MIT engineers and collaborators developed a solar-powered device that avoids the salt-clogging issues of other designs. Engineers at MIT and in China are aiming to turn seawater into drinking water with a completely passive device that is inspired by the ocean, and powered by the sun. In a pap
plus the concentrated brine from desalinization needs to go somewhere - worrying about taking too much salt from the ocean probably ranks lower than worrying about the brine being disposed of incorrectly. I like HopeOfTheGunblade’s idea of mixing it with the cleaned-up wastewater, there’s a sort of balance there.
Decreased salination leads to hotter oceans. Mass desalination combined with the reduced salination from melting ice caps could pose serious threats to already fragile ocean life. Humanity is always looking for a savior instead of striving for balance.
I’m not sure how the first part is relevant/practical, given that the complaints about desalinization plaints is the increased salinity due to the hypersalinated waste produced after the desalinizated water is extracted. Wouldn’t desalinization plants’ hypersalination counteract the hyposalination caused by the glaciers rather than exacerbate it (obviously this would be difficult to not have the waste concentrated and cause local environment issues)?
Take out salt water -> separate freshwater from brine -> use the fresh water -> combine cleaned wastewater with brine -> reintroduce. Seems pretty balanced to me, at least by human standards. The salt isn’t dumped down a mineshaft.
Desalinization plants dumping the brine straight back into the ocean, raising the concentration of salt in the region and poisoning the local wildlife, that’s something I’ve heard of happening, but it sounds like this system is intended to be way smaller, operated at a household level. People dumping the brine into the dirt, sterilizing it, or in local streams could be a problem.
I don’t know, it just seems like desalinization (not necessarily this version) is more of an effort towards balance than endlessly draining aquifers or damming rivers.