. Even back then I became very aware of the problems related to water shortages. In a small town in New Mexico, a rancher got in his pickup truck, drove to the neighbor's house and shot him. This was because he felt that the other rancher was taking too much water from the irrigation ditch upstream of him. As we see more drought issues in the future, hopefully we do not see these types of things happening.

What I have seen discussed in the news lately is the topic of ocean desalination as a solution to water shortages. These plants are very expensive to build and run. This will increase the cost of everything that would be related to using the water. I will discuss this more in my next article.
Dave Berridge has worked for Rochester Midland, Betz, and Nalco.