17 years ago the Yuma Reverse Osmosis Desalination Plant was built to reuse Arizona's agricultural drainwater. The plant was never operated because by then the drainage water had been flowing into Mexico for twenty years and had created a large wetland - the Cienaga de Santa Clara - with rich and diverse fauna. Should the Plant be operating, only the filtrate residues will keep flowing, which are very salty and concentrated, and that will be the end of the Cienaga as we know it now. The fact that the wetland is engineered aka artificial is irrelevant to the lovers of nature, they just want to know that beautiful birds are flapping their wings in the Cienaga (few ever visit it personally).
5 comments:
Typical state sector inefficiency - build a grand facility with OPM (other people's money) and then leave it vacant. Shouldn't they have thought about the wetland issue BEFORE they built the plant?
The bird's lobby killed this worthy project. Chinese breed crickets in bamboo boxes, Hindus worship cows, and Anglosaxons worship wild birds. No one thought that dumping the wastewater in Mexico would create a wetland bird sanctuary that could not be dried off. In California, birds and amphibians are protected. People is expendable.
and Anglosaxons worship wild birds.
And Africans, don't forget our precious Africans.
I spent a good fifteen minutes trying to find this post. Anyway, last night while I was stocking I ended up thinking about Mexicali and this RO plant.
Here is my proposal for on how Mexicali should manage its water in the future.
First, Mexicali should insist that the RO plant be taken down and relocated to Mexicali. The Mexicans can desalinate Arizona's field runoff themselves, and do so with cheaper labor. If the US federal government resists the Mexicans can scream racist, accuse the gringos of meddling in Mexican affairs or whatever else they think will work. The Mexicalians can also link up with left-wing organizations, like the US media, to do sob stories showing how Mexicali is being shorted the water it is owed. Once the plant is relocated to Mexico, there will be nothing the eco-morons can do to stop the Mexicans from desalinating the water.
Second, Mexicali should embrace the various crops you mentioned that are resistant to brackish water such as dates. California produces dates
link-link-link-link
Mexicali should focus on low water use crops, and work to completely replace the California date industry. Essentially, Mexicali should make a list of every crop grown in southern California, pick the ones that use less water and then grow them for less. In fact, Mexicali might be able to lure Eurofresh south from Arizona with the lure of cheaper labor, low taxes, and abundant export markets just a short drive away.
I didn't include the link to Eurofresh.
Ooops!
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